A sad story of a malnourished girl in NTT Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang
Her gaze is sharp but blank. She has no appetite. Her stomach is distended and rib bones clearly show. Her hair is unkempt, legs and hands scrawny, and mucus runs from her nose.
That's Kristin Lubalu, 13, a girl from Naibonat village in the Kupang regency on the island of Timor. She lays frailly in bed.
She has been diagnosed with malnutrition and tuberculosis and forced to spend her days at the third-class Cempaka children's ward at the Bhayangkara Hospital in Kupang.
She is not attended to by any of her parents or relatives, but only a few nurses. The East Nusa Tenggara police chief, Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang adopted Kristin as his foster child as he felt deep pity for her.
She lives a life full of misery. She was born in 1992 to a poor family. Kristin and her two other siblings, Iwan Lubalu, 14, and Sady Lubalu survive on the pity of Beci Lubalu, 70, a midwife, and also their grandmother.
Their mother Linda, 30, is nowhere to found. She is reportedly living with her new husband in another place.
In a frail state, Kristin related her story. "We live in a small hut with corrugated iron sheets for a roof. The floor is still bare ground. It's hot in the dry season and when the wet season comes, our house is flooded in water," she said.
The interview was interrupted when she threw up and then cried. She continued her story a few moments later.
"We never drink milk. We eat vegetables but not routinely. We eat only rice porridge mixed with salt every day. Grandma has no money to buy meat. We sleep on the ground with a mat," she said.
She tries to stand up occasionally, but then slips back again, as her legs are too weak and thin to support her distended belly. She sometimes cracks a smile, but her stare is bare. An intravenous tube in stick into her left arm.
Kristin says she has never been to an integrated health post before. She doesn't know her exact weight. Although she is a third grader at the Naibonat Elementary School, she looks like a child under five-years-old, who likes to whine and cry.
"I don't want to eat fish and vegetables. I don't like them. They're not tasty. I just want to eat rice with salt. Please don't mix it with anything else. I'm used to eating rice with salt," said Kristin.
There were eggs, tofu, tempe, vegetables, fish, meat, milk and fruit, as well as biscuits, bread and other delicious food on offer. But due to her long-established eating habits, she only weighs 10 kilograms even though she is already 13 years old.
The nurses have the task of devising ways to get Kristin to eat, including singing, telling stories, reading poems, as well as old-fashioned threats.
"Your teacher said that you have to eat plenty. You must drink milk, eat fish and vegetables to become smart. The doctor will get angry and inject you if you don't eat," urged Naomi, 43, a nurse attending Kristin.
Despite this, Kristin, who has for years survived on just rice and salt, still refuses to eat.
More than 70,000 children from poor families have a similar eating pattern to that of Kristin Lubalu. They only survive by eating whatever there is. For them, the most important thing is to be full, and that is enough.