Margreth is a six-year-old girl and the second-born child in a family of six children in Tanzania. She is a hard-working girl despite being young and not being able to straighten her left hand after being involved in a fire accident two years ago.
Margreth helps look after her younger siblings when her parents are out working on the farm. Her parents say she has not had a chance to join school in fear of discrimination due to her disability. Her parents are small-scale farmers and livestock keepers. They depend entirely on what they harvest from the farm for a living and sometimes they are able to sell milk from their cattle.
In 2018, Margreth was sitting around the fireplace warming herself with her siblings when her Maasai clothing caught fire. Margreth panicked and started running crying for help when her grandmother and mother came to her rescue and put the fire out by taking her clothes off. She had sustained severe burns around her belly and the left hand. She was rushed to the district hospital where she was admitted for six months for treatment. The cost of her treatment made her parents sell almost all of their cattle in order to settle the bill. She healed but now she is unable to straighten her left hand which is limiting her in carrying out her daily life activities. She needs to have her hand-corrected, but her parents can’t afford the cost thus they are asking for support.
Fortunately, our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation, is helping Margreth receive treatment. On October 12th, surgeons at their care center will perform a burn contracture release surgery so she will be able to utilize her hand with greater ease. Now, her family needs help to fund this $874 procedure.
Margreth’s mother says: “Life would be easier for our daughter if she is able to have this surgery. Our problem is that we can’t afford the treatment cost. If it’s possible please help our daughter.”