Florance lived with her family in the DRC until the war came. She was forced to flee the violence and escaped to Uganda. Her son Thiery got very sick. He was diagnosed with malaria and malnutrition. Florance shares her story of visiting the clinic with Thiery, “I met with health workers of Medical Teams. They came in, they gave him some IV treatments. He was given medicines to boost the [iron in his] blood and he was given other tablets to take for malaria. They also told me that my child has malnutrition. During that time, he spent four days in the hospital. At the time when my child was improving, I began to feel a lot of joy, and my heart was filled with praises and I'm like, ‘Thanks be to God. My child is improving.’"
Following the visit to the hospital, a Medical Teams nutritionist visited Florance at home. He helped show her which homegrown foods would help keep Thiery healthy. “I also followed the advice. I grew maize, I grew some soya, some sorghum, alongside other vegetables, and I was able to prepare nutritious food for my son,” Florance explains, “When [Medical Teams] visits me, I feel happy. I feel encouraged. I feel stronger. They have empowered me. They have given me hope. They restored my strength because I had a feeling that my child wouldn't make it. I feel so good at the time when I'm sharing my knowledge with [my neighbors]. I show them how to prepare these various porridges. When I'm teaching them, I feel so empowered. I have made friends who visit me, who share about our families. And in the rainy season, I have plenty of vegetables. They come to see my garden. Some of them, I give them some of my vegetables and they come and see what I'm doing. They also go and do it and they feel happy.”
