My love for reading has, unfortunately, never taken me to the health section. I usually get health tips via a few random posts on social media and that’s it.
I am a picky selector of food for starters, and very particular that what I eat doesn’t contain white ants, grasshoppers, mutton, and now the popular craze, goats’ meat (the he goat scent really revolts me). Sweet potatoes, groundnut paste, posho, and a very lesser extent of Irish potatoes and plantain (matooke) aren’t things that I eagerly look out for on a menu. I do not have any allergic reaction to this latter list of foods but that’s just it. I just don’t like them. Rice, pork, chicken, and fish are bae.
But then here I am. Reading Lutgard Musiime’s Differently Abled Nutrition and I am totally shocked at what people, especially children go through along their feeding journey. I should totally be ashamed of myself that; being blessed by God to be able to consume these foods, I choose to be picky yet there are people out there wishing they or their children can be able to at least put one fork or spoon into their mouth.
The book is not written in a monotonous academician tone but the writer took time to spice it with her own experiences which some are common to many of us, with passion and empathy so as to drive her points home and that, I feel, was so useful as it builds an identity between the author and the reader. She as well gives acknowledgment to God that some of these things happen, not that we are bad people but because God willed it that it may be the avenue through which His name could be glorified. By the time you are through with her personal stories, you next realize that you are into the points she is driving home.
This book does not only dive into issues of feeding and dealing with differently abled children, tackling issues like autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome amongst others, some terms I never knew of, it also gives knowledge to pregnant women and lactating mothers, highlighting issues that seriously need to be looked into with each carefully explained so you are not left guessing how you got there.
It opened me up to facts I didn’t know about disability like the cleft lip story as these are things that I have always wondered about but never quite got time to go over. Life, as I had previously known it, has gotten a whole new meaning to me now that I know, in a step closer, about the challenges that surround disability and how to manage such situations as it takes one through childbirth to dealing with the child’s emotions, diet, abilities, and capabilities, etc.
I would like to urge everyone especially parents-to-be that they need to be armed with such information so as to prepare for uncertainties that might leave them remorseful, ungodly, beaten, etc. yet they can actually manage them, as this information would help them navigate through the whole situation seamlessly. Another best part is that, for all the knowledge she has put in here, it goes for just 35,000/=. How more generous can one be?
When she said, “This is my easy way of reaching out to you and assuring you that; you are not alone.” I felt that.
About the Author:
Lutgard Musiime is a qualified nutritionist with an honors Bachelor’s degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from Kyambogo University, Uganda.
She is passionate about children’s nutrition, with special attention to children with different abilities, pregnant women, and lactating mothers.
She also runs a personal, nutrition centred blog at http:/lutgardmusiime.com/
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