A six-year-old girl is finally happy to go to school after life-changing surgery for her severely bowed legs. Sira's grew up in a rural community in south-west Senegal, and her legs started bowing when she was just four, due to malnutrition.
Her condition got worse, and eventually she didn't want to go to school due to unwanted attention from classmates. Sira would often come home from school crying, but her father Ibrahima insisted she kept going so she got the education he missed.
The farmer and shop owner said: "I knew if she had an education, then it wouldn’t matter what her legs were like. When you don’t have an education, you can’t get a good job. You can’t support yourself and your family.”
He told her to ignore the stares, but it was difficult for Sira. Her mother Binti said: “I was always worried. Sira was always so friendly, but when people started staring, she became so shy. She wasn’t happy.”
The numerous medical visits were also straining the family’s finances as they struggled without a steady source of income to cover the medical bills. Two years later, Ibrahima found out through the radio about international charity Mercy Ships, offering free surgery for conditions like Sira’s.
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He said: “We have our neighbour who had already been there, and their child was totally cured.” Sira underwent screening and was selected to receive surgery.
As her father had to stay to tend to his farm and her mother had to look after Sira’s younger siblings, Sira’s grandmother Diaite accompanied her for surgery on the hospital ship docked in Dakar, travelling over 12 hours to get there. After successful surgery, Sira undertook a 12-week rehabilitation journey which included relearning how to walk and rebuilding the strength in her legs. She also discovered a love of football.
Physical therapist Laura Blundell, from Scarborough, Yorkshire, who is volunteering on board, said: “We use football a lot. The kicking helps with range of motion. It quickly became Sira’s favourite activity.” The ship crew observed that after every rehab session, Sira insisted on tying her own shoes.
Determined to do it herself, she refused help and accomplished each set of exercises with a smile. It was this remarkable determination and resilience that sped Sira’s healing process along.
Her grandmother, Diate, continually kept Sira’s worried parents updated via phone calls to their village. She said: “I called them every day and told them not to worry. The people here [on the Africa Mercy] were taking good care of us. We had food, we had a place to stay, and Sira was getting help.”
The journey back to their village was thrilling for Sira, who hadn't seen her family in three months and couldn't wait to show off her legs. Ibrahima said: "When I first saw her, I lifted her up and just kept looking at her again and again. I could not believe I was seeing her like that."
She immediately went back to school when she returned. Her experience now is much more positive, to the relief of her parents who believe her healing will allow her to reach her full potential.
Her mother Binti said: “If she studies hard, she will succeed and she will help herself and people around her. I used to think that her legs wouldn’t change for the rest of her life, but God helped us.”
