“When Juma is busy playing with other children he puts a beautiful smile on his face,” says our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF). “He likes to clap his hands and since he recently started to walk, he likes to walk a lot.”
Two-year-old Juma from Tanzania was born with hypospadias, a genital defect. This means that his penis is bent, and his urinary opening is located on the base of the organ, rather than on its head. This can make urination difficult, and “if not treated, as an adult Juma will have fertility problems,” AMHF details.
Juma’s parents cannot afford the surgery he needs to remedy this birth defect. As small-scale farmers of maize and other grains and parents of three other children, “their income is not stable,” says AMHF.
$837 covers the cost of hypospadias repair surgery, which will straighten Juma’s penis and extend his urinary channel through the length of the organ, relocating the urinary opening to the head. Funding also includes a ten-day hospital stay for Juma so he has adequate time to recover after the procedure.
“I hope my son’s treatment will go well. I wish for him to have a good future and his own family,” says Juma’s mother.