A Bad Luck Story

Bad news for the young Indian boy pictured on my Blog below on 11 January 2007. Anton has reported that it was proving difficult to get in contact with the father of the boy: ...'the clinic's staff show up at his house but he's never there. It may be extremely bizarre to believe, but from what we hear from the relatives of the boy the parents aren't eager to get the operation for him at all. This it seems is because they’re simply too lazy even though we're providing transport and paying for it. This just a typical attitude from my experience parents often don't care about their children in poverty stricken India.’

Although frustrated, Anton has learnt from his experience in India and in his final report he mentions the boy with the clubbed foot: ‘The lesson I learned from all of this is that the clinic’s most important work is not medical aid but education. This was particularly driven home when we offered to pay for the operation of the boy with a club foot (see the blog for details). This condition was caused by cerebral palsy caused by nerve damage ultimately caused by severe nutritional deficiency prior to and after birth. The operation will cost $300. Dr Gehrman said that while he applauded and supported our offer to fund the operation; he wanted to point out that with $300 he could employ and train a health care worker for 12 months. This one trained worker could prevent dozens or even hundreds of similar cases by educating villagers about nutrition.’

My response to Anton was; ‘I guess we should be philosophical about the way other people see things differently to us. I am disappointed for the boy with the club foot because we both know how easy it is for us to improve his quality of life.
I'm sure many Indians would see many aspects of Australian life as bizarre. For example they surely would be bewildered by the extraordinary high suicide rate among Australian youth and the numbers of teenagers using drugs. They would wonder why, in one of the world's richest countries, many Aborigines are living in appalling health, education, economic and employment circumstances. (They would probably also be shocked at our beef barbeque culture.)’

Fortunately all is not lost. Anton is seeking to help another young Indian boy: ‘The other operation is a 12 year old boy with spastic paralysis since early childhood due to cerebral palsy. The knees are deformed so he cannot walk properly, and it's too far progressed to be cured with acupuncture or physiotherapy. At least one knee needs to be operated to help him effectively.’
I’ll report if this small project succeeds.