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An infant cannot survive without milk. A household trying to survive on $1 a day can’t afford a single can of infant formula or even a small carton of milk. When a child’s life is in danger, Milk and Medicine is an answer to a mother’s prayer.
Infant formula, toddler appropriate food, and doctor prescribed medicines enable families living in deep poverty to feed and care for their children at home.
$20 monthly provides care for one child. We feed over 200 children every month from community church locations and there is a long waiting list. Sponsors will receive a monthly picture and story of a child who is representative of the many children in the program.
A grandmother caring for her orphaned grandson explained: “Before he started the milk program he was sick and very thin. At one time I thought he was going to die and I lost hope and was full of fear. Now he is big and even looking so nice and fat.”
A widowed mother described her fear and hopelessness: “I started coming here after my husband died, and I had no food, I had no money to buy milk for my daughter. Now I have seen my daughter come back to life. You know what it is like when you see your baby dying, and I thought she would soon follow her father in death. But thank God my daughter is alive.”
$20 monthly . . . It costs so little to give so much.
 Adria lives with her grandmother having lost both of her parents before she was one year old. Her grandmother is strong and healthy, but it is very hard for her to have a small child with great needs. Finding money for the simple foods Adria needs to eat to stay healthy has put a burden on the entire household of six other relatives. Adria's grandfather is also healthy and does some odd jobs when he can find them. The Milk and Medicine program has provided the family with the food they need to keep Adria in the family home, and eventually she will regain her strength and grow up as a healthy little girl.
 Saul's story is one of those where day by day you can see the result of good food, and love. Saul's father died when he was just one year old. Saul has a brother who is ten years old, and a sister who is eight. His mother has AIDS and is semi-employed. There is never enough food in the household even though Saul's mother works as a housekeeper for another local family. She struggles every day to find enough money to buy food. When she applied and was accepted into the Milk and Medicine program, she said that this was a good day and she was grateful. Saul has gained weight, is energetic, and very bright for a three year old. He will remain on the program until he is 5, when he will be able to fully recover from his early childhood malnutrition.
 Rachel lives with her ailing mother and a brother and two sisters. Her mother has AIDS, but that has not stopped her from being a volunteer at her local church. She is unemployed and sometimes receives gifts of food from her church family, but is not enough to be able to feed all of her children. Rachel was very lethargic and would sit for hours with no energy to play or participate in the small things children do in the home. When the Milk and Medicine program came to her church, Rachel's mother quickly responded and although there were many, many families in need, Rachel was in dire need of help and quickly. Today, she is a smiling, happy child filled with new energy and happy to be a help to the family. She will remain on the program for two more years until she reaches the age of 5 and is past the crisis of malnutrition.
 Before Lamar was entered into the Milk and Medicine program he was so severely malnourished that he had lost all of his hair. Both his mother and father are unemployed with no means to be able to give Lamar the extra calories found in soya porridge, ground nuts and the Zambian staple foods. Little by little, Lamar responded to the nutrition support and the encouragement of the Milk and Medicine team, and his church family. Lamar is one of 209 boys and girls currently on the Milk and Medicine program. As a result Lamar is quite pleased to show off his growing hair. Go Lamar!!
Learn more about the Milk & Medicine program.
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