Fight Against Rickets for Togo
I, Warren, am an international volunteer from Canada who has come to Lomé, Togo (West Africa) to work for Human Promotion and Development (HPD) - a small community-based NGO that works to tackle the needs of the Togolese people. Inspired to continue my work with HPD (I first volunteered with HPD from April-May 2016), I have returned for two months (July-August 2017).
My fellow international volunteers (George, Pramita, and Iris) and I are undertaking a humble project to raise the necessary funds to operate on and rehabilitate a handful of impoverished, needy children who have come to HPD for financial assistance.
Three specific cases came to our attention in mid-July 2017 when their respective families came to our centre to plead for the necessary funds to cure Rickets. In each case, there are insurmountable barriers to the families being able to afford the fees themselves.
1. Christian Hunkpe (aged 3 years and 3 months) has malformed legs and was abandoned by his parents. He has been living with his 60-year-old grandfather and his 52-year-old grandmother for the past two years who live in a difficult situation.
2. Abandoned by his father, Jeremie Gagno Kossi (aged 1 year, 10 months) has an arched left leg. He is left under the watch of his mother who lives in a precarious living situation and solicited the aid of PDH.
3. Jonas Koami (aged 2 years and 8 months) has malformations in both of his legs. He was abandoned by his father when he was 3 months old and was left under the supervision by his mother who lives in a vulnerable situation.
After consulting with the local medical staff, the cost of a single procedure is approximately 150, 000 Francs CFA (or 265 USD, 330 CAN, or 205 GBP). This includes a consultation fee (approximately 3.50 USD); operation fee, hospital, and material fees (approximately 143.50 USD); rehabilitation (approximately 45 USD); assistance to the family (approximately 27 USD); and other fees associated with the case and the recovery of the patient (approximately 45 USD).
Rickets itself is a medical condition caused by a deficiency of Vitamin D, phosphate, and calcium which are necessary for the development of strong and healthy bones. The result is that these children have bowed legs with a distinct gap between their lower legs and their knees. In these cases, doctors have diagnosed that the condition will not cure itself. If left untreated, the children will be left with permanent skeletal deformities, weak bones, stunted growth, constant pain, and potential repercussions for their mental health.
HPD has begun to pay for some of the initial procedures but is financially restricted to cover the entirety of the costs. With your kind donations, we can pay for the operation and rehabilitation costs that will give these children legs to stand on and the chance to thrive in the future. A portion of the funds ( 250 USD) will be used to establish an emergency fund for future needs - given the high prevalence in the locality.
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PDH is a non-for-profit organization located in Lomé, Togo, West Africa that specializes in social work. Established in 1999, PDH has supported the poorest and most abandoned people by providing them with: psycho-social support, nutritional support, socio-economic support, and legal mediation in order to: break their loneliness, isolation and abandonment; have them discover the joy of life; to give them reason to hope for a happy future; and to work for their valorization, social reintegration, self-promotion, and self-care.
To find out more about the work of HPD, visit http://www.pdh-togo.org