Eleven (11) years old Patchong Tagheu Grace, was born with unilateral clubfoot, in Bafoussam, West Region of Cameroon. All through her life, she could not walk well and thus was unable to enjoy her childhood like every child her age. She also found it difficult to carry out basic activities of life and this caused her to be constantly dependent on others. Going to school seemed to be traumatizing for her as she recounts that her worst experiences stemmed from the school milieu because she was stigmatized and castigated. “While at school my mates would always laugh at me, insulting my feet, and mimicking the way I walk, so I am not comfortable going to school”, Grace would say. The school environment too was not inclusive and convenient for her in this condition.
Her father’s family members did nothing but worsened matters by emotionally and physically abusing her. They were always cruel and vile to her and attributed her deformity to witchcraft all the while alleging that her mother was the cause of this predicament. They resulted in throwing her and her mother out of her father’s house. Her father was unable to stop his family from doing this because he lived in another city. Grace was devastated. She faulted herself for being the cause of her parent’s separation and this thought would continually haunt her. She was a very unhappy child due to her deformity and her family’s problems. Grace’s mother was also very miserable. Fighting for her marriage and for her daughter’s welfare was quite draining to her. “My husband’s family doesn’t want to see me with the child, even though my husband is on my side, but the family members are discouraging him and we have not legalized our marriage”, she lamented.
Both mother and daughter were living in hopelessness and were traumatized by the situation till April 2020, when they were identified by a member of a group of PWDs, and referred to a Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) team for possible rehabilitation. Counseling was done on one hand reassuring Grace’s mother that her child’s condition can be reversed and on the other hand educating their families about the disability, and how witchcraft had nothing to do with it. They were excited about the possibility of Grace’s treatment but this excitement was short-lived as they began to think about the expenses.
However, she finally accepted to go for consultation and assessment, which acknowledged a possible treatment cost of three hundred thousand (300,000) FCFA, an amount that her family could not afford. The child was enrolled in the Empowerment and Disability Inclusive Development (EDID) Program and received the support of one hundred and ninety thousand (190,000) FCFA toward her treatment. This greatly encouraged her family so much that they decided to, and successfully raised the remaining one hundred and ten thousand (110,000) FCFA.
The surgery was successful and today Grace lives without a disability all thanks to the Lilianna Foundation acting through the EDID program. Grace now goes to school happily and carries out her activities of daily living with little or no challenge. She is visibly very happy as the success of her treatment has helped to reunite her entire family. Her parents are back together, have legalized their marriage, and Grace and her mother moved in with her father in and they are happily living together as a family. This did not just happen overnight and it is thanks to the holistic care they all received from the CBR team.
By Clementina Njang Yong
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