Marasmus boy lives with single parent

The Jakarta Post Jakarta

Looking pale, Rahmatulloh, a two-and-a-half-year old boy who is afflicted with marasmus, or extreme malnutrition lies helplessly in his hospital bed at the Koja public hospital in North Jakarta.

All he can do is cry, asking for his father, Junaidi, to carry him in his arms.

Weighing only five kilograms, which is far from the ideal 15 kilograms for a toddler his age, Rahmatulloh also has tuberculosis and anemia, both a result of a severe lack of nutrition.

"Ever since he was born, he rarely eats rice. Not even porridge. He also never consumed breast milk from his late mother," Junaidi told The Jakarta Post at the hospital on Friday.

Rahmatulloh is not the only son of Junaedi who is receiving medical care. Three-and-a-half-year-old Abdul Mu'in is also being treated at the hospital for malnutrition.

Rahmatulloh and Abdul Mu'in are just two of 12 severely malnourished children in Jakarta. According to City Health Agency head Abdul Chalik Masulili, there are some 8,450 undernourished children in the capital.

Currently, Koja hospital is treating six undernourished children, who came from across the North Jakarta municipality.

Junaidi, who earns a living by working as a port laborer, lives with his eight children in a five-by-three meter plywood shanty in the Penjaringan District, North Jakarta.

He initially had 11 children, but lost three of them to disease.

His children lost their mother six months ago, leaving him as the sole parent to take care of his eight children.

"He has too many children, and their ages are too close. Their house is too small and dirty for his children to live in," said his neighbor, Putut Sunyoto.

Junaidi's eldest child is Nurdin, 14 and the rest are Dodi, 13, Nawawi, 10, Maesaroh, nine, Yusuf, eight, Mutmainah, five, Abdul Mu'in, three and Rahmatulloh, two years and six months.

Junaidi acknowledged that since his wife's death, his children's health has continued to deteriorate as they didn't have someone to prepare them nutritious meals anymore.

Dodi, who quit school after his mother passed away, said that his little brothers had difficulty eating even though he cooked for them every day.

"I cook one liter of rice and serve two fried fish almost every day," Dodi told the Post at his house in Penjaringan.

Darma Diyani, a volunteer at the integrated health post (Posyandu) near Junaidi's house, said that Junaidi's health awareness was more a cause of his children's illness than economic hardship.

"The Posyandu is just five meters away. But he refuses to have his children immunized or to have them examined. When his wife was alive, he also refused to use contraceptives," Diyani said, adding that the other 200 children under five living in the community unit were in good health.

Junaidi admitted that he refused to use contraceptives because he believed that it was against his religion, but he admitted that he should pay more intention to his children's daily nutritional needs.

"After my sons are cured, I promise to be more careful in taking care of their health," said Junaidi. (006)