DR Congo: From Distress to Hope: How Jeanine Saved Zozo’s Life Through Positive Deviance Hearth
In Gemena, South-Ubangi Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jeanine, a 32-year-old mother of four, knows the pain of losing a child. Before meeting World Vision's nutrition programme, she had already lost two children due to a lack of knowledge about proper nutrition. When her nine-year-old sponsored daughter, Zozo, began showing signs of severe malnutrition, Jeanine feared history was about to repeat itself.
Zozo was emaciated, with swollen feet and discoloured hair clear symptoms of severe acute malnutrition.
“I could already see my child dying because I had gone through this before. But during the Positive Deviance Hearth sessions, I discovered that with what we have here, we can save our children. I learned how to prepare balanced meals using local foods and give my children the care they need,” Jeanine recalls.
Community volunteers supported by World Vision quickly identified Zozo's condition and referred her for treatment. She was admitted to the Outpatient Therapeutic Feeding Unit (OTFU), where she received Plumpy'Nut provided by World Vision to stabilise her condition and treat the complications caused by severe malnutrition, particularly oedema.
According to Sylvain Sambo, Health and Nutrition Specialist for World Vision DRC in the Gemena Cluster, emergency treatment is only the first step towards lasting recovery.
“Children with complications are first treated at the OTFU with Plumpy'Nut supported by World Vision. This step is crucial to stabilise their condition and save their lives. After this stabilisation, the Positive Deviance Hearth approach complements nutritional rehabilitation by transforming household practices and preventing relapse. The combination of therapeutic treatment and PD Hearth ensures sustainable recovery and changes family behaviours for the long term,” he explains.
Once Zozo's condition had stabilised, Jeanine enrolled in the Positive Deviance Hearth (PD Hearth) programme. During twelve days of practical learning sessions, she was trained to prepare nutritious meals using locally available foods, improve hygiene practices, and adopt healthier childcare behaviours. The approach empowered her with simple, sustainable solutions that she could continue using long after the programme ended.
The impact was remarkable. Zozo gradually regained weight, recovered her strength, and returned to the normal life of a healthy child.
“Today, I can play with my friends and go to school,” she says with a smile. Now in the third grade, she especially enjoys religious studies and dreams of becoming a teacher.
At the end of the programme, she was officially declared cured of malnutrition.
Recognising that long-term nutrition also depends on household resilience, World Vision complemented nutrition support with livelihood assistance. Jeanine was among 25 families who received inputs to start income-generating activities, including 25 litres of palm oil and 20 kilograms of sugar to launch a small business.
The additional income has enabled her to provide regular meals for her family, pay school expenses, and eventually expand into pig farming alongside her husband.
Reflecting on the transformation in her family's life, Jeanine says:
“This support helped me start a business to care for my family. Today, there are no more cases of malnutrition in my household. I want to expand our pig farming to secure my children's future. I sincerely thank World Vision, the community volunteers, and the health workers. Their support helped me understand, learn, and take action. Thanks to them, my children are now healthy, and I am able not only to prevent malnutrition in my own family but also to help other mothers in my community.”
Jeanine and Zozo's story reflects a much broader transformation taking place across the community. Through World Vision's integrated approach, combining life-saving nutritional treatment, Positive Deviance Hearth rehabilitation, and household livelihoods support, more than 1,600 children have recovered from malnutrition in the Gemena area.
For families like Jeanine's, the programme has not only saved children's lives but also equipped parents with the knowledge, confidence, and resources to build healthier futures that will last for generations.