Weekly Visit to Chop

Mike, Solomiya and I joined our friend, Ernesto, for another visit to the Children's Hospital in Chop. We brought diapers and wipes that the nurses had asked for, and also a box of chocolates for the staff.
The head nurse introduced us to a 4-month-old that is a recent addition to the hospital; he weighs 2 kilograms. That's just a little over 4lbs! The nurse said that his mom was not feeding him.
I posted some pics below. So sad- this little baby was being starved. You know what I want to write: wtf. Seriously. What the hell is someone going through that they come to the point where they are starving their child. (i'm not being sarcastic- seriously, what are they going through?). God, please help them. But... I can't write it- too risky; might offend. So we'll pretend it's not there.
We were talking with Ernesto afterwards and he said that since the Ukrainian government began giving families money for having children (due to the country's declining population rate/growth- an incentive to have more babies and increase the Ukrainian population), Roma families will often have as many babies as they can, use the money for themselves and not care for their own children.
Next week, we're going to start our weekly visits on Wednesdays. I'm also going to ask the nurse about doing some OT with the babies while we are there.
And- next week Bethany will be coming with us! Very excited to have our friend from NY come and volunteer for a couple of weeks!