Living in Malawi you come to appreciate public waste management systems from home. It’s one of those strange comforts you don’t think about until it’s not there. Here, the answer to a lot of people’s trash problem is to burn it, usually on or near the side of he road where the pedestrians can walk right through and inhale the billowing gray smoke. As unpleasant as it is for passers by, it’s even more unpleasant for little children who are around it and end up falling in. Two-year-old Efa Andrea was one of these unfortunate little tots.

Efa’s older siblings had started a fire in a shallow pit to burn the trash the family had collected. Efa, being a unstable on her new toddler legs, lost her balance and fell into the pit, hands first. Both of her hands were burned pretty seriously due to the fact that she fell into the hot ash created by the garbage. Now Efa can’t move either of her pinky fingers from a curled inward position. This definitely complicates gripping and most importantly, playing.

The damage has been done, Efa’s fingers have already been injured by the burning trash pit but they don’t have to stay that way forever. A few months into 2012, Efa will be able to use her fingers again. CURE will work it’s magic to give this little girl a belated Christmas present.