'I don't know what nutritious food is'<\/p>\n
Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Mataram<\/p>\n
Thirteen-month-old Muhammad Azmi, feeble and with a swollen
\nstomach, is crying in his mother's arms. He is one of the many
\nunfortunate children in West Nusa Tenggara suffering from
\nmarasmus, chronic undernourishment resulting from calorie and
\nprotein deficiency.<\/p>\n
The second child of Saleh and Suli, residents of Presak
\nSidakarya, Lingsar district in West Lombok regency, was four
\nmonths in the womb when his father went to Malaysia to seek work.<\/p>\n
Upon the departure of her husband, Suli moved in with her in-
\nlaws, which is normal on Lombok island.<\/p>\n
Although her husband works in the more prosperous neighboring
\ncountry , Suli said he sent home money only twice. \"I used it up
\nfor the child's birth and other needs. He has not returned home
\nas yet,\" said Suli, who works as a farmhand during the planting
\nand harvesting seasons with her in-laws.<\/p>\n
\"If there is no work tilling other people's land, then I just
\nsit around idle,\" said Suli, who usually gets Rp 5,000 (52 U.S.
\ncents) for sowing rice seedlings on a one hectare plot, and gets
\n15 kilograms of unhulled rice for stripping the husks of 100
\nkilograms of rice during harvest time.<\/p>\n
The elementary school graduate acknowledged she had no
\ndifficulty in obtaining rice. For side dishes, she only has to
\nlook for vegetables easily available in the surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
\"Rice is still our staple food, but only eaten with boiled
\nvegetables, such as cassava leaves or long beans. They're easily
\navailable, and there's no need to pay for them,\" Suli said.<\/p>\n
She said the villagers rarely ate tofu, tempeh or fish, and
\nuse firewood to cook. \"We only eat meat during festivals,\" said
\nSuli. Rice and boiled vegetables with sambal (chili paste) is
\nvery appetizing and is the family's favorite dish, she said.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know what nutritious food is. For us, eating rice and
\nvegetables every day is already nutritious. I only learned of the
\nmeaning of nutrition when Azmi became ill and had to be brought
\nto the hospital,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Azmi eats the same food as his mother every day. \"Azmi's
\nfavorite is rice and boiled cassava leaves,\" she said.<\/p>\n
It was only after Azmi's health deteriorated significantly he
\nwas taken to the doctor, who later referred him to the hospital.<\/p>\n
When Azmi was first taken to hospital, he only weighed some
\neight kilograms, with his abdomen severely bloated and his legs
\nswollen.<\/p>\n
After undergoing treatment for 16 days in Mataram General
\nHospital, his weight had fallen to seven kilograms but the
\nswelling of his abdomen had subsided. However, his health was
\nstill poor, and he suffered from a high fever and persistent
\ncoughing.<\/p>\n
Rice-rich West Nusa Tenggara hit the headlines recently after
\nmedia reports disclosed that 487 children were suffering from marasmus.
\nTen of them died as a result. The real number of children with
\nmarasmus is estimated to be much higher as many cases are not
\nofficially reported to the province's health office.<\/p>\n
According to www.emedicine.com, marasmus is one of the three
\nforms of serious protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). The other two
\nare kwashiorkor (KW) and marasmic KW. According to the World
\nHealth Organization, 49 percent of the 10.4 million deaths
\noccurring in children younger than 5 years in developing
\ncountries are associated with PEM.<\/p>\n
Other families with malnourished children lead similar lives
\nto Azmi's family.<\/p>\n
Nurul Janah, a 10-month-old malnourished baby girl, only
\nweighs four kilograms. She lives in a house with plaited bamboo
\nwalls in a densely populated area of Karang Pule, Mataram, where
\nthe houses are tightly packed together with almost no space
\nbetween them.<\/p>\n
Nurul is the daughter of M. Sai and Rumenah. Rumenah is a housewife,
\nwhile her husband works as a cidomo (traditional horsecart)
\ndriver who sometimes does odd jobs.<\/p>\n
\"My husband earns only between Rp 5,000 and Rp 6,000 daily. We
\nnormally eat rice with vegetables, but rarely eat fish, unless my
\nhusband earns extra money,\" said Rumelah.<\/p>\n
Nurul, who is just starting to consume solid food, eats the
\nsame food as his parents. \"Besides mother's milk, I also feed her
\nrice porridge,\" she said.<\/p>\n
As her health deteriorated, Nurul first experienced a high
\nfever before her temperature dropped below the normal level.
\nGradually, she became thinner.<\/p>\n
In both cases, neither Suli or Rumenah realized their children
\nwere malnourished. All they knew was that their children were
\nill.<\/p>",
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