A traumatised child, who survived the haemorrhagic Ebola Virus Disease and developed some serious attendant medical conditions, is said to be convalescing after a successful surgery in Germany, thanks to a strong media campaign by Politico.
Ibrahim Sankoh, 4, lost his parents to the epidemic which has ravaged the three Mano River Union countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea in West Africa since March last year.
“He also suffered from secondary diseases of the Ebola infection and had nearly gone blind. He complained of swollen feet as well as the loss of appetite and hair loss”, said the Director of Don Bosco Fambul, Brother Lothar Wagner, after his charity took the boy in.
Before then Politico had mounted a campaign to help the Ebola orphan after an investigation it carried out found the boy languishing and lonely at the Government Hospital in Port Loko.
The media campaign, which effectively saw Politico repeatedly carry stories on its front page about the critical condition of the child, also called for help so that he could be treated abroad.
Don Bosco Fambul, an international nongovernmental organisation, came up to say they would help and took him in.
“Immediately Ibrahim was accepted at our Therapy Centre near the International Airport in Lungi. He was in a very bad state: physically and mentally,” the religious leader of the Salesians of Don Bosco recalled.
In August 2014, Don Bosco established the first Interim Care Centre in cooperation with the ministry of social welfare, gender and children’s affairs and was able to care for many children and adolescents that were in some way affected by the epidemic.
Already the social workers at the NGO had very close contact with Ebola-treatment centres and hospitals and cared for abandoned children.
“Like nearly all the other children Ibrahim lacked initiative and stared into one corner. He cried a lot and ate little. He was in need of intensive social and psychological support which we were able to give him.”
After Ibrahim’s situation had improved and he again began to emanate a zest for life, the preparations for a medical eye treatment in Germany were made. In close cooperation with the ministry and the German Embassy in Freetown Ibrahim was made to be accompanied by Brother Lothar Wagner and a social worker, Juliana Baimba, to Germany.
“There, it became evident how valuable the worldwide network of the Don Bosco family is,” said the Don Bosco Fambul in a statement to Politico.
The Director of Don Bosco Regensburg, Father Günther Wendel, provided the accommodation and food as well as the contact to the oculist Dr. Keller who provided the medical support. He and his wife undertook the medical diagnosis and further coordination of medical support with the Eye Clinic at the University in Erlangen, Germany.
“Upon detailed medical investigation by specialists in Erlangen it was found out that the cornea of both eyes had faded. Although it has presently not been possible to carry out a corneal transplant, his eyesight could be decisively improved by a treatment, by drugs and covering the eyes with eye pads,” they said, adding that Dr. Keller had provided eye drops, eye pads and glare cover glasses while also staying in touch with Brother Lothar on their return to Sierra Leone.
Surgical treatment for Ibrahim had been deemed possible by Prof. Kruse and his team in a few years’ time and that they had already promised to carry it out.
In the meantime, the social workers of Don Bosco Fambul had traced and established contact with one of the boy’s uncles who had taken custody of Ibrahim shortly after they returned from Germany.
Like all the other children at the Don Bosco Therapy Centre he and his family would get further family-support in the next three years.
Brother Lothar stressed that Don Bosco Fambul would stand for holistic and family-oriented support.
“We help in accordance with the child’s distress. Every child receives the individual support it needs and we work in close cooperation with the remaining family members,” the theologian and social worker, who has been Director of Don Bosco Fambul since 2008, said.
The organisation said: “The stay and the treatment as well as the Interim Care Centre in Lungi were financed by private persons. Don Bosco Fambul is independent and does not receive any money from the local government or the International Community (UKAid, DIFID, EU) or UN organisations like UNICEF, WHO, UNWomen, and has never requested for that.”
(C) Politico 28/07/15
