A baby with clubfoot at the Dosso hospital.

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to go and visit one of the CURE Clubfoot Wordwide clinics in the town of Dosso, 140 km. away from Niamey. It was in the regional hospital of Dosso, and we met with the surgeon, the physical therapist, and the counselor (as well as a few others). It was really great to talk with them a bit,  hear some of the challenges they face, and see them in action.

I met them before, when they came to the CURE hospital in Niamey for a training, but that was when we first got here, so it was good to see them again. They told us that before the training they had no way of treating clubfoot, so whenever they saw clubfoot cases they always referred them to the National hospital in Niamey. Obviously, this was not an option for many families because of the distance and the cost(s) of the trip. But now, they can treat them right there in Dosso, and it is paid for.

One of the patient we saw being treated was Al-Moustapha. He is only three months old. He came in for a recasting, his third one. With the Ponseti Method of treating clubfoot, a series of casts are used to set the feet back in place, which is great because it avoids surgery (at least most of the time; sometimes small surgical procedures are needed). But it is a long and drawn out process, and it involves a lot of visits to the hospital. Al-Moustapha was at the hospital the week before, and now he was back again, getting new casts on both of his legs. It is hard for the families to come to the hospital so often, especially when they don’t live nearby. Some of the families are from villages that are far away, and they often come the night before and spend the night at the hospital so they can be there in the morning to see the doctor. It goes without saying that they don’t spend the night in a bed (most of the patients don’t even have beds). They sleep on a mat on the dirt floor. But that is enough for them; they are just happy to be able to get treatment for their children.

When it was time for the recasting to begin, they first soaked Al-Moustapha’s legs in a bucket of water to loosen up the plaster, and then they just peeled it off. They didn’t use an electric saw to cut off the casts (the power went out while we were at the hospital, so this probably wouldn’t be the best choice even if they did have a saw). All they needed was a bucket and water. I remember when I broke my leg as a kid and they used a saw to take the cast off. That was the most painful part of the process, and it was scary with the saw buzzing right next to my leg. Why didn’t they just do it this way?

Next they massaged Al-Moustapha’s feet and legs, and stretched them out. He didn’t like this part very much.

Finally, they put new casts on Al-Moustapha’s legs, and it was done quickly and done well. Al-Mopustapha (“Al-Mou” to his close friends and family – seriously) almost slept through this part.

Since the program started not too long ago, they still do not have a ton of patients coming in to Dosso. A lot of them still go to Niamey because they don’t know that they can be treated in Dosso. It takes time for that kind of information to really sink in, but while we were there a young couple came in with their baby. The future for this program looks bright, and it is exciting to see the progress.

If you think traveling to a foreign country, meeting lots of new people, and partnering in the work of changing the lives of children and their families sounds pretty fun and adventurous, your right! Our goal in the GO department is that our volunteers not only help kids, experience new cultures, and have a great time, but that these trips would make a permanent impact on their life journey.

For some volunteers, the impact of a short-term trip can manifest itself in a future career in medicine or missions; for others, the trip taught them something about themselves or about God that has changed them forever. Other volunteers will go home to share their story and spread the word about what CURE is doing, becoming a lifetime advocate for our work.

Every trip, like every volunteer is a unique journey that we hope will change our volunteers in a positive way for the rest of their lives, but don’t take my word for it. Learn from these volunteers as they share their own journeys with CURE through their blogs.

Each of these individuals has volunteered or continues to volunteer with CURE and has blessed us by sharing their journey. You will find that each story, like each volunteer, is wonderfully unique and insightful.

Enjoy your peek into the life of a CURE volunteer. Perhaps one of these blogs will inspire you to make a journey of your own!

• Maureen Sloan: Various locations – mjsphilippians413.blogspot.com
• Haley Sanders: Kenya – hsanders18.blogspot.com
• Erin Craig: Uganda – emackcraig.tumblr.com
• Katie Rae Spell: Uganda – habakkukonefive.tumblr.com
• Shannon Jennings: Uganda – http://mightyriver.wordpress.com
• Asher Bracelets, supporting kids in Uganda (this family was inspired through Shannon’s first trip with CURE – read their blog and I am sure you will be inspired as well!) – www.asherbracelets.blogspot.com

Earlier this year, the James Buchanan High School Student Council took the challenge of helping children in need of surgeries in foreign countries with a D4K Dance-a-thon.  The Student Council had always discussed doing a Dance-a-thon and thought it would be a fun thing for the student body to do.  After learning about the “Dance 4 Kids Who Can’t” program from CURE International,  we decided it was a great opportunity.

Planning the unknown was quite the experience, as we had never done anything like the Dance-a-thon and had no idea how many students to plan on for, let alone anything else.  As we planned the event, we successfully got many donations from local businesses, such as 30 gallons of Sweet Tea from Chick-fil-a and many door prizes from other businesses.  We made t-shirts for the event with our technology department’s screen-printing equipment, posted many posters about the Dance-a-thon, had a photobooth, and got a former student to donate his DJ services.

The event turned out to be a fun and successful day, with lots of food, dancing, and games.  As a whole, we raised around $900, $600 of which went directly to CURE.  Looking back on the experience, we learned a lot and raised awareness of the conditions of children in foreign countries.  It’s a great feeling to know that we were able to impact children all over the world and make their lives better.

- Natalie Brant, James Buchanan High School Student Council

You can find photos of this event on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/curekids/dance-for-kids-who-can-t/.  Interested in hosting your own D4K event with your school, group, or organization?  Learn more at http://cure.org/d4k.

He walked on the side of his foot for years. Now he is now 16 years old. His family heard about the CURE hospital, so his mom brought him in. She was told that Kabirou could be treated, that his foot could be corrected through surgery. She was glad to hear that but also worried about the cost. She was willing to pay what she could, but she is divorced, and sells fruit and vegetables on the side of the road, so she didn’t have much money. In the end she paid a little, but the hospital took on the bulk of the expense. Kabirou had the operation on his foot, and both he and his mom were really happy.

But that wasn’t the end of the story. The recovery took a long time, and then he spent a few months with a cast on his foot. He walked around on crutches for a long time. After the cast came off, he did months of physical therapy. It was painful, and progress was slow. I would see him every week when he came in for his physical therapy and ask how he was doing. He always said, “Fine,” but you could tell he was starting to wonder, “Is this ever going to end?” Nine months is a long time. But just last week he came to the hospital and was really excited. He was walking on his own, without crutches! He went around and said hi to everyone at the hospital — the doctors, the nurses, everyone. He went and visited every office in the administrative wing. He wanted to make sure that everyone saw him walking on his own. The whole time he never stopped smiling. It was great.

It is hard to believe that Kabirou has been recovering from his operation, and dealing with this problem the whole time we have been here (not to mention the 12 years before his operation). Healing takes time. Sometimes a lot of time. But for Kabirou, it was definitely worth it. The change in his foot was so dramatic, and now he can walk on his own. He still limps a bit, but that will improve with time. Nothing like before. It is amazing to see the transformation in him, and to see the good attitude he has had throughout the process. Here are some before and after pictures:

Here is Kabirou back in Oct. when we first got to Niger. This was right after his operation.

This is what his foot looked like before the operation.

A closer look.

And this is after.

Kabirou up on his feet. 

Originally posted at: http://joshjulieblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/healing-takes-time/.

“CURE gives hope to babies” from New Vision

CURE Afghanistan

“Life and war in Afghanistan” (photo) from the Washington Post

CURE International

“High School Students Impact Society With Senior Projects” (photo) from Gingham Patch

CURE Philippines

“Time for Tim” from Philippine Daily Inquirer

Tigist is the apple of her mother’s eye – which is obvious when you see them together. However, when Tigist was just a few months old, she had an accident with boiling water and was badly burned. Her left leg sustained substantial burns. Her mother brought her to the hospital, where they dressed and splinted Tigist’ leg. Follow-up care was not available, and as the splint became foul and had to be removed, the mother did the best she could with dressing the wound, but supplies for that sort of thing are non-existent in the countryside.

The leg healed into a stiff scar that fused Tigist’s lower leg to the thigh. She would never learn to walk or run if not corrected. Thankfully, Tigist’s mother heard about the CURE hospital, where treatment for her little girl was offered for free. Burns and burn scars are a big problem in Ethiopia. They are common because cooking is usually done on the floor of a home – on a fire – where it is very easy for a little one to stumble into danger. The care for burns is scarce; most patients wait years for appropriate care for any surgical problem, and even then, burns are unlikely to be treated because of the length of care and amount of resources needed to treat burns appropriately.

We are so thankful that Tigist was brought to CURE early enough in her childhood that she could learn to run and walk with other children her age. Too often, we get children that are elementary age, but have not had the use of their arms or legs since infancy because of untreated burns.

Some other pics of recent patients…

One of our surgeons, thinking about the best way to correct this boys’ feet.

Luke 18:16-17 
¹⁶ But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷ I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Originally posted at: http://ethiopia.thebernards.org/2012/05/01/patience/.

We sat down with all three of them and asked them to tell us their story. Hadiza did most of the talking. She didn’t say much at first, and it took some coaxing to get her to open up, but once she did, she had a lot to say. She told us how hard it has been trying to take care of Haoua and how she worries about her future. Hadiza is married, but her husband does not live with her. He has three wives altogether, and each of them lives in their own separate house. They are spread all over town, and he divides his time between his three wives and his home village, so basically Hadiza has raised her children as a single mother. Her husband doesn’t really work, and rarely gives her much support. The only income she has comes from selling peanuts and peanut oil. Life has always been hard for Hadiza, but it got much harder when the tumor on Haoua’s leg appeared.

She told us that one day, about six years ago, Haoua went out and was playing by the trash dump next to their house. There are trash dumps everywhere, and kids like to go poking around in them. Sometimes they find things to play with or things they can reuse. It is very common to see kids and goats picking through the trash. But on this day, when Haoua came back home, Hadiza noticed something on her leg. It was infected and a bit swollen. Hadiza said that she thought Haoua must have picked it up from the trash dump. I asked for clarification on this point, “What do you mean she picked it up in the trash dump?” Hadiza explained (for my benefit, since this was clearly basic knowledge to everyone else in the room) that many trash dumps have evil spirits.

Duly noted.

Haoua’s father was notified, and he came to take care of her leg. He began making the rounds with her, seeing all the traditional healers he could find (or afford). Since it was a trash spirit that caused the infection in the first place, I guess they wanted to fight fire with fire. In any case, they didn’t take her to see a doctor, only witch-doctors and marabouts. They tried different cures on her, but nothing helped, and the pain was getting worse all the time. Finally, Hadiza explained, they took her to see the mother of twins. Once again, I had to stop her, even though everyone was nodding their head in agreement and/or understanding.

“Why,” I asked, already sensing that my question was a stupid one, “did you take her to see the mother of twins?”

“Twins have special powers,” she said, with a patient smile. “When you can’t find twins to help you, then the mother of twins will do. If they have special powers, then their mother must also have powers, since she gave birth to them.”

Unfortunately, this mother of twins was no help. She did some kind of massage on Haoua’s leg, and she did it with such force that she actually broke her femur bone! After this they finally took Haoua to the hospital, but by that point there wasn’t much they could do. Her leg was broken, it still had a big tumor, and it was leaking pus. Hadiza told us that she was very discouraged and sad. Haoua was kept out of school because of her leg and was unable to get around at all. She basically just sat around the house all day.

Then, Hadiza heard about CURE through a friend. She brought Haoua to the hospital and met with Hannatou, our social worker, and asked her if Haoua could be treated. Hannatou was very welcoming to her and explained when she could come back for a free consultation. Now, after a successful surgery, Haoua is able to walk around and is getting steadier on her feet every day. At first she was using a walker, but now she doesn’t need it. The physical therapy is hard, but she is used to hardship, and her mother is encouraging her every step of the way.

Haoua’s leg after her operation

Haoua’s smile after the operation.

This has been a big week of changes for CURE international. CURE’s founder and visionary, Dr. Scott Harrison, has stepped aside from his role as CEO and President of CURE International. Dale Brantner has been selected and given Board approval to assume the roles.

I remember in the summer of 1997 meeting Scott and Sally Harrison for the very first time. I was taking my “one and only, never to be repeated trip to Africa” with my family. Both Scott and I were volunteer orthopedic surgeons working at the Kijabe Hospital as short term missionaries. The Harrisons and Meads ended up sharing housing as another one of those ‘coincidences’ I discussed last week. Scott and I found out we both cherish the early morning time. Scott and I took time to pray together and dream. Scott shared his dream of CURE, a hospital system dedicated to the care of the physically disabled child living in the developing world. We later wandered the site of the early stages of the very first CURE Hospital to be located in Kijabe. Although there were only a few stones and smoothed earth, I had a glimpse through the vision of what could be. We were eventually called to serve the disabled child in Kenya. We moved to Kenya to serve in 1998.

Scott and Sally committed time, talents, finances, and abilities to take CURE from a misty dream of what could and should be to a large organization spanning the globe. Thousands of children have been given emotional, spiritual, and physical care because of their efforts. What the long term effects for these children, their families, and their countries will be is unknown. How has CURE affected the numerous volunteers, workers, donors, families, and more who have come into contact with this mission called CURE International? How has living in Africa touched the lives of my family? I am not sure anyone can answer these questions. We do not have the big picture.

I can look at my family and see many positive changes. I cannot tell you how greatly my life changed as I joined in the vision of CURE. Many would point out all I left, but that is thinking of things that perish. I have seen my kids gain a special world view. I have friends around the world. I have eaten strange foods in stranger locations. Jana and I became closer in our marriage journey. Many kids were able to have their deformities fixed because the CURE team was in Kijabe. The CURE team impacted for eternity many, many lives. The CURE Kijabe team grew in stature as a Christian light on the edge of the Rift. This testimonial light and work continues on. I know that people and leaders will continue to change, but the message of Christ’s love will remain true.

Kenya had the first orthopedic residency started in Kijabe by CURE. Without CURE’s support and push, I sincerely doubt orthopedic training would exist in Kenya to the degree it does. CURE-trained national orthopedic surgeons are now serving in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Cameroon, and soon Ethiopia. Without the vision of Scott and Sally and their courage to be that ‘someone’ called, none of this training would have been started.

Children in CURE Uganda were some of the first treated on the whole continent with endoscopic ventricular treatment of their hydrocephalus.

Nonoperative clubfoot clinics are now available in many parts of the world due to CURE International surgeons’ efforts.

Each year children have their lives changed in ESP holistic fashion as CURE teams reach out to those in need with a special kind of love and caring. The dream that started as a small flicker has spread its light into many places. As we change leaders, we realize the need to keep the vision going. The vision’s work is not really about the people in charge or those working in the CURE facilities or the numbers we report; the vision as founded was about bringing a combined, integrated spiritual-medical caring effort of linked hospitals to the disabled children in the developing world. What a challenge! Thank you Scott and Sally!

As we venture forth today within a new era, the challenges still loom large. The world’s needs and magnitude of the problems are way beyond any one human’s effort. The work of CURE International is a God-sized challenge and requires we all travel and work firmly and securely In His Grip!

“Niger replaces Afghanistan as worst place to be a mother” from Mission Network News

CURE Hydrocephalus

“ETV program at Muhimbili Orthopedic Institute is going well” from IFSBH

CURE Afghanistan

“Cure International’s hospital in Kabul” (photo) from The Baltimore Sun.

“Afghanistan no longer worst place for mothers – report” from AlertNet

“Afghan girls” (photo) from Reuters