Help a child's dream come true
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© CBM
What would happen to children like Najma without you? Your gift today will reach them before they lose their hopes and dreams.
I wish you could meet Najma. If you did, the first thing you would notice is her smile. It lights up her whole face and her eyes sparkle. She is a bright little girl with all the energy and curiosity that comes with being six years old.
Najma was born with cerebral palsy
I find it impossible to imagine what a torture it must have been for her to lie immobile, completely unable to move during the first years of her life.
Najma was born with cerebral palsy. It’s a condition you may have heard of that affects her movement and co-ordination. Cerebral palsy has many causes — including premature birth or an infection during pregnancy — which damage a baby’s brain and nervous system. Parents might first notice that their babies are ‘floppy’ or later in life have problems with balance or co-ordination.
If Najma had been born in this country, she’d most likely have been referred to a physiotherapist who would have worked with her to make sure her muscles developed and strengthened. An occupational therapist might then have helped her learn how to wash, feed and dress herself.
Najma was born with cerebral palsy. It’s a condition you may have heard of that affects her movement and co-ordination. Cerebral palsy has many causes — including premature birth or an infection during pregnancy — which damage a baby’s brain and nervous system. Parents might first notice that their babies are ‘floppy’ or later in life have problems with balance or co-ordination.
If Najma had been born in this country, she’d most likely have been referred to a physiotherapist who would have worked with her to make sure her muscles developed and strengthened. An occupational therapist might then have helped her learn how to wash, feed and dress herself.
But Najma was born into a poor family in a coastal town in southern Kenya. She received no medical care at all.
You are a child like Najma's best hope
You are a child like Najma’s best hope. Our CBM Community worker explains.
“When we first met Najma, she’d never learned to crawl or walk. When she was lying down, she couldn’t even turn herself over.”
As she sat, she saw her brothers and sisters walking and running about. Everyone had a job to do, fetching water, helping to keep the home clean and preparing food. And then they would play together.
Najma could watch, but never join in.
Worst of all, when other children went to school, Najma stayed at home. Perhaps it was during that painfully lonely time that Najma began to dream of going to school herself and being with other children.
But that was impossible unless she learned to walk. Sadly Najma’s parents couldn’t give her the special support or equipment she needed, like a wheelchair, a walker or crutches.
Help for Najma
When Najma was four, her father died. Her mother thought it best to send her to live with her cousin, who had no children of her own, in Mombasa, Kenya’s second city. I don’t know what would have happened to Najma if her mother’s cousin hadn’t heard about CBM’s programme. “Maybe they could help Najma,” she thought. And thanks to the support of people like you, we were able to begin Najma on an intensive course of physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
“Najma faced a huge challenge to learn basic tasks like washing or feeding herself,” our community worker told us. “When you think about it, the everyday task of lifting a spoon to your mouth requires a great deal of control and co-ordination.”
In just a year, Najma went from being unable to move…to learning to crawl, stand and even walk with help.
Najma has made incredible progress
Since receiving her treatment, Najma hasn’t looked back. “Najma has made incredible progress. She is a little girl in a hurry! She wants to get mobile as quickly as possible so that she can go to school and be with other children her own age.”
She can now walk a few steps with a walker and uses a wheelchair for longer distances.
Najma’s dream now is ‘to go to school and learn with other children’. Doesn’t that just show her great hunger for an education? She has already started attending pre-school classes and she is looking forward to starting at a local school.
Najma’s dream is so close to coming true. As you will see from her smile, she is never happier than when she is sitting at a desk, joining in on a new activity. She loves drawing and making models from plasticine.
Today, we face a tough challenge to raise the money needed to support our work with children like Najma, who are waiting for our help. When you think of them sitting or lying down, unable to move, there isn’t a minute to
lose. Every day without help is a day too many.
lose. Every day without help is a day too many.
Help a child like Najma's dream come true 
