Othman’s Story - Part Two

Published by GCA Tanzania - Written by Francis Mwakatenya

December 2023

Othman’s surgery

In the children's ward of Tanzania's national referral hospital, a woman with a happy face sitting on a bed with a child playing on her lap. This is how the GCA Team found Othman and his biological mother during a visit after the boy had undergone surgery.

It was a surgery to straighten his left arm due to a serious injury following his fall into boiling cooking oil.

Othman’s mother told the GCA social worker, “I am very grateful that GCA is funding my son's surgery. Without the support, we would have to save for a very long time before we could cover all of the costs.”

The Family

It quickly became clear to GCA’s social workers that both Othman’s father and mother loved the boy very much. However, both only have an elementary education and they are not employed. The father depends on day labor, while the mother fries and sells samosa around town. When Othman had the accident, they did not have enough money for proper medical treatment so they tried traditional therapies at home. They struggled to balance his daily care and earning enough income to put food on the table. In order to work, they had to leave Othman at home with his "older brother." This is when child welfare intervened and they were faced with a serious child neglect allegation. Othman was placed in a GCA trained foster family.

Othman’s parents desired to raise funds for their son's procedure to straighten his arm while he was in the care of the foster parents but $600 would have been almost impossible to raise on their own. “We thought it would only take a few shillings but after the doctor told us the actual amount, we realized that our plans would not raise enough,” shared Othman’s Mother. 

GCA’s Support

GCA’s team sought out exemptions from local authorities which only covered the hospital stay so our team decided to cover the surgery cost. Our team collaborated with Social Welfare officers at different stages of case management to advocate for Othman to ensure he received the attention he deserved. The foster parents escorted Othman to the hospital with great optimism. The biological parents were fully engaged during this process and the mother was allowed to stay with her son during the surgery and recovery at the hospital.

GCA’s social worker never left them alone and made regular visits during Othman’s admission and after the successful surgery. Anyone who visited the ward could easily recognize that the two weeks that Othman spent with his mother in the hospital revealed how strong the love was between them. These moments were healing for Othman regardless of the pain after surgery. You could see the attachment that Othman has with his mother and his mother’s nurture and care.

Post-Op Joy

Thank God! After being discharged from the hospital, Othman is ready to head home, now able to fully stretch his arms, bright-eyed, carrying a balloon on his left arm, his mother’s hand on his right. Aisha the foster parents, joins Othman’s parents to expressed her gratitude,

“GCA has done so much for this boy. Thank you so much. May God bless you to continue helping more other children in need.”

GCA team joins all who participated in this case in celebrating the opportunity to make a difference in Othman’s life. The reunification process has been initiated for Othman to be reunited with his biological parents, thanks to GCA’s advocacy efforts. We will continue monitoring that he is thriving but from everything thing we have observed thus far, we have high hopes for Othman’s future with the family he loves so much.

Thanks to your support, one less child will age out of an orphanage into extreme vulnerability in Tanzania!