Skip to main content

Kevin’s Story

By August 4, 2020Stories

Kevin was born on July 28, 2019, in Santa Maria Ruvetzul, Aldea Campur, San Pedro Carchá, Alta Verapaz. He was registered in the Cleft Infant Nutrition Program on August 13. Zoila Tut, Partner for Surgery’s Health Promoter, trained Kevin´s parents, Enrique and Tomasa, to care for baby Kevin. He was happy and developing, so his mom and dad were notified that Kevin was going to be scheduled to receive cleft lip surgery in March 2020. Everyone in the family was so happy and celebrated the news. But, unfortunately, things were about to get complicated. During various visits to Kevin’s home, Zoila noticed that Tomasa was having problems with her vision, and they were becoming progressively worse. Zoila decided to train Kevin’s father and 8-year-old sister on how to prepare the formula, bottles, and feed Kevin to keep him healthy. When Zoila came to visit in January, Kevin had lost one pound, but he had been sick with diarrhea. In February 2020, After Zoila and Aurelio (Nutrition Program Coordinator) did the growth monitoring and control, they realized Kevin had lost 3 pounds in one month. Kevin was not only going to be unable to travel to receive surgery with Smiles for Guatemala but had to be taken to the Nutritional Recovery Center at the Health Center in San Cristobal Verapaz in an ambulance. He was released from the hospital two weeks later completely recovered.

Zoila asked Enrique and Tomasa why Kevin had lost that much weight in one month. Finally, Tomasa said, “I have to be honest. I have completely lost my vision. I am no longer able to care for my son. I can’t get water from the tank, boil it, and prepare the bottle for Kevin. I can hardly walk in the house without hitting myself with everything, and I am afraid to cause a fire and destroy the house. I am unable to take care of my son and my other children. Someone has to help me. But my husband has to go to work to feed our family and my 8-year-old daughter has to go to school. How can I help Kevin?”, Tomasa said.

Then, COVID-19 surprised us in Guatemala, and government restrictions were put in place, including the suspension of public transportation. We rapidly began the process of getting waivers from the government authorities, finding transportation, and providing proper protection for our Health Promoters to continue with their work. Zoila was pleased and grateful to be able to visit Kevin at home despite the pandemic and her having to ride on a motorcycle for 6 hours. In the last four visits, Zoila has focused on continuous training Kevin´s father, his grandmother, and his 8-year-old sister to make sure they will help taking care of Kevin. So, now they are all contributing to prepare the bottles, and Tomasa feels blessed that she can still have this bonding moment of holding and feeding his baby. We at Compañero para Cirugia/Partner for Surgery are committed to accompanying Kevin and his family throughout his journey until we make sure that he receives the surgeries he needs and that he is safe and healthy enough. In the meantime, we are not only providing nutritional supplements for Kevin but essential food and supplies for the family as they are one of the thousands of people who have lost their primary job and income.