Mi Corazón

In Kenya, the malnourished children I saw had lighter hair with an orange tint. Sometimes they had round, white, chalky-looking spots on their scalps or rashes on their arms and legs.

Here in Nicaragua, malnourished children have light-colored, almost yellow hair. It’s striking to see a little baby with beautiful, brown skin and a shock of blonde hair. This happens when the body does not get enough nutrients to sustain the production of melanosomes in the hair follicles. Rashes on the arms and legs are also common signs of malnutrition.

In both Kenya and Nicaragua, malnourished children have skinny arms and legs and appear frail and weak. These children are alarmingly small. They don’t have the crazy-happy-kid energy of healthy, well-fed children.

These images: the lighter hair, the skin rashes, the bony arms and legs,
Replay in my mind over and over.
The bones, the rashes.
The evidence of need,
keep me up at night, infuriate me, sadden me,
Motivate me.

These kids are why I’m here.