Already before starting this trust, we sometimes asked friends and relatives for donations when people that we knew needed help. That’s what happened in May 2017, when we found out that baby Kupakwashe was sick and didn’t get help because of the poverty of his parents. By then, Kupa was 9 months and suffering from Spina fida and Hydrocephalus. In this condition he would never learn to sit or walk.
Even though the surgery for these sicknesses are for free in SImbabwe, the family was not able to go for the operations. Because they didn’t have the money for transport, medication, physiotherapy and hospital fees. Thanks to some really generous donors, we were able to give Kupa a chance in his life. In August 2017, he got surgery in Harare. After a successful surgery and physiotherapy, he learned to sit and will be able to walk.
Thanks to the donations, we were also able to fulfill another dream of the family. The mother of Kupa finally got surgery on her knee as well. After being in pain for 9 years (!) she finally saw a specialist who found out that she had cancer in her knee, which had been swollen for years. The doctor said that, if she had waited any longer, they would have had to remove the leg.
After the surgery they stayed in Harare for some months in order to do physiotherapy. Now they are reunited with Kupa’s father and his two older brothers. The family is very happy and grateful! We will continue to support this family, since both parents are unemployed and the oldest son needs special care as well, because his dump and death. In order to make the family more self-sustainable, we donated them some animals.
Kurima wants to support families in order to have less orphans in future!
Update December 2018:
In December 2018, we visited Kupa and his family in Bohera. They were still very happy and grateful for the donation that we were able to raise in 2017. Thanks to our donors, both Kupa and his mother were successfully operated in August 2017. The wound on Kupa’s back has healed very well and also the shunt in his head has helped him a lot. His head is now much smaller in size and looks „normal“. The shunt has to be exchanged in the next few months. Therefore, the boy needs to go to the hospital in the capital city Harare which is a four hours’ drive from their home – with public transport it can take even longer.
Even though Kupa is 2.5 years old, he is still very small and skinny. His development seems to be retarded. Thanks to the operation he is now able to sit and to crawl but he is still not walking. In order to walk he will need much more physio therapy, which he can only access in the capital city as well. This is a huge challenge for the family.
Also, his hardworking mother seems to be doing much better now. But her knee is still painful at times. We helped the family with medication for the mother, money for transport and with clothes, shoes and toys for their three sons. This was a special christmas for them!
For us, it was very touching to meet this humble Family again. The surgeries have helped them a lot and even though they didn’t complain, it was easy to see how difficult their life still is.