Bringing hope to vulnerable children

By Olivia Kisano, Project Officer

World Vision in Tanzania recognizes the challenges that people with disabilities and their families are confronted with on a daily basis. The team in our Magugu Area Programme have been working hard to make life better for children with disabilities, including four-year-old Neema.

Ten days after Neema’s birth, her mother, Emeliciana, noted abnormalities on her left hand and leg. She told our staff, “I was very concerned about her health, so I took her to the hospital, but I was told to be patient and that my baby was just adjusting to a new environment and that everything would eventually be fine.” She added, “They advised me to do gentle daily exercises with Neema’s hands and legs, which I did until she was five months old, but there was no change. She started having regular fevers, so I went back to the hospital. I was referred to the Orthopaedic doctor, who couldn’t figure out the cause of her symptoms, and advised me to wait until Neema was five years old to see if there was any improvement.”

With doctors unable to help her, Emiliciana became increasingly concerned about her daughter’s health. She has two other children who have not faced similar challenges, and although she accepted Neema’s condition, she was worried that she should be doing more to help her daughter.

I could feel my child’s pain and suffering as she couldn’t even put on shoes.

But things started to improve when one of Magugu AP’s Community Health Workers visited Neema’s family, identified her as a child with disabilities and referred her to the AP for support. Neema was taken for check-ups and assistance from World Vision's partner CCBRT.

“After one week of intensive physiotherapy, I couldn’t believe my eyes when they came back and I saw that my baby was crawling! She was also given a wheelchair,” Emeliciana explained with joy. The family were also taught how to clean and maintain the wheelchair by CCBRT.

The distribution of wheelchairs in Magugu AP has provided relief to several families who were coping with the emotional and physical demands of caring for a child with a disability. Her new wheel chair enabled Neema to engage more easily with other people. She even started trying to stand and move around the house by balancing herself with the help of walls and furniture.

For Neema’s parents it is a source of both joy and relief to see that their daughter can move around and play with their other children. Every parent knows what it means to see their child overcoming life’s challenges and experiencing happy childhood moments.

The support that Neema’s family receives means a lot, Emiliciana explained.

I was stigmatized by my own community because of having a child with a disability.

"Many people hide their children away if they are disabled and exclude them from society to avoid them being traumatized by stigma and negative behaviour of community members. But the wheelchair boosted our confidence and showed the community that we were being directly supported by WVT." She concluded, "Even though the implementation of Magugu AP has ended, the work that WVT did here will be remembered for the great impact that you had on our lives.”

Neema is now 4 years old. She did not have to wait any longer to get relief from her condition. She is currently engaging with others in her community and playing with other children. As her life skills and mobility are now rapidly improving, it is expected that she will start pre-school in the coming year. Neema’s story helps us to understand how important our interventions can be. With a little care and attention, effective treatment, and the provision of some much needed equipment, we can bring about transformative changes in the lives of the most vulnerable children.