Aid project für children with clubfoot

Have you ever tried to walk on the tops of your feet? Of course not! It would be very painful to twist your feet that far. It’s hard to imagine, but many people must trudge along in this manner their entire lives. Every step they take is excruciatingly painful, because they have been born with the malady clubfoot.

Especially in poor countris like Eritrea in east Africa, children born with clubfoot are not uncommon. The birth defect is curable if treatment starts soon enough after birth. However, many families are so poor, that they cannot afford to get proper medical care for their children. The results are devastating. The disabled children cannot attend school, they live with constant pain and they become social outcasts.

Medical Treatment: The Ponte Project in Ethiopia

The German Physician Dr. Katja von dem Busche provides care for children with clubfoot, through her aid organization, Pediatric Orthopedic Network,or PONTE, in the Eritrean capital, Asmara. There, she treats children using the  Pontesi method. This involves setting the legs and feet in plaster casts at least eight times in order to correct the malpositioning. It is the only way these kids can later live independently and without pain. The method is very successful and costs only 80 euros. However, for people living in destitution who cannot even afford a bus ticket to Asmara and must carry their children long distances to get to a clinic, 80 euros is an exhorbitant sum of money. Many simply cannot carry such a burden down difficult roads.

Donate for new plaster

That is why I want to help through my foundation. Recently, I received a letter from Dr. von dem Busche. She wrote to say that she desperately needed new plaster for her clinic in Asmara. So many kids are waiting for help every day. Additionally, a mobile cast clinic is soon to be set up in order to help the children who are unable to get to a clinic. Without treatment, they must suffer for the rest of their lives. If each of you would support this remarkable project from Katja von den Busche we could keep an unlimited number of children from having to suffer.