A Second Chance

At 16 months, this little boy is the youngest of five siblings. His family lives in a squatter community behind the drop in centre, in the worst conditions we have seen yet. Their home is about 7 by 3 feet, has a dirt floor and has an open ceiling into the family above them. Their neighbors throw a lot of their garbage and human waist right beside their tiny home. We have been providing milk for this little boy because he is so malnourished. His mom is often coming to us for help because he and his siblings get sick very frequently (who wouldn't in those conditions).Last Friday when we were at the drop in centre she came to us because he had diarrhea for two weeks straight. Already malnourished, we could tell he had become very dehydrated, week, and loosing more weight. Knowing he was becoming critical and knowing that 50% of children in the Philippines die from diarrhea we brought him to Gentle Hands, which is a Christian humanitarian agency, on Saturday. We have taken children to Gentle Hands before and they have been very helpful and trustworthy. We got a text from the woman who runs Gentle Hands last night saying that she de-wormed our little boy and started him on antibiotics. She said he is very sick but hopes that he will recover from his sickness and malnourishment in about one months time. Please pray for his total recovery. Please also pray for his family. We are trying to help this family in means of livelihood but their signs of initiation and desire to change is minimal. Pray that we will have wisdom and discernment as to how we can help.