Anita Zelek provided the following update on the work Jess and Mike Zelek have been doing this summer in Nicaragua.
Mike sends his greetings and his appreciation for your encouragement, prayers, and donations. Please do keep him in your prayers for his health and safety and that he will be able to do the work that he is there to do. He is grateful for everyone's support in any and all forms. The following is some of the latest news on his projects: research, health and nutrition, and hosting visiting groups. In some ways, these all overlap with each other.
Research: Mike's friend from high school, Jess, is now a grad student in epidemiology at UNC. She is currently involved in a research collaboration between UNC and the medical school in León, Nicaragua. Their project is in the northeast, Caribbean, side of the country in a very remote area which was devastated by a hurricane. It's an area that is accessed by canoe, after a very long bus ride. They have no access to computers or telephones. They are doing research on how the inhabitants' health has fared since the hurricane. Jess is there now.
However, Jess also wanted to do some research related to the health and nutrition of families of the children served by Fabretto Foundation in the area of the impoverished town, Cusmapa. So she spent an extra month in Nicaragua. Also the directors of Fabretto had wanted to do a study of the educational levels of the mothers to see if higher educational levels among the mothers translates to lesser incidence of malnutrition in the children. However Fabretto did not have funding to conduct a study.
Jess and Mike met with the Fabretto folks, who also arranged for them to meet for consultation with a USAID Foreign Service Officer, who has a background in epidemiology. They developed a 54-item survey which was a combination of health, education and nutrition questions. In order to reach as many families as possible in one week's time, Mike recruited the help of some volunteers, SAT (Rural Tutorial Learning System) teachers, who go out into communities where there are no schools and teach high school.
Ten researchers in all, Jess, Mike, the SAT teachers, and some scholarship college students, administered the survey to 250 households in 21 communities, 19 of which are served by Fabretto, in and around Cusmapa, the areas where Mike has been searching for sick children and working on getting them to healthcare services.
They rode in the Fabretto pick-up truck as far as they could and then walked several hours per day to the homes which are scattered about the countryside. Since Fabretto only feeds children at school and would like to be able to get grants to feed younger children, they need data pertaining to the needs of younger children. So the surveys focused on children less than 5 years old. They were able to obtain data on 247 children.
Observations: The families were very welcoming and hospitable, even to foreign strangers. The mothers allowed them to handle and weigh their babies. (Mike had gotten the Red Cross to let them borrow scales.) Jess told me that because Mike has spent much time in these communities, it sometimes took him longer to administer surveys because the families wanted to tell him all of their problems. And some families wanted to complain that he wasn't fixing those problems!
The Fabretto truck delivers food and SAT text books to drop-off points for the extremely rural schools. The father's come on foot to meet the truck to pick up the food to carry it to the schools for the kids' lunches, walking for hours each way.
Jess found Mike's help with the logistics, knowledge of the culture and how to get around in the surrounding area, and his persistence (refusal to take "No" for an answer when they needed to obtain supplies or resources) to be very beneficial. She evaluated the data and presented her findings to Fabretto.
Making a difference: Because of this project, a severely malnourished 4-year-old boy, Gabriel, was found by one of the SAT teachers. Fabretto started sending food, which a high school boy in the area to take to Gabriel daily. Also Mike contacted the public health authorities, who have gotten Gabriel admitted to the hospital in Somoto to boost his nutrition. Mike has been able to visit Gabriel in the hospital. (Gabriel's story with a photo) is now on Mike's Razoo website.
Hosting Visiting Groups: There have recently been several American groups of visiting volunteers, who operate out of the Fabretto house in Cusmapa. Mike helps with their programming and assisting Nora, the housekeeper, with the cooking, Tonight I talked to Nora, whom we met last year when we were in Cusmapa. She looks on Mike as a son and has taught him to cook "comidas Nicaragüensas." He, in turn, has taught her Chicken Tetrazzini and Thai dishes. The groups have been helpful with construction projects, teaching, and other humanitarian activities.
A recent group from a Catholic church in Chicago gave Mike some money, with which Mike has bought beds for Gabriel and his mother. A group from a Unitarian church in Tucson has been there for a month helping in various ways. They had a birthday party for Mike (July 10th) complete with a "white on white" birthday cake with buttercream icing, as he requested.
Health: Paralyzed 10-year-old Martín remains in the rehab hospital in Managua. Thanks to this program, both of his parents have been able to be with him at different times there. Fatíma, who has kidney disease, is doing better.
Nutrition: The improved school lunches, including more fresh produce, have been implemented and all money donated through the Razoo nutrition link goes directly to the Fabretto food budget.
Thanks again for all of your support and prayers.
I include the razoo links in case you want to be able to see Gabriel's story or be able to check on updates for either program in the future.
For Medical Cases:
For the lunch program:
Take care,
Anita Zelek
Fabretto Children's Foundation
Mike Zelek's Video--Fabretto Children's Choir and Life in Cusmapa
