Margaret Update

It has been two and a half years since I first told Margaret’s story, and people still regularly ask about her. 

Margaret was the child that broke me. We work with hundreds of kids, but Margaret was the first that kept me up at night, made me cry, and became the face and the voice that represented thousands of other needy children in Liberia.

 When we found Margaret, she was two years old and suffering from a prolapsed rectum, a complication of worm infestation and poor nutrition. Recognizing that this was outside my scope of practice, I took her to the Doctors Without Borders clinic, where the first words out of the clinician’s mouth were “this child is malnourished, is she in a feeding program?” Immediately guilt ridden, I explained that we had just started food deliveries to her orphanage, but that this was only the second time I had seen her. 

Happily, after three visits to the hospital, being treated for worms, and getting regular food, Margaret started doing much better. Today, she is a healthy five year old who loves to play hide and seek, and giggles when Auntie Mariel finds her.

Margaret was the first child that broke me, but there have been many more tears, fitful sleeps, and prayers for wisdom in the responsibility we have. It’s overwhelming at times, but also incredibly rewarding to see lives so transformed.