We first met young Rhissa in March, 2008 when his father Adrahamane Maiga brought him to our Mobile Clinic at Bancoma on the banks of the=2 0Niger River, in the north of Mali. He was desperately hoping that we could fix Rhissa’s cleft lip immediately in our clinic, but we only do urgent care. When I told him that a team of American doctors from Global Smile would be coming to Bamako, Mali in November to do cleft lip surgeries and we would guarantee to get Rhissa there, he didn’t believe me. It took some convincing, but eventually Adrahamane was reassured.
Rhissa and his very poor Songhai fishermen family live in one of the places that truly can be called “the ends of the earth”, at approximately 1000 miles from the capital, Bamako. Getting Rhissa and his dad to Bamako was like moving mountains. It included first finding a connection deep in the bush to inform Rhissa’s family to fill him up on protein prior to the surgery so he could pass the blood test and of our next rendezvous in Bancoma in October. Once back in Bancoma I was able to find a full time Songhai and French speaking companion to travel with them from beginning to end. We worked out all the logistics, including the journey of three days each way using weekly local buses, providing money for the family during the father’s absence and the 11 day stay in Bamako.
The surgery and all medical care and medicines for Rhissa are provided free by Global Smile. As per custom, Adrahamane’s dad and the companion slept on the grounds of the hospital during Rhissa’s stay. TurtleWill has funded all the remaining costs including transportation, meals and interpreter totaling $1150. It is wonderful and heartwarming to think that such a small amount of money and the desire to move mountains can make a life changing difference in the world of a small boy from the ends of the earth.
TurtleWill
* Dad mentioned that Rhissa’s classmates did not allow him to sit with them at the same table or at lunch because of his cleft deformity that left him heartbroken and created significant social pressures.