Nov. 6, 2014

We are told that a baby was found in the trash not far away from the orphanage where we were building a Harvest107 microfarm. The baby had been in the hospital for 10 days and was not getting better. The hospital told the orphanage to come and get him – that they didn’t have what was necessary to keep the baby alive or to get him well. He was startving and suffering from severe malnutrition, in addition to many scratches and infections from the trash.

Nov. 7, 2014

After being turned away the previous night and spending the night at a different hospital, the orphanage was called yet again to pick up baby Jonathan (as the first hospital named him). After calling around to every local hospital and making several other calls, it was determined that Jonathan was not going to be able to find care in Port au Prince. The hospital demanded that the orphanage pick him up right away. They did and placed him our arms shortly after. He weighted barely 10 lbs and was estimated to be about 18 months old. He was frail, weak, and smelled like pepper – and so we gave him the nickname “Johnny Pepper”.

We heard about a malnutrition program up a mountain a couple hours away and made some calls. After speaking with them and sending some pictures, they kindly pre-admitted baby Jonathan and we took off. Getting there was quite the adventure – up a steep mountain, no true road, over a broken bridge, through a river and we finally arrived to Real Hope for Haiti. We were told his chances were not good and we reached out to everyone we knew for prayer.

Nov. 8, 2014

We received this note from Real Hope for Haiti:

We did HIV test and it is negative. This is a quick stick test and he will have another test done at a lab at a later date.

He weighs 10 pounds 3 ounces. I would say he will at least lose a pound or more from the edema from the kwashiorkor [protein deficiency]. His arm circumference is 10.5 cm. He is 68 cm long. So he is considered severely malnourished (in the red) with arm circumference and weight.

We started him on the F-75 therapeutic milk last night. He is drinking well from the bottle.

We put an IV line/lock in but have not started an IV yet. We also give IV antibiotics through this line. I will wait and see what medication that have already given him at [previous hospital] before we start another round here. He is a little dehydrated but drinking well so we are watching him today to see how he does.

Jan. 28, 2015

Johnny Pepper graduates from Real Hope for Haiti’s Medika Mamba program, weighing in at 16 lbs!

Feb. 3, 2015

Real Hope for Haiti delivers a healthy, happy, and chunky Johnny Pepper into our arms and we celebrate the greatness of our God. He must have BIG plans for this little boy!