BABY MILK PROGRAM FINAL POST

In late 2021, due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to cease operations at Kunai Health Centre after over 13 years of service to our dear Kamea people. It was a painful decision for all of the staff involved. Some of the reasons were:

  1. A lack of funding for the Health Centre. We paid our PNG staff from our own support, including one CHW nurse graduate. We could not afford to pay anyone else, and we needed more PNG nurses. The reason for that was:
  2. We were no longer able to use the visa we had used to bring in our nurse volunteers from the USA and Australia. We had been informed by the government we could use that visa, and we did for over 8 years. In early 2021 they changed their ruling regarding how we used it. Going forward we would need to get all of our incoming expatriate nurses full PNG visas and PNG nursing licenses. Since all of our nurses were coming as self-sponsored volunteers, none of them had the time to wait for all that paperwork. They were not sponsored missionary workers, and it just would not work for them or for us.
  3. We needed full-time management of the clinic on the ground at Kunai. There was no one who could take that position, which would include doing all the supply and medicine buying and taking care of all the transport costs of procurement and delivery to our remote site.

When Kunai Health Centre closed, we no longer had a means to administer the Baby Milk Program. The remaining cans of milk were given to our national pastor to distribute to those who were on the program. He continued to do that until the supply ran out. The final cans were distributed in mid-2022.

We are so very grateful to those who gave to this program, and for those who kept our dear moms and babies in prayer. The Lord did much through this ministry, not only helping babies get a good start on life, but also through showing the love of Jesus through the hands-on labor of loving these dear families.

Baby Milk Update, January 2022

We thank the Lord for another year of His provision of baby milk for our clinic ministry at Kunai Health Centre. In 2021 we were able to distribute 258 cans of formula, serving many infants and young children who are malnourished.

In some cases, the mother has died in childbirth, or shortly thereafter. In other cases, the parents have to give the child away as they are unable to feed another mouth…and others of our “baby milk babies” have mothers who are malnourished and unable to produce sufficient milk to feed them.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Baby-milk-can.jpg

The baby milk program began in 2009, and it has served over 425 children since then. Some of these children are school-aged now, and by God’s grace, they are doing quite well.

Thank you to everyone who joins with us in prayer and financial support of this vital program. Going into 2022 we have a good stock of baby milk, and for that we are grateful to those who give monthly or occasionally, and thank you all for keeping our people in prayer. The children thank you too!

2021
Income: $3971.43
Expenses: $5,445.03
Total cans purchased: 380
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.33 (price increase due to increased transport charges)
Babies served: 34

2020
Income: $3,252.97
Expenses: $3,326.48
Total cans purchased: 246
Cost per 2 lb. can: $13.52
Babies served: 32

2019
Income: $3,595.00
Expenses: $4,420.92
Total cans purchased: 320
Cost per 2 lb. can: $13.82 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 38

2018
Income: $9,118.42 (including a generous gift of $5,000 on Dec. 31, 2017!)
Expenses: $4,063.79
Total cans purchased: 270
Cost per 2 lb. can: $15.05 (increase due to extra air freight costs)
Babies served: 30

2017
Income:      $4,180.41
Expenses:  $5,341.75
Total cans purchased: 420
Cost per 2 lb. can: $12.72 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 45

2016
Income:      $5,715.00
Expenses:  $5,638.34
Total cans purchased: 400
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.10 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 50

2015
Income:      $6,875.00
Expenses:  $8,280.37
Total cans purchased: 558
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.83 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 29

2014
Income:      $1,320.00
Expenses:  $6,468.40
Total cans purchased: 400
Cost per 2 lb. can: $16.17
Babies served: 44

2013
Income:       $6,414.16
Expenses:   $8,396.37
Total cans purchased: 471
Cost per 2 lb. can: $17.82
Babies served: 58

2012
Income:       $627.51
Expenses:   $10,446.22
Total cans purchased: 547
Cost per 2 lb. can: $19.10
Babies served: 58

2011
Income:       $1,415
Expenses:   $5,325
Total cans purchased: 300
Cost per 2 lb. can: $17.75
Babies served: 42

Baby Milk Update, January 2021

BABY MILK UPDATE as of January 2021

We thank the Lord for another year of His provision of baby milk for our clinic ministry at Kunai Health Centre. Even though we had to limit services at times during the pandemic, in 2020 we were able to distribute 246 cans of formula, serving many infants and young children who are malnourished.

In some cases, the mother has died in childbirth, or shortly thereafter. In other cases, the parents have to give the child away as they are unable to feed another mouth…and others of our “baby milk babies” have mothers who are malnourished and unable to produce sufficient milk to feed them.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Baby-milk-can.jpg

The baby milk program began in 2009, and it has served over 400 children since then. Some of these children are school-aged now, and by God’s grace, they are doing quite well.

These twins were just 2.86 pounds each when they were born. They were so tiny! Before we had the supplement program in place, fresh-squeezed pineapple juice or sugar cane would be the usual liquid for any baby that mom could not nurse. Thanks to your support of the baby milk program, we are able to supplement them so that they can stay with their birth mom. She is breastfeeding and supplementing with the baby formula. Way to go!

This year, 10 babies came to us severely malnourished because their mothers were malnourished, too. On the baby milk program, they all became chunky little bits!

Another 14 babies were adopted and fed with baby milk by someone other than their own mother. Take a moment to read Bufort’s story.

Thank you to everyone who joins with us in prayer and financial support of this vital program. We are grateful for those who give monthly or occasionally, and thank you all for keeping the clinic ministry and our people in prayer. The children thank you too!

2020
Income: $3,252.97
Expenses: $3,326.48
Total cans purchased: 246
Cost per 2 lb. can: $13.52
Babies served: 32

2019
Income: $3,595.00
Expenses: $4,420.92
Total cans purchased: 320
Cost per 2 lb. can: $13.82 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 38

2018
Income: $9,118.42 (including a generous gift of $5,000 on Dec. 31, 2017!)
Expenses: $4,063.79
Total cans purchased: 270
Cost per 2 lb. can: $15.05 (increase due to extra air freight costs)
Babies served: 30

2017
Income:      $4,180.41
Expenses:  $5,341.75
Total cans purchased: 420
Cost per 2 lb. can: $12.72 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 45

2016
Income:      $5,715.00
Expenses:  $5,638.34
Total cans purchased: 400
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.10 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 50

2015
Income:      $6,875.00
Expenses:  $8,280.37
Total cans purchased: 558
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.83 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 29

2014
Income:      $1,320.00
Expenses:  $6,468.40
Total cans purchased: 400
Cost per 2 lb. can: $16.17
Babies served: 44

2013
Income:       $6,414.16
Expenses:   $8,396.37
Total cans purchased: 471
Cost per 2 lb. can: $17.82
Babies served: 58

2012
Income:       $627.51
Expenses:   $10,446.22
Total cans purchased: 547
Cost per 2 lb. can: $19.10
Babies served: 58

2011
Income:       $1,415
Expenses:   $5,325
Total cans purchased: 300
Cost per 2 lb. can: $17.75
Babies served: 42

Bufort’s Story

by Sarah Glover, missionary at Kunai since 2010

When living and ministering to provide health care in a communal society, your history with your patients runs deep.  They are your friends, not simply a chart to be pulled out of a file, and your friendship deepens with each interaction with them.  Such is the case with Bufort.  But let me back up a bit and put his story into context.

Linda


Bufort’s grandmother, Linda, has been a translator at Kunai Health Center for years.  She is faithful in all her areas of responsibility in the clinic, but she truly excels in her work in our prenatal clinic.  So it was a special day for all of us when her oldest, newly married daughter came for her first prenatal visit. We were able to provide her with care throughout her pregnancy, including diagnosing and treating malaria during her pregnancy, which can be potentially life-threatening for both mom and baby.  

I was already in bed one night when the knock came on my door.  It was Linda.  Julie was in labor.  We had no midwife on the property, and since we encourage all of our first time moms to deliver in a health facility, we decided to transport her to the rural hospital on the other side of the mountain.  A landslide on the trail prevented us from taking her the whole way, but we were able to take her a little over halfway in our Kawasaki Mule, and we waved goodbye in the wee hours of the morning as she continued her trek another 45 minutes to the rural hospital.

The next afternoon we were delighted to see Linda, Julie, and a precious baby boy on the clinic porch.  They named him Bufort nearly right away, which is unusual for our people.  They often wait a year to name their babies to prevent over-attachment should the child not survive his first year.  But that’s ever so gradually starting to change, especially among younger parents.  I can’t prove it, and I’m sure they could never articulate this, but could it be tied to a generational shift in thinking because they grew up knowing that Kunai Health Centre was there? Could it be perhaps some hope has been born in their hearts that there will be someone there to help their babies through the preventable and treatable diseases of childhood which so many wee Kamea warriors had succumbed to in the past?

Julie and her husband, Tom, are good parents, and Linda loves her little grandson.  But when Bufort was about 3 months old, a crisis struck their family.  Julie became desperately ill.  Without the ability for any major diagnostic testing, and based only on experience and on her symptoms, we began treating her for meningitis.  She rallied for awhile and seemed to be responding to the twice-a-day shots we were administering, but then her condition gravely worsened, and she began experiencing seizures and hallucinations.  We knew she needed to have access to medical care that was closer than the next village down the trail, so we made the decision to again transport her to the rural hospital on the other side of the mountain.  We took her in the same Kawasaki Mule to the same landslide, but this time there was no walking to the rural hospital for her.  Instead, she had to be carried in a sheet tied to a pole.  We prayed, believing God could do exceedingly great and wonderful things. But we also kept an eye on the trail out front every day should things not go well, and we happen to see them walk by carrying her body back to the village.

Her conditioned worsened, and at times she was in a near comatose state, unable to rise from her bed for any reason.  Eventually her deterioration was so severe that she was unable to nurse Bufort anymore.  She had so beautifully given him life, but now she could not sustain it, so they turned to us for help.  Before in such cases, there was a high likelihood that the baby would not survive.  But thanks to the Baby Milk Program at Kunai Health Centre and all of those who support it, this one got to live and be nourished even though his mom was so sick.  

Julie remained in critical condition for months. God heard the prayers of many around the world, and He turned our sorrowing into rejoicing.  Many months later she walked him home to her village.  Bufort has a mom, and Julie has her sweet baby still.  Thank the Lord–and thank you to our supporters for the part you played in this story.

Babies like this one benefit from the baby milk program. Thank you for your support!

Baby Milk Update, January 2020

BABY MILK UPDATE as of January 2020

We thank the Lord for His provision each year for baby milk for our clinic ministry at Kunai Health Centre (click the link to see our new website!). In 2019 we distributed 296 cans of formula, serving many infants and young children who are malnourished.

In some cases, the mother has died in childbirth, or shortly thereafter. In other cases, the parents have given the child away as they are unable to feed another mouth…and yet others of our “baby milk babies” have mothers who are unable to produce sufficient milk to feed them.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Baby-milk-can.jpg

The baby milk program began in 2009, and it has served over 375 children since then. Some of these children are school-aged now, and by God’s grace, they are doing quite well.

Thank you for helping with the nutrition of our Kamea children!
Here’s another of our milk babies, now grown and healthy.
Thank you to Landmark Christian Academy, who not only donated vitamins for our Kamea children, but they raised $535 for the baby milk program!

Thank you to everyone who joins with us in prayer and financial support of this vital program. We are grateful for those who give monthly, and we are also grateful for the special offering we received at the end of the year that really helped out with our annual expenses. And our children thank you too!

2019
Income: $3,595.00
Expenses: $4,420.92
Total cans purchased: 320
Cost per 2 lb. can: $13.82 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 38

2018
Income: $9,118.42 (including a generous gift of $5,000 on Dec. 31, 2017!)
Expenses: $4,063.79
Total cans purchased: 270
Cost per 2 lb. can: $15.05 (increase due to extra air freight costs)
Babies served: 30

2017
Income:      $4,180.41
Expenses:  $5,341.75
Total cans purchased: 420
Cost per 2 lb. can: $12.72 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 45

2016
Income:      $5,715.00
Expenses:  $5,638.34
Total cans purchased: 400
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.10 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 50

2015
Income:      $6,875.00
Expenses:  $8,280.37
Total cans purchased: 558
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.83 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 29

2014
Income:      $1,320.00
Expenses:  $6,468.40
Total cans purchased: 400
Cost per 2 lb. can: $16.17
Babies served: 44

2013
Income:       $6,414.16
Expenses:   $8,396.37
Total cans purchased: 471
Cost per 2 lb. can: $17.82
Babies served: 58

2012
Income:       $627.51
Expenses:   $10,446.22
Total cans purchased: 547
Cost per 2 lb. can: $19.10
Babies served: 58

2011
Income:       $1,415
Expenses:   $5,325
Total cans purchased: 300
Cost per 2 lb. can: $17.75
Babies served: 42

Baby Milk Update, January 2019

BABY MILK UPDATE as of January 2019

We thank the Lord for His provision each year for baby milk for our clinic ministry. In 2018 we purchased 270 cans of formula, serving many infants and young children who are malnourished.

In some cases, the mother has died in childbirth, or shortly thereafter. In other cases, the parents have given the child away as they are unable to feed another mouth…and yet others of our “baby milk babies” have mothers who are unable to produce sufficient milk to feed them.

The baby milk program began in 2009, and it has served over 340 children since then. Some of these children are school-aged now, and by God’s grace, they are doing quite well. Here is a progression of one of them:

Maikalin was one of our first milk babies. She is doing great!
This was a post done recently by one of our nurses, Marie Bell. The baby is doing fine now, and is sucking on his own. Thank the Lord for His provision of baby milk, and for His providing such loving caregivers!

Thank you to everyone who joins with us in prayer and financial support of this vital program. We are grateful for those who give monthly, and we are also grateful for the special offering we received at the end of the year that really helped out with our annual expenses. And our children thank you too!

2018
Income: $9,118.42 (including a generous gift of $5,000 on Dec. 31, 2017!)
Expenses: $4,063.79
Total cans purchased: 270
Cost per 2 lb. can: $15.05 (increase due to extra air freight costs)
Babies served: 30

2017
Income:      $4,180.41
Expenses:  $5,341.75
Total cans purchased: 420
Cost per 2 lb. can: $12.72 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 45

2016
Income:      $5,715.00
Expenses:  $5,638.34
Total cans purchased: 400
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.10 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 50

2015
Income:      $6,875.00
Expenses:  $8,280.37
Total cans purchased: 558
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.83 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 29

2014
Income:      $1,320.00
Expenses:  $6,468.40
Total cans purchased: 400
Cost per 2 lb. can: $16.17
Babies served: 44

2013
Income:       $6,414.16
Expenses:   $8,396.37
Total cans purchased: 471
Cost per 2 lb. can: $17.82
Babies served: 58

2012
Income:       $627.51
Expenses:   $10,446.22
Total cans purchased: 547
Cost per 2 lb. can: $19.10
Babies served: 58

2011
Income:       $1,415
Expenses:   $5,325
Total cans purchased: 300
Cost per 2 lb. can: $17.75
Babies served: 42

Baby Milk Update, January 2018

BABY MILK UPDATE as of January 2018

We thank the Lord for His provision each year for baby milk for our clinic ministry. In 2017 we purchased 420 cans of formula, serving dozens of infants and young children who are malnourished.

In some cases, the mother has died in childbirth, or shortly thereafter. In other cases, the parents have given the child away as they are unable to feed another mouth…and yet others of our “baby milk babies” have mothers who are unable to produce sufficient milk to feed them.

This little one was a recent case toward the end of 2017. The mother rejected the baby soon after birth due to a mental illness, and the family was struggling to provide proper nourishment.

 

After just a few short weeks on the SMA formula, she is doing much better, and thriving!

The baby milk program began in 2009, and it has served almost 300 children since then. Some of these children are school-aged now, and by God’s grace, they are doing quite well.

Thank you to everyone who joins with us in prayer and financial support of this vital program. We are grateful for those who give monthly, and we are also grateful for the special offering we received at the end of the year that really helped out with our annual expenses. And our children thank you too!

2017
Income:      $4,180.41
Expenses:  $5,341.75
Total cans purchased: 420
Cost per 2 lb. can: $12.72 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 45

2016
Income:      $5,715.00
Expenses:  $5,638.34
Total cans purchased: 400
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.10 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 50

2015
Income:      $6,875.00
Expenses:  $8,280.37
Total cans purchased: 558
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.83 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 29

2014
Income:      $1,320.00
Expenses:  $6,468.40
Total cans purchased: 400
Cost per 2 lb. can: $16.17
Babies served: 44

2013
Income:       $6,414.16
Expenses:   $8,396.37
Total cans purchased: 471
Cost per 2 lb. can: $17.82
Babies served: 58

2012
Income:       $627.51
Expenses:   $10,446.22
Total cans purchased: 547
Cost per 2 lb. can: $19.10
Babies served: 58

2011
Income:       $1,415
Expenses:   $5,325
Total cans purchased: 300
Cost per 2 lb. can: $17.75
Babies served: 42

 

Baby Milk Update, January 2017

BABY MILK UPDATE as of January 2017

We thank the Lord for His provision each year for baby milk for our clinic ministry. 2016 was the first year that income exceeded expenses…amen! The dedicated staff of Kunai Health Centre continues to provide service to infants and small children in need of nutritional supplements.

In some cases, the mother has died in childbirth, or shortly thereafter. In other cases, the parents have given the child away as they are unable to feed another mouth…and yet others of our “baby milk babies” have mothers who are unable to produce sufficient milk to feed them.

The program began in 2009, and it has served over 250 children since then. Some of these children are school age now, and seem to be doing quite well.

Thank you to everyone who joins with us in prayer and financial support of this vital program. Our children thank you too!

2016
Income:      $5,715.00
Expenses:  $5,638.34
Total cans purchased: 400
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.10 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 50

2015
Income:      $6,875.00
Expenses:  $8,280.37
Total cans purchased: 558
Cost per 2 lb. can: $14.83 (price decrease due to exchange rate)
Babies served: 29

2014
Income:      $1,320.00
Expenses:  $6,468.40
Total cans purchased: 400
Cost per 2 lb. can: $16.17
Babies served: 44

2013
Income:       $6,414.16
Expenses:   $8,396.37
Total cans purchased: 471
Cost per 2 lb. can: $17.82
Babies served: 58

2012
Income:       $627.51
Expenses:   $10,446.22
Total cans purchased: 547
Cost per 2 lb. can: $19.10
Babies served: 58

2011
Income:       $1,415
Expenses:   $5,325
Total cans purchased: 300
Cost per 2 lb. can: $17.75
Babies served: 42

 

The Gospel is Real

It all started around 11 PM on Monday night. We were sleeping soundly when Sarah Glover shined a light on our window calling to us that Lena had a patient. We dressed quickly and went to the clinic, finding a large crowd carrying a patient in a sling. The injured boy was the son of our church’s song leader. As Sarah went to get Rachel Schellenberger, Lena began to assess the child’s head wound. It seems he was sitting in a family garden when a rotten tree fell and struck him on top of the head. The two nurses agreed: He was not going to make it.

We had the men place his body on the floor (as is custom) so the family could gather around him. The missionaries were crying, the family was crying. I asked Pastor James to pray. In a few minutes, this young boy passed from death to life. Then the “haus krai” (house cry, the PNG style of mourning) began. The family and friends, most of them church members, soon gathered up their son’s body and went across the trail to their home. And the crying increased.

In the dark of the midnight, the missionaries all sat on the clinic veranda. We cried, we contemplated, and we all wondered what God would do. Andrew Schellenberger prayed. We sat together a while longer, and went home.

At dawn, the haus krai resumed. Early on we went to sit with the family. These young converts are facing new beliefs in a loving God as they struggle with the old ways of their ancestors. Some family members were looking for the reason the boy had died; in PNG traditional beliefs, no one dies without a cause. Even accidents are brought on by sorcery or unsettled disputes. The boy’s father was dismissing such talk, as were many of the believers. He maintained that God was in control.

When I went to bed the night before, I never thought that I’d help build a coffin box the next day. I never thought I’d be at a haus krai at the start of my day. And I never thought something more could happen. But it did.

While we were building the boy’s coffin, one of our preacher’s wives came to tell us that a new convert at our church plant in Ipaiyu had also died overnight. This young father had trusted Christ a few months ago, along with his wife. About three months later he contracted a mysterious illness that left him nearly paralyzed and brain damaged. Though it looked like he might get better, he suddenly died.

This was a new believer in a new church. The people of the community already give our believers a hard time for believing God’s word. Any little bad thing that happens is blamed on these believers. What new accusation will arise now?

Some things I just don’t know. I know this: We had two haus krais the same day, both for young men. The Gospel was preached, in word and in deed. And in the days that followed, the effect of the Gospel on the lives of new believers showed the might of the Resurrection. A young widow stood faithful. A young father and mother not only stayed faithful, they grew in the Lord. Grief is very real to each of them, but God’s word has been more real.  The Gospel is real.

He Had Four Wives

He had four wives.

The youngest wife came to our prenatal clinic twice.  It was a long and hard hike to get here; and if it rained hard, the river would be too swollen and she could not cross.  And it had rained a lot that week.

She had her first child alone in the bush. The next day she contracted diarrhea.  Pouring her life into her infant daughter, she gave it all she had.  Her sickness worsened.  Their aid post was closed, and no one cared enough to get medicine for her—until Pastor Malasi, one of our Bible school graduates, hiked eight hours from her village to our clinic to get the medicines for her.

One of the man’s other wives, Annika, came today and told us the story. Yapinmai received the medicines from Pastor Malasi, but never took them.  We do not know why.  In just a few days, they laid her body in the grave.

Annika was nursing Yapinmai’s infant daughter today. Her own child cried because his milk was being given to his half-sister.  Those weren’t the only tears shed today. We cried too.

The man has only three wives now.  And we have a new milk baby.