A photo essay from CURE Zambia.
Meet the Machinko family - Mr. and Mrs. Machinko and their twin sons, Tom and Tim. Mr. Machinko is a landscape contractor that works on the CURE Zambia grounds. He is passionate about doing a good job to keep the hospital looking its best. He is even more passionate about telling people how CURE Zambia transformed the lives of his sons.
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Join CUREkidsTigist is a little girl who is 11 months old. The name Tigist means “patience.” Her mother is a young woman who loves her little girl very much. Her mother was taken by force and “married” illegally, meaning the man took her, raped her, and forced her to stay with him. Eventually she became pregnant. When the pregnancy became obvious to her “husband,” he no longer had use for her and kicked her out. According to the predominant religions of this area, it is not allowed to have sex with a pregnant woman, so she was dismissed.
Haoua has been at the hospital for a few weeks. She came with her mom, Hadiza, and her little brother, Ganiou. She came to the hospital because she had a big tumor on her leg, and she has had it since she was 5 years old. She is 11 years old now.
Kasahun, before surgery
Kasahun is 38 years old. It didn’t occur to me until later that he is younger than I am. He looked so much older and just plain worn out. You may remember his photo from a few weeks ago – before he had his tumor taken out. He had the largest tumor of the ones that came a few weeks ago; actually, it turned out to be two different tumors, one from his mandible (jaw) and another from his maxilla (cheek bone.)
Kasahun was born and raised in Gondar, Ethiopia. (Yes, very similar in name to a kingdom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a series not for the faint of heart when it comes to reading, like some friends of mine…) It is in the northern part of Ethiopia and has a rich history. Gondar has ancient castles from days when it was an imperial capital. Read the rest of this entry »
The Banda family: Jonathan, David, and their proud father.
Brothers Jonathan and David sharing a laugh outside of Beit CURE Hospital in Zambia. The boys now have a new sense of joy and confidence after their surgery at CURE.
Blood runs deep. There is an unseen connection between brothers. Even though you may not have similar interests, you still have a strong bond. But what if you not only grew up with someone with that blood connection, but you also shared something no one else you know shared: the same disability. One that was obvious to anyone who saw you. One that made you want to stay in your house and not go out. One that your classmates made fun of you for. One that, in your father’s own words, made you “laughingstocks” of the entire town.
This was Jonathan and David’s daily life.
One of the great joys of my job is not just that I make a living telling stories (which by nature I’m hard-wired to do), but within those stories I get to see chapters that not everyone else does. Sometimes, those “bonus” chapters are so good I need to go back and rewrite the entire novel.
This is what I did with Jonathan and David.
I first became aware of these two boys when my media intern extraordinaire, Stiv Twigg, sent me some videotape of their story from his time in Zambia. I immediately set to work making a video about them; they had such joy and charisma, and the father seemed so thankful. Stiv shot some great footage of them in their home doing an interview and outside their home doing karate and other fun boy stuff. Read the rest of this entry »
Editor’s note: The following article was submitted by Cindy D. Ott, RN, who served in Kabul, Afghanistan, at the CURE hospital there.
Nine year old Tahra arrived at CURE Hospital barely able to walk and stooped over, unable to straighten out her spine. “When she is walking, she falls down,” said her father, Saed Ghulam Ali, a wheat farmer from Daikundi Province. He traveled three days to bring Tahra to Kabul to obtain help, leaving his two wives and children. He said they all live together, with Tahra being the oldest of five children with the second wife. He said his first wife, whom he described as his “bigger wife,” has three children, all married.
CURE Hospital was not the first stop for Tahra. Ali said he first took Tahra to a clinic in their area where he was told she had a neurological problem which they could not treat. He was given the address of a neurologist in Karta-parwan. “That doctor said she will not be fine and it will cost a lot of money to continue medical testing,” he said. The doctor gave him a card to get a wheelchair when his daughter would not be able to walk anymore. He was then referred to a public hospital in Wazirakbar Khan, where he said he went to many departments. He said Tahra received physical therapy there with two female physical therapists who told him, “Even if you take your daughter to America or Germany, she will not be fine.” Then, he said, he told them, “You are all thieves.”
Discouraged, he left the public hospital, and he and Tahra went to a restaurant. Tahra’s condition was getting worse. He said that while he was eating, an Afghan man told him he would help them and pay for a hotel room. He replied, “If you help me in the name of God, you should tell me where I go and help my daughter.” Ali said the waiters paid for the food and the fellow who offered to help pay the bill showed up the next day and took them to CURE Hospital.
Dr. Jerry Umanos, pediatrician at CURE Hospital, said Tahra’s case was puzzling. “We didn’t know what the problem was. We examined many possibilities. We consulted experts in the United States and in the United Kingdom, and they mentioned various possibilities, some of which were too expensive to consider. Finally, we narrowed the treatment to what could be done here and it seems to be working,” he said.
Tahra was diagnosed with Dopa Responsive Dystonia and prescribed 60 milligrams of dopamine daily. Dr. Djabbarova Zakhro, volunteer pediatrician at CURE Hospital, said she performed tests to check Tahra’s progress. “I checked muscle strength and reflexes and checked to see if her gait was getting better. I checked muscle strength by asking her to squeeze my fingers, and through these tests, I noticed the left side of her is weaker than her right side,” she said.
After two weeks of expert medical attention from the CURE pediatric staff and love and attention from the full-time nursing staff and CURE volunteer staff, Tahra has improved considerably. “She is able to walk fine, and she is even running. She’s not completely walking normally, but she is much better,” Dr. Umanos said.
Tahra’s father is very grateful to CURE for helping his daughter to walk again, and in the Afghan style, smiles, says “Tashikor (thank you),” bows his head, and places his hand over his heart.
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