India was possibly the most incredible experience I have ever had. When I arrived at 11:00 p.m. everything was foreign. In Mumbai, I saw the slums. They were beautiful. They were intricate, tiny, but they were colorful. From the outside they looked like a pile of metal scrap, not suitable for anyone to live in, but on the inside they were alive. Garbage littered the ground I walked on, where stray dogs played and children walked barefoot. It was hard to fathom the life these people lived. Even through the poverty, these people were happy. They had so little, but they had each other, the emphasis was on family. They always spent time together, ate dinner together, things that are seldom done in the U.S., and are taken for granted.

After a couple of days spent in the slums, we traveled to the countryside. Here we met with two optometrists. They used their incredible talent and money to give back to their people. It was truly inspirational to see what they had done. The people in these towns and cities were the most gracious people I have ever met. We went to do a civil service to these people, something that should have been done for them anyway, and here these people were, giving us more then they had. It was the most beautiful thing my eyes have ever seen. They were so accepting and welcoming, every child with a smile on their face that lit up the room. Here they were doomed to live in poverty, yet they were happy. I hope to travel back to India in the future with Vitamin Angels so that I can try to give back all that the people of India have given me.

Thirty-three children enveloped us the moment we arrived at the Neema Children’s Home in Eldoret, Kenya. This orphanage, started by Joshua and Miriam Mbithi felt like the most loving place on earth. I looked around the room and each of us (Brett Schulman from Snikiddy, Melody Harwood from tCantox, Matt Dayka, our photographer), including our friend Dr. Jim Lemons who had introduced us to Neema, and Joshua Mbithi who started this place with his wife Miriam only 4 years ago, had at least 3 or 4 children in our arms or on our laps. Each child introduced themselves and just wanted to be with us. I could have stayed there forever. The children have been through some difficult times, all were either abandoned or orphaned and many are shunned by the community because they are HIV positive. We knew their history but the moment we entered Neema Home we saw 33 of the most wonderful children on the planet.

In that instant I knew why people have dedicated their lives to the teaching hospital, Moi University School of Medicine, (our partner for the Kenya project) a collaboration with Indiana University started by Dr. Joe Mamlin over 20 years ago. Our colleague, Dr. Jim Lemons has also been working here for years and recently started the Riley Mother and Baby Hospital, probably the most outstanding hospital in all of Eastern Africa, which is just opening this week.

The poverty in this region is extreme. The violence is palpable (we all sleep with 'panic buttons' next to our beds) and everyone lives with the memory of last year’s massacre which left so many dead (the epicenter was in Eldoret, only a short distance from the hospital). Chronic malnutrition is at epidemic levels, there are very high rates of infant and child mortality and today when we visited the intensive care unit, there were over 40 low birth weight babies (weighing 1.5, 2 or 3 pounds!). Every single doctor, nurse, and breast-feeding expert we met thanked us profusely for the prenatal vitamins we recently shipped them (we sent in 6.6 million – thank you Procaps Labs!). They are going to make a huge difference in this community.

I’ve gone back and forth on Kenya since we arrived. We got off the plane in Eldoret to this amazing chanting reception for Salina Kosgei who had just won the Boston marathon. Eldoret looked so rural and peaceful – a stark contrast to the fear and caution we heard about repeatedly around Nairobi. Then Dr. Mamlin told us about the 'panic buttons' near our beds and we learned about last year’s violence and were cautioned about going out at night, and I wondered how people could work in this environment. During the afternoon I spoke with Dr. Lemons who carried his vision for the Riley Maternal and Baby Hospital, and Dr. Hillary Mabea, who is the head of Obstetrics and one of the sweetest men (he told me he was more nervous about the podcast than about doing surgery) and Dr. Julia Sangok, a neonatologist, who is so dedicated to improving the lives of these mothers and infants, that she like so many others is working around the clock. I was so impressed by their dedication to making a difference in this challenging environment.

But it was the children who reminded me why we all do this work. The hospital now has 12 children living there – all abandoned or orphaned and many with HIV. They are beautiful, so alive, so open, and so ready to trust a world that in many ways has let them down. I saw the same thing at Neema house and knew there is only one response we can have – to show up for these children and remind them that they are worth it and there are so many people who care about them and want them to have a healthy and full life. It really is the only thing we can do.

A special Thank you to:

Andrew Lessman and Procaps Labs, Hope In Action and our friend Jim Floyd, Dr. Jim Lemons and Dr. Joe Mamlin from Indiana University, Snikiddy Snacks, Cantox, Ode Magazine, Matt Dayka (photographer extraordinaire), and everyone at Riley Mother and Baby Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya for reminding us what is possible, and to all of the supporters of Vitamin Angels – you make this work possible!

Talking to Sam Slavin, our contact from Batey Relief Alliance (BRA) and Dr. Alexander, the only doctor in the border community of Ans-A Priti-e, Haiti, we realized there was a huge need for a vitamin distribution (high infant mortality, chronic malnutrition, low birth weights, sickness, etc.). We made the decision yesterday afternoon that we would be back in the morning to help. Sam, Dr. Alexander, and the team from the local water purification project, assured us they would get the word out. This often means going around on motor scooters and telling everyone you see, or walking door to door. Dr. Alexander also does a radio show and he told us he would tell people to come. Still we had no idea. We showed up at 9am this morning, saw twenty-five people and figured the vitamin supply we had left would be sufficient and the fruit we had brought to hand out would be more than enough. And then the people started coming and never stopped. We ended up registering 350 moms with their children and half way through knew we were in trouble. We did a fast consultation with Sam and he agreed to pull other supplements and antiparasitics we had sent for other distributions and bring them to this one, so we could make sure everyone who came today would get vitamins.

We quickly sent people scrambling off on motorbikes to get supplies. We enlisted Tom Dziki (now our official packaging expert) and Michael Funk (both from UNFI) and Tom Tolworthy (from Vitamin Shoppe) as the emergency repack crew – they ended up packaging hundreds of bags of vitamins. The first children we saw showed signs of major chronic malnutrition – extremely small arms and legs and low weights and heights for their ages. I was concerned and really glad we were there with some resources to help improve the children’s health in this community. Once the distribution started, we were immediately overwhelmed. It took everyone on our team (including 10-year old Anabella) and Dr. Alexander and Sam’s teams, to be able to reach everyone. At one point I counted 9 people handing out vitamins! A little chaos and a very successful start to improving the health of children in this forgotten town on the border of Haiti and Dominican Republic.

Watch the podcast in our Videos or at http://www.vitaminangels.org/menu/media/podcasts.htm.

We honestly did not know what to expect when we arrived in Las Mercedes this morning. The two health promoters that had promised to meet us in Pedernales at 8:30am were nowhere to be found. Samira, the head of the health advocates and a nurse finally showed and by the time we arrived in the village over 150 women, children, and babies (and a few men) were waiting for us. The people in Las Mercedes are largely Haitian and speak a French / Creole dialect, many had walked for miles to be here. No medical help exists in this village and the water has to get trucked in then stored in small holding tanks in the front of people’s homes. We did the education portion of the distribution alternating between English, Spanish and Creole – luckily Janit, the village health promoter was there to assist with the local dialect.

Anabella our 10 year old videographer was there assisting with the vitamin distribution and later handing out pencils, bouncy balls, and a few other toys she had brought to share with the children. Tom Tolworthy from Vitamin Shoppe, and Michael Funk and Tom Dziki from UNFI were on board bagging extra supplies of vitamins when we realized we had underestimated the enormous demand.

We ended the day in Ans-A Priti-e (pronounced Anz-a-pree), the Haitian town right across the border from Pedernales. After our liaison, Sam Slavin, from Batey Relief Alliance (BRA) gave a brief assurance to the border guards that we were only there to hand out vitamins, we were waved through and walked across the bridge. We made our way past the UN Peacekeeping compound, seen as largely unnecessary and a little resented by the locals (their budget and facility dwarfs the rest of the community), and ended up meeting with Dr. Alexander at a local hospital. He told us chronic malnutrition is severe in this area, there is a high rate of vitamin A deficiency, and infant mortality is a major problem – definitely where we want to be working. We’ll be back in the morning for our first vitamin and antiparasitic distribution in this village – part of Vitamin Angels' Thrive to Five campaign connecting women and children with vital nutrition.

Watch Anabella's podcast in our Videos or at http://www.vitaminangels.org/menu/media/podcasts.htm.

4/6/09
After the people of the Barrio Maria Montez realized we were there only to help them and wanted to spend some time getting to know them, they let us right into their community. We walked down the dusty white dirt road into the heart of the village. The children ran ahead with excitement as we were led by the community health workers. Being the photographer with the giant camera, I get some interesting reactions out of the kids. Some are shy at first while others can’t seem to get enough attention. By the end of my impromptu English-Spanish lesson making animal noises and dancing around like a fool, a group filled with energy and smiles had formed around me. I love how children are children no matter where you are. It didn’t matter that not one of them understood most of what I was saying (in either language!), they were just happy that someone cared and paid attention to them.

4/7/09
We drove to the border today, parked the car, and walked over the littered riverbed and into Haiti. The paved road quickly ended as it gave way to rubble and mud. A stream flowed down the main street in town where everyone was sitting outside. The poverty on the Dominican side of the island is staggering, but even just a stone’s throw away, it was somehow worse. Children quickly were tagging along to see what we were doing there. My first impression of the country is that is one tough place. I could see the pain and struggle these people experience in the looks I would get from them. Tomorrow we head back for a distribution that we are expecting to be overwhelming based on the amount of need we saw today. I am anxious to see the reaction we get.


www.mattdayka.com