“Le sourire sucre les larmes”

Far be it my intention to make this page a full-spread voyeur’s view of the human distress endured by these young children, adolscents and adults. Indeed, I have respected your eventual reactions, and so have left certain photographs in - a less shocking black and white. But if we remain passive when looking at these pictures then we must urge ourselves to reflect, and more important, to ACT. Let us not veil our faces. We must dare to look at these visages of reality. We must help them!

Before they display a glimmer of hope with their wide-open, superb eyes which gleam of the kind of happiness that only young children can show, Bakaye and Fatimata (and many others like them) have known suffering, shame, fear and despair…

The Noma disease progresses insidiously and ravages people very quickly.

Amadou is 9 years old :

He was never vaccinated and suffered a cerebral-spinal meningitis when he only one year old. The neurological consequences left him deaf. After his meningitis, he displayed no symptoms of having anything else. But 20 days before being admitted to hospital in Dori, Amadaou - then aged 5 - had a strong fever and convulsions, followed by an oedema on his left cheek. This was treated with traditional means but with no effect. The fever and abcess persisted for about twenty days despite these traditional healing methods. His parents hoped they could cure the affliction and thus they did not thgink of taking their child to hospital. According to his mother - living alone at home with her four children because the fathe worked far away - the oedema evolved into an abcess and necrosis leaving the teeth in the jaw fully apparent. Faced with this dramatic change, she then decided to take Amadou to the hospital in Dori. There her child received local antibiotics and then was transferred to Dr. Zala’s service for a more appropriate treatment. Exams there revealed that Amadou had lost much tissue around his left cheek and that the wound was purulent. The child was administered a more comprehensive dose of general antibiotics. His face was attended to every two days. His parents were advised on a more suitable food, liquid and semi solid. With this treatment, the child’s condition improved. Amadou has since put on weight, is playing again. Never the less he ramains handicapped with his deafness. It is probable that he will eventually be taken for treatment abroad if local surgery to repair his face is not possible in his own country.

Facial surgery can still regive a human face to these poor folk.

That is Mignier’s case

Mignier
Avant ses traitements

Mignier
Après sa chirurgie
That is also the case for Daouda

Daouda
Avant ses traitements
Daouda started suffering at 18 months when he had gengivitis. He was cared for by his parents with blue-methylated spirits. Without knowing the precise rate of change, the symptoms evolved into a febrile state. His parents discovered that Daouda’s breath was fetid. His father looked inside the mouth and discivered black marks on the upper gum. This condition rapidly gave way, within a week, to a necrosis. Dr Zala saw the parents and child but admitted that given Daouada’s state he was unable to correctly care for him. Never the less, the treatment that was administered stabilised the lesions, but at a heavy price. Daouda had to grow up bearing this disfigurement, enduring the mockery of fellow children in his village. He became shy, sometimes ill-tempered and didn’t hesitate to profer menaces against those who riddiculed him. Daouada is today 23 years old and has practically no friends apart from his family. He does not go to school, but works very hard. Dr. Zala has seen him again: on a functional level and despite the absence of certain teeth, he can eat correctly. The serious sequels of the Noma et its pyschological implications mean that Daouda must have facila surgery abroad.

Daouda
Après sa chirurgie
Remember the cute little Boukari on a preceding page of our site … Here’s how he looked before Dr Zala’s team discoved him

This young man, receiving an impressive and painful treatment is hoping for the results of this medical miracle.

[Image Françoise Morel]
One must understand that a very young child’s face is not defintive and that it will be transformed day by day, year by year as he grows into an adult, like anyone else.

These children, when they under go facial reparation, endure numerous difficult operations that counter the changes in their faces.

That is why some of them continue to “withdraw within themselves” because they can not recognise themselves …

I know these picture are heart-rending, and yet its the stark reality …