PINES Donates to Food Relief
PINES has been fortunate to be able to donate over $2 million in product to malnourished people in the United States and around the world. The stories that come back to us through the charitable organizations that deliver the food underscore the amazing benefits that can come from the nutrients found in leafy green vegetables.
On May 3, 1993, Mr. Kpaka easily lifted his 30 month old daughter into his arms to begin the long journey to the community clinic. His daughter was now almost unrecognizable, weighing a fraction of what she did a few months before. The past month she continually complained of stomach pains and her skin was constantly peeling off all over her body.
He knew she need medical help but the ongoing war in Liberia made it very dangerous to travel, and with the food shortage he didn’t have money to buy medicine. It was only when Saita stopped eating completely and a friend had told him of the Feed My People International (FMPI) medical clinic that he found the courage to take his suffering daughter through the war-torn countryside to someone who might be able to help.
When Dr. Jones received little Saita, he didn’t have much hope that they would be able to save her. She was in an extreme third degree malnourished state. Her muscles had wasted away to the weight of a six month old baby. She had no appetite and had the symptoms of malaria. He prescribed some Chloroquine syrup for the malaria, antibiotics, and gave her some powdered milk from FMPI.
Then he gave her some wheat grass that was on hand at the clinic. This was in great demand as it had helped so many people. He knew if the little girl was to have any chance of surviving that she desperately needed this nutrition. Dr. Jones said that when Saita left that day he never expected to see her again.
One month later, there she was, sitting in the clinic, still unable to walk, but alive! Over the next year the doctor had her father crush wheat grass and mix it with her meals each day until Saita could run and play with her friends. Today Saita is full of life and he father continues to ask for the wheat grass that he believes saved his daughter’s life.
(Transcribed by FMPI staff from an interview with Dr. Amos Seely-Jones at Monrovia, Liberia, in September, 1994, and passed along to PINES with pictures of the distribution of donated wheat grass.)
