This Christmas, you have the power to help a child...
29 Nov 2011
Mbutu, Twahiri, Stephen and Sijali...see the world ...walk tall and proud ...learn for the future ...be born safe and well
Through the Gift of Sight, the Gift of Mobility, the Gift of Education, or the Gift of a Safe Birth you can help us change a child's life this Christmas. Read on to find out why each gift is so important.
The Gift of Sight
Young Mbutu was completely blind until a kind supporter paid for the surgery that gave him back his sightBy the time he was just three years old Mbutu was completely blind in both eyes. Like too many children in Africa, he was born with bilateral cataracts.
One day when Mbutu was very small,his father left home and never returned. To this day, no one in the family knows where he might be. Left alone with Mbutu and a baby daughter, Mbutu's mother has done her best to care for her family -- working hard trying to make ends meet. But she was never able to afford the eye surgery
Mbutu needed. However - thanks to a gift from a kind supporter, Mbutu's sight was restored by CBM doctors. Today, he is proud of his glasses, which help him to see the world and go to school.
Your Christmas Gift of Sight will help us restore vision to a child, or prevent blindness, through one of our eye health programmes designed to treat Cataracts, Trachoma, River Blindness and Vitamin A deficiency. Donate now to make your Gift of Sight to a child.
The Gift of Safe Birth
Twahiri is Fatuma's only child - and the road that brought him into the world was a long and hard one. In fact, Fatuma suffered nine miscarriages before her son
"I had 9 other pregnancies. Twahiri is my only child. All the other children died before delivery" - Fatuma, Twahiri's mother
was born. Twahiri was born by caesarean section at CCBRT Hospital in Tanzania, under the steady hands of CBM funded doctors.
In remote parts of Africa, like the region where Fatuma lives, far too many women give birth without the aid of properly trained doctors or midwives. The consequences are shocking. In Tanzania alone an estimated 13,000 mothers and 45,000 newborn babies die every year. On top of this are the many babies left with life-long disabilities, and mothers who suffer harmful infections and complications.
Our work with CCBRT's Maternity Hospital is just one example of CBM's response to the tragedies of poor maternal care. Our goal is to save lives and reduce the
causes of disability. And your Christmas gift will help us to achieve just that.
Your Gift of a Safe Birth means life and hope and joy to an expectant mother in Africa this Christmas. Donate now to make your Gift of a Safe Birth.
The Gift of Mobility
Unable to walk since the age of two, Stephen is now looking forward to the operation that will totally transform his lifeEleven year-old Stephen has had a tough life for a small boy. On top of contracting Polio when he was two, his father died of TB and his mother had to flee from rebels in the area. Stephen's polio affected his development so much that he was unable to walk at all. Since the age of two, the only way he's
been able to get around is by crawling on his knees. Fortunately, he was identified by CBM workers, who quickly organised a wheelchair for him and enrolled him in
school. He's now scheduled for surgery, after which he'll have callipers fitted to his legs and will receive rehabilitation and training to help him walk.
Stephen's mother is delighted that her son will soon have the chance to walk, and excited about the opportunities that will open up for him now he can go to school.
CBM Ireland is working with a great many children affected by disability. Some need surgery, some need mobility aids like wheelchairs, others need prosthetic
limbs. In one of these ways - your Christmas gift will give a child the mobility he or she needs.
If you give the Gift of Mobility this Christmas - you'll be helping another child just like Stephen take their first steps in the world. Donate today to make your Gift of Mobility.
The Gift of Education
Sijali's family are very poor. They all live together - mother, father, and five children - in one rented room in Dar es Salaam. To make matters worse for Sijali, she was
born deaf. The first seven years of her life were a great struggle. She would often get angry and frustrated in her attempts to make herself understood.
Born profoundly deaf, life is now full of promise and opportunity for 12 year old Sijali - ever since she started school
Then one day when she was seven years old, she had an accident and injured her leg. While she was in hospital, nurses noticed her hearing problems and referred
her to CBM workers, who enrolled her in a Community Based Rehabilitation programme called ART, and helped find a suitable school for Sijali.
Since then, Sijali is much happier, and her family have noticed a big change in her behaviour. She loves going to school and is very determined to get a good education. She wants to be a dressmaker when she grows up, so it is no surprise that handicrafts is her favourite subject. Life is still not easy -- but there is real hope for the future now that Sijali has the opportunity to reach her full potential.
A child denied the basic right to an education, is denied a future too. And the parent who has to stay at home to mind them, is denied the chance to work and
earn money to help feed their family. Your Christmas Gift of Education will help us to undo both these injustices for another family like Sijali's.
If you choose the Gift of Education this Christmas, you'll be opening up a whole new world of opportunities for a child just like Sijali. Donate today to make your Gift of Education.
