Partnering with Doctors Without Borders
- Laura Sharpe
- Apr 11
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 14
Little Usman, 6, showed up at our door with his mama, on the edge of starvation from malnutrition. He is extremely underweight, listless and unengaged because his cerebral palsy makes it so difficult to swallow enough calories a day.
Shield City is now collaborating with Doctors Without Borders in Kano to help stabilize children like Usman who are dying from malnutrition. DWB operates a malnutrition center here in Kano, where they have recently started physiotherapy for the inpatients. Their desire is to collaborate with Shield to establish more long-term care for these children, as they only can see children for three days at the moment. The representative who came to visit us from DWB also teaches the office’s seminar on inclusion, in an effort to educate our local community on being more inclusive of those with disabilities, which is a great match for the Shield’s focus on inclusion too! Special needs children are grossly stigmatized in the culture here, with children often hidden at home because the family is embarrassed to be seen in public with them. We have a big focus on educating our moms to be more inclusive through coming out in public with their children, and educating others on the worth and value of their kiddos.
Back to Usman’s healing: Doctors Without Borders referred Usman’s family to the Shield and we have been able to help them with our Tom Brown malnutrition mix. We also helped Usman’s family to purchase medicines on a recent hospital visit. Extreme malnutrition is seriously destructive for young children because the lack of nutrients attacks multiple systems of the body that are trying to develop, such as the brain, organs, nervous system and social emotional skills. It affects the ability of toddler’s to walk, talk and their motor skills, which is why children with severe malnutrition begin to become unengaged and listless as they run out of energy.
Shield City supports almost 40 families with children with cerebral palsy, donating our Tom Brown mix to families. Parents combine the powder, which is high in protein and fats, into a drinkable smoothie which is easier for these little guys to swallow and get some precious calories.
We will keep you updated on Usman’s progress.
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