Her name is Joestina

Her name is Joestina

Her name is Joestina. Her mother died in childbirth before we left in June this year Nikoli, the father, has come by to talk. He will be away working in Esquipulas and will not be returning for 1½ months. He has 5 children with the oldest around 8 years old. . This 8 year old daughter will be left behind to take care of her 4 siblings who include this malnourished 5 month old baby weighing only 6 ½ lbs. We have stressed to Nikoli that his daughter cannot properly take care of the baby and she would most likely die if we didn’t help. He has agreed to allow us to care for her.

We are totally unprepared for caring for an infant. There are no diapers so we cut up bed sheets instead. Within 6 hours both Cassidy and Joestina have changed their clothes 3 times. This thin fabric is no match for the frontal attack this infant constantly engaged in. We’ve found plenty of diapers for grown-ups but none for kids. (This was a misunderstanding a well intentioned group had brought to us when we requested diapers). With a small scirrors the design team of Cassidy and me undertake the task of modification. One of these diapers is almost twice the size of Joestina. After several failed attempts we’ve come up with an ingenious design that yields three diapers for one. We only have one medium safety pin, so the means of holding the ends together relies on surgical tape that is probably 5 years old. The adhesiveness is questionable at best. A diaper may fall apart and its contents strewn with any mishandling of the baby. The utmost delicacy is the order of protocol since near tragic consequences have been around every corner.

It is now 2 weeks later and Joestina is weighing 7lbs 10 ounces. She is getting strong and can now hold her head up. She is smiling and constantly eating and pooping.