Ashley is a young girl from Kenya who has been having umbilical hernia since birth. She is a student in class one and aspires to be a teacher. Ashely is the third-born of four children all living together in a one-room house in the Nyanza region of Kenya. Ashley’s parents are casual farmers taking up any farming job that come their way. This helps sustain their needs and pay school fees for their three schooling children. They are not able to raise the funds needed for Ashley’s surgical care.
She was delivered at her at home, as advised by their neighbors not to go to the hospital. Every baby had a protruding navel and Ashley’s case was no exception. When she turned three years old, in 2015, her father was not convinced that the swelling was normal considering he had two children before Ashley. Her parents brought her to the hospital to seek treatment. The doctor sent her home and was told to wait until she was 4 years old, to see if the condition would retract. In 2017, they came back to the hospital where an umbilicoplasty was recommended.
Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation, is requesting $423 to fund Ashley’s surgery. Once completed, this procedure will hopefully allow her to live more comfortably.
“I want to be a teacher when I grow up,” says Ashley.
