Our team of volunteers and staff first came into
contact with Velenkosi after receiving a request from a local
caregiver who is faced with large time constraints due to her increasing number
of patients. In order to reduce her workload, African Impact took over Velenkosi's weekly home visits, and learned his story.
When Velenkosi began attending clinics and hospitals after
experiencing severe pain behind his eyes, he was informed he was suffering from
meningitis. For unknown reasons, Velenkosi was discharged early from hospital
following his diagnosis and as a result of not receiving adequate medical
attention has subsequently lost his eyesight.
Velenkosi speaks with volunteers of his wishes to be able to
assist his wife with their two children but can simply not operate as he is in
a constant state of fragility and weakness. It is puzzling to think of a man
such as Velenkosi, who resided across the road from the local clinic, could be
in such dire need of medical attention and the local resources could offer
nothing more. Volunteers delivered crutches and nutritional drinks and hoped
this could help assist in mobility.
During subsequent visits, volunteers were concerned that
there was no improvement and asked for Velenkosi to be added as a recipient for
our EPap nutritional supplement as part of our 10 Families project.
After a month of regimented home based care visits, parcels
and nutritional supplements, volunteers experienced a very victorious moment
when their most recent visit saw Velenkosi walking! It was a beautiful day for
the volunteers to report this news back to the volunteer house and proof of the
value of their work in the communities and the hope it offers families.
Velenkosi’s mother, who was so busy caring for him each day,
has been able to resume work in the town of St Lucia as Velenkosi’s health has
improved so drastically that he is no longer in need of her round-the-clock
care. Without the dedication of our medical team, this kind of recovery could
not have been possible.
If you would like to help more people like Velenkosi, please
visit The
Happy Africa Foundation website.
No comments:
Post a Comment