Una Mas Sweeties

The children of Sparrow eat like fiends. There is a general attempt among the staff to keep the children plump, with the intent of fostering nutritional reserves for times of illness or wasting, to stave off weight loss and failure to thrive. There is probably also an element of easy pleasing, treats being for the most part readily accessible means of enjoyment or reward for the kids. All the food is donated regularly by surrounding restaurants and grocery stores as it nears expiration. And finally, there is the perspective that in the bigger picture of these children's lives, some overfeeding and unhealthy attitudes towards food are not worth the effort to avoid, discourage, or correct.

Being orphans they just have a begging reflex, or habit. This morning I was walking with a banana and a nectarine to our car, and a group of them was playing behind a nearby fence. Even the oldest started shouting our names pleadingly, ignoring our friendly hellos and attempts to chat, saying, “Please! I want a banana. Give me fruits. I want fruits. I want sweeties. Can I have money?” Practically everyone they see hands out sweets. They are definitely not hungry because, as I have said, they are fed constantly here. And they do get fruit. It just seems that they want whatever someone else has, I guess because it is usually better than what they have.

Many children’s teeth are rotten, for lots of reasons. As we discovered, they don't always have their own toothbrushes and don't always brush their teeth. They are given candy all the time - at church, at the doctor, for being good or for being bad. They drink a Kool-Aid-like substance at every meal. Past bottle age they drink no milk. Of course it’s expensive and hard to store here. The water is not fluorinated. For any trace of calcium and other minerals, they are given Sejo as a snack, an expensive soy meal cereal, similar to Cream of Wheat but more calorie-dense. Some of their many medications also contribute to the tooth decay. They are always chewing on something, plastic objects or bits of balloon if not candy or gum. It is all in all a dental nightmare. Hence our toothbrushing campaign.

Here is a video of a trick a visitor taught the creche children one day: