A BIT OF THIS & A BIT OF THAT

STORIES OF HOPEI am actually going to talk about other people besides Kokila this time, but I will start with Kokila.

KOKILA

As most of you know, Kokila was discharged from hospital on November 11, 2011. After much opposition, followed by negotiation, the landlord finally agreed to allow Kokila to stay at the school for some time in order that infection be kept to a minimum, or not at all. Kokila only stayed at the school for about one week, but I’m sure it helped to have a very clean environment for that period of time.

Kokila is now at home and doing quite well. The only problem has been some infection in one of her ears. Today she was having the second day surgery to drain the infection. Hopefully this will be all she needs.

At the end of November Kokila and Kanchen her mother spoke at the Annual concert which was attended by members of almost all the families from both schools. Kanchen spoke from the heart. She thanked everyone for saving her daughter – the early intervention by Tania and the staff to get Kokila into a good burn hospital, and the incredible world wide support from the larger One! family to pay for the services Kokila required. She acknowledges that her daughter probably would not have survived without this help. Apparently there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

Kokila is attending school sporadically and has started back into her studies.

However, the challenge now is the “princess” complex she has developed as a result of all the attention she has received over the last two months. She does a fair amount of whining and is being a little oppositional.

In order for the skin grafts to be as flexible as possible and give her as much mobility as possible, Kokila needs to do exercises. We are sure the exercises cause some discomfort and perhaps even some pain. But they are necessary and she is not cooperating with the routine. The trick now will be coming up with some realistic reward regime for her.

Her progress has been remarkable, and I’m sure this latest “bump in the road” will be navigated successfully.

SANKRISH

This is a little boy who did not have a proper anus. The condition was causing him a great deal of discomfort, and his nutrition was also greatly affected.

Sankrish had his surgery in the spring and is doing very well. Everything is working as it should and his health has improved.
The surgery was done for free; the medicines were covered by One!

ANKITA
Ankita is a little girl about 10 years of age who had a hole in her heart.

The family knew about the hole, but apparently the operation can not be done too young.

By January of 2011 Ankita’s asthma was getting progressively worse, and by March she could only walk about 15 minutes before she was in pain. The doctors started doing the tests and talking about doing the surgery, but told the mother the costs would be in the thousands of dollars.
This was just after Sankrish had his operation, so Ankita’s mother had some idea of were to go and what to do. Ankita’s mother knew One! had helped with the costs for Sankrish, and that we probably wouldn’t be able to pay very much at this time.

Ankita’s mother is a single mother, but we are incredibly proud of what she accomplished for her daughter.

Mother had to start with getting an affidavit regarding the birth of Ankita (no birth certificate). She had to prove her family was below the poverty/ration level in order for the costs of the operation to be waived. She went to about 10 different offices over a period of 25 days. In early May the approval was given for the operation and Ankita was admitted to hospital (emergency by this point) on May 13, 2011.
Mom had to arrange for 5 blood donations before the surgery could be done.

Finally on July 17, 2011 Ankita had her surgery.

One week after the surgery Ankita was back at school. She is fine and there are no complications. The costs were minimal, a few hundred dollars instead of a few thousand dollars.

Congratulations to Ankita and her mother.

SOHAIL

This is a little boy who was born with some sort of deficiency in his leg which causes poor balance, and one leg seemingly shorter than the other. His system needs to be built up before any surgery can be done. Vitamins are being provided, and of course good meals each day.

RAMESH

We have discovered that Ramesh has Epilepsy.

On July 21 he had what we think was his third ‘attack’, but this time it was a full on epileptic seizure which left him unconscious.

He is now on medication and the condition should be able to be monitored.

AORTI ( or DeeBee for short)

This little baby – about three months of age was 1.9 Kilos when she was weighed by the One! staff a couple of weeks age.

One of the mothers at our school brought the baby to the school as she was very concerned and thought she would die. Everyone agreed that death was probably imminent. We have had this experience before, and one such baby was one of the impetus moments for the founding of One! International.

The baby’s mother sits on the side of the road selling/begging. She did not seem to understand that her baby was dying and needed to get nourishment. (“It’s okay, she just sleeps a lot.”) The older siblings are also malnourished and sickly.

During the last couple of weeks, One! staff pick the baby up on their way to school. She is being fed and loved – carried by someone at most times.

Apparently Tania knows that DeeBee’s urinary track is working fine.

DeeBee is starting to thrive. Isn’t it amazing what a little food and love will do.

She is now 3 Kilos; she is alert; she is looking around; she is starting to respond to people. WOW

One! International is saving lives.

One! International is giving children longer lives.

One! International is helping families to care for their children as they want to.