VERONICA – an amputation was prevented
Veronica, a ten year old girl from Kissi, went shopping in the dark in August 2003 and fell in a rainwater gutter; both legs were injured. Her right leg became swollen and inflamed. Due to financial problems the parents were unable to afford intensive treatment on her leg. When Vero was brought to Baobab on her mother’s back in February 2004, the skin on the shin was broken and black and smelt horrible. We were told by a doctor in the hospital in Ghana that her leg had to be amputated. Via a campaign in Germany, Baobab made it possible for Vero to be operated on in Germany. Professor Stark with his team at the University Clinic in Freiburg succeeded in saving her leg. Several people helped crucially:
Prof. Dr. Stark, Prof. Dr. Muhadjer, Prof. Dr. Brandes, the Black Forest Clinic in Bad Krotzingen, Gabi Obi, Verena Walter, Sabine Willers, Salam Abeka and many others.
All those helping hands deserve our great thanks!
Medical care
We still had to take care about her medical treatment.
In February 2007 Veronica felt a sharp pain in her knee and ankle. We found out that one leg was 4 cm shorter than the other. Due to her operation one leg was not growing as fast as the other. Her pain disappeared after we ordered a special treatment shoe. Since then the therapist Petra Staudenrausch, who was treating her at the University Clinic, sends us special shoes from Germany because the Ghanaian styles are very ugly and not yet well developed.
August 2017
In the meantime Veronica, with the help of Baobab, attended Junior High School and graduated from Senior High School. In Senior High School she specialised in Secretarial Skills. In January 2016 she began her Service year at our shop in Cape Coast. At the same time she did a computer course to give her intensive IT knowledge which will help her to achieve her aim of being a Secretary.
