This is Lavinah from Nakuru, Kenya. She is 14-months old. After five harrowing treatments of Chemo, she was supposed to go into surgery, January 16th. The CT Scan had revealed a 35% reduction of her tumor! No child, especially one as young as she, deserves this pain. Her mother, Carol, dropped out of university when Lavinah got sick and they have both been living in the Oncology ward at the Shoe4Africa Children's Hospital. Carol is cheerful and optimistic. She is an example of the strength and resilience demonstrated every day at the hospital. Lavinah and her mother are just one example of why building this school is so important. The school will host a series of workshops, educational programs and seminars for the parents of the children at the hospital. 

Grandma Jane walked in to find Alex severely burnt from his neck down to the rest of the body. Dr John Chumba, one of Shoe4Africa’s doctors, tell us it’s a miracle he is alive.  Alex is now in a wheelchair unable to stand because of the severity of his burns.  Grandma Jane lights up with a smile at the end of her story and says, ‘Look, we are here at the hospital with beds, three very good meals and doctors to treat Alex’.  Without Shoe4Africa Public Children’s Hospital, there would be so many tragic ends to sad stories like Alex and his family. The social workers in the hospital are working with Grandma Jane to make sure her situation changes now, as Alex is on the mend!  They have also found Grandma Jane a job at their Women’s Empowerment Projects.

Purity was born with a rare condition. She was born without a nasal bone and without part of her nasal cartilage. The doctors said that there was a massive amount of fluid  sitting in the gap and flowing into areas that were causing damage in Purity’s head. Naturally what should have happened would be a formation of cartilage between the tip of her nose to her brow bone to take the place of the nasal bone. 

Purity was taken to several hospitals and she had episodes of unconsciousness and excruciating head pain. Each hospital visit was all in vain. Arriving at the Shoe4Africa Public Children’s Hospital was Purity’s mother’s very last option. Her mother had no more money to travel to yet another hospital.

Once Purity arrived at the hospital she was triaged in no time and wheeled into surgery. When she arrived she had been unconscious for a dangerous amount of time. The fluid was drained and preparations for subsequent surgeries were underway to build her nasal bridge and reconstruct Purity’s face.