First steps toward life –
Community-based rehabilitation in Manga, Burkina Faso
Thanks to a special tricycle, Yussuf Zoungrana can go to the market and earn his living.
Burkina Faso, West Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately 10% of the country's population lives with some form of disability. Half of the disabling conditions can be avoided or can be treated.
LIGHT FOR THE WORLD is currently facilitating five community-based rehabilitation projects in Burkina Faso. One of them is a project in Manga, a town in the south of the country.
Eight rehabilitation workers visit families in the surrounding towns and inform them about the needs of family members with disabilities as well as possible treatments and subsidies available. More than 225,000 people live in the project region.
Children and adults requiring treatment are referred to medical centers; orthopedic aids such as crutches, walkers or braces are fitted and provided, and therapy is also carried out at the families' homes. In this process, one parent is trained to carry out the therapy independently on a regular basis, which involves providing the proper massages and care for the child as well promoting his/her development.
Today, Fatacé can even go to school thanka to his brace.
Fatacé is one of the 947 children and adults in the project region who are known to require care and assistance at home from the rehabilitation workers in Manga and the surrounding area.
The 11-year-old boy was born with a severely displaced right knee. He could not stand up or walk and, as a result, his leg muscles deteriorated, especially the muscles in his right leg.
His parents were in a state of despair. At the age of 9, Fatacé had hardly ever left the family hut. Given their situation of extreme poverty, how would their son ever be able to go to school or take care of himself?
Then rehabilitation worker Jean-Claude Gouba heard about Fatacé’s situation and immediately began to help him and his family: Gouba trained and stimulated the boy's underdeveloped muscles, then Fatacé underwent surgery.
Fatacé was fitted with a brace to help his leg support his weight. Now his life is similar to that of other children his age: Thanks to his brace, he can now go to school and learn to read and write.
He also helps out at home wherever he can, feeding the family's cattle and helping harvest and bundle the hay which his father sells. And now Fatacé can even accompany his father to the market.
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