Photo: Our sweet Mahfuz had been wasting away from malnutrition for the past year, but contracted and died from malaria in early September. This is Mahfuz at the Center's birthday party this year. It was his 14th birthday.
It's been a sadder week here at the Center. Our sweet little 14-year-old Mahfuz passed away suddenly on Sept. 3 after being hospitalized for malaria. Mahfuz had severe cerebral palsy for his short life, which made it so hard for him to swallow enough nutrition each day. He had suffered from malnutrition for the past year and was really below the right weight for his age. His mother let the other mothers at the center know he was at the hospital for malaria on Sept. 3, but he was already so weak from malnutrition he passed that same day before anyone could visit. Shield City sent the family a small donation as they grieve this loss.
"I was so sad to hear about the sudden passing of Mahfuz. One of the most important aspects of Shield City is education for these families. We are training them on the importance of nutrition, necessary medication, and informed ways to best care for their kids." ~ Director Laura Sharpe
Mahfuz was a kind little boy whose brothers and sisters loved to come to the center with him for his tutoring. He liked it when people spoke gently to him and gave him attention in his chair. He had a very beautiful smile. Because children with disabilities face a lot of stigma in Nigerian culture, his mother never took him anywhere but the Shield City center. He spent most of his life at home but really enjoyed visits to the center with the other kids.
Cerebral palsy can be fatal in sub-Saharan Africa because children with this disability have such a hard time swallowing. In Western countries, medical interventions like feeding tubes ensure a child can get enough daily nutrition to maintain their weight and keep growing. Without this, children like Mahfuz can struggle to get their daily calories, which makes them susceptible to secondary severe West African maladies like malaria.
Please consider donating to the Shield City medical fund or our malnutrition mix fund. Because many of you have donated malnutrition mix in the past three months, we are already supplying five children with cerebral palsy for the rest of this month thru October. Even $10 in the Nigerian economy can pay for a full day of medical treatment and medication for malaria or several cans of malnutrition mix. Mahfuz's mother sometimes used donated malnutrition mix from Shield City to help feed him: the mix has high nutrition grains and fish powder that can be mixed with water to form a smoothie that children with cerebral palsy can swallow more easily.
We will miss your kind spirit Mahfuz. May you rest in peace little one.
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