Gift Elias is a 4-month-old baby girl living at Nyashishi village in Mwanza Tanzania, she is living with her mother and grandmother. Their home area is surrounded by huge rocks that hide their house within. Currently, her grandmother plays the role by supporting the family as the sole breadwinner through her small business.
Baby Gift was born at Butimba District Hospital and was diagnosed with congenital Talipes equinovarus (clubfoot). The initial examination by nurses did not find any other deformity apart from clubfoot. When the mother saw her child with twisted feet (clubfoot) she was shocked, confused, and depressed. She has never seen anything like that before and asked herself self-many questions including why did that happen to her child as she has never seen any child with clubfoot before. There is no family member with such deformity. She thought that there was nothing to be done until when she received counseling from a nurse that the deformity can be corrected and her feet will be as normal as other children She couldn’t believe it at first until when the doctor came in and told her the same. The entire family was concerned about stigmatization so they try to ensure that Gift is not seen by their neighbors.

Two weeks after birth, she started clubfoot management at Physiotherapy clinic Butimba District Hospital The therapist was not well trained in the management of clubfoot. Unfortunately, the baby developed blisters on the foot which caused the parents to panic and stop treatment immediately. This happened around the same time when Tanzania Clubfoot Care Organization(TCCO) www.tanzaniaclubfootcare.or.tz team went for an outreach program to Butimba District Hospital and gave education on clubfoot treatment services using Ponseti method. During this visit, TCCO’s outreach team met baby Gift and her family. This became the turning point in baby Gift’s life. The referral process took place and baby Gift and her family started a new treatment journey at the Kamanga Medics Hospital.

On arrival, her mother received parent education on the treatment protocol for her child (manipulation and casting, tenotomy and bracing) she was told about the importance of adhering to the treatment. The mother agreed to start treatment at Kamanga. The treatment started and progress well with the feet improving gradually each visit.
Baby Gift is still in treatment and her grandmother is happy as she explains that her hope for the baby to be treated and walk normally is restored.

A team from Miraclefeet and TCCO visited baby Gift’s home to see her progress. MiracleFeet supports TCCO’s programs.
TCCO’s comprehensive clubfoot program which includes awareness creation, workforce strengthening, parental engagement, materials support, data gathering and usage as well as advocacy among others has been focussing on addressing clubfoot in Tanzania with a goal of eliminating disability in Tanzania caused by untreated clubfoot. Our outreach program was able to identify and refer children such as baby Gift for treatment. Her situation would have been neglected if not for the effectiveness of TCCO’s outreach machinery and parental engagement efforts. TCCO will continue with this process to ensure that all children born with clubfoot everywhere in the country receive treatment. TCCO wants to give you the opportunity to join them on this noble journey and to contribute to their efforts. Please feel free to reach out to TCCO through info@tanzaniaclubfootcare.or.tz for more information.