Our partner Real Hope for Haiti is using peanut butter, among other foods, to save Haitian children from the brink of starvation. Their child rescue center in Cazale houses about 60 children at a time, caring for them until they’re healthy enough to return home. Some stay a few months, others more than a year, but the care doesn’t end there. The center also supports local families with nutritional counseling, job skills training, agricultural programs, and more. It’s all part of a big-picture approach to make sure fewer kids return to the center–or the neighboring clinic.

Fighting kwash

Fabienne, before and after

Kwashirokor is a deadly form of malnourishment caused by a lack of protein. It strikes children most often when they’re weaned from breast milk or just lack a proper diet. The symptoms: stunted growth, extreme swelling and skin splits, distended belly, muscle atrophy, shallow breathing. It can be difficult to treat those near death who’ve lost their appetite due to kwash. That’s what makes peanut butter so valuable. The sweet, sticky paste is hard for kids to spit out, and many children soon develop a taste for it, rebuilding protein stores in their bodies and renewing their will to survive. It’s easy to store, has a long shelf life and can be sent home with families for ongoing treatment.

For even more impact, the clinic has acquired peanut-based RUTFs (ready-to-use therapeutic food).  which consists of locally grown peanut butter mixed with vitamins, sweetener and powdered milk

Your donation multiplies to help provide peanut butter for these children, along with food, vitamins and medical supplies. Thank you!