Erto Update

Greetings,

As you may know, I am back in the United States, working as Executive Director at the Area 1 Agency on Aging. While I left Botswana a year early due to family concerns, I am still working closely with my friends in Botswana and South Africa on a very important project.

If you read my blog regularly, you know about the story of Erto (Arto) who has two club feet.  You may have already contributed to the cause.  If you already have donated, I want to thank you again and update you on the project.   If you haven’t already donated, I am hoping that you will take the opportunity to do so after you read this update.

Erto was just under 1 ½ years old when his mother first carried him to the fence around her compound to show him to me and ask me for help in treating his feet. At that moment, I was devastated, because I didn’t see any way I could do anything to help this beautiful child.  But I knew that if I didn’t do something, he would end up like so many of the disabled children in Botswana: uneducated and left either at the family’s cattle post; possibly physically abused and neglected or sexually assaulted. His choices in life would be minimal. I kept thinking, “what if he is smart enough to do something really incredible in his life, like discovering a cure for HIV, but doesn’t get the education simply because he can’t walk?”

Peace Corps Volunteers are trained to never give up, so I researched and found a group in South Africa called STEPS that helps find children just like him the treatment they need and we put his story on their web page to raise money.  Finally, a week after he turned 2 years old, I joined him and his mom as he made his way to Johannesburg for his first casting. Typically children receive 6 to 8 castings at weekly intervals and then have a small surgery to release a ligament in their heel. Then they wear a brace 23 hours a day for a number of months, then only at night after that for up to four years. The treatment is very effective for younger children, infants especially. For children Erto’s age, the treatment takes longer and is not a 100% guarantee.  Still, the physician felt he was a good candidate and is donating much of his time to the cause.

The money raised so far has gone toward the weekly seven hour bus trip one way from Otse, Botswana to Johannesburg, taxi’s to the doctor’s office, diapers for Erto (the casts must stay dry) and food for the trip. We also had to purchase Erto and his mother’s passports, pay for x-rays and cover some hotel stays before a wonderful woman in South Africa agreed to provide housing for them one night each trip.

 Erto has had five treatments to date and still needs 3 or 4 more, depending on how his body is progressing with the changes the casts are causing. After that, he will need the surgery. Miraclefeet, a group in the United States, has agreed to pay for his brace.

We are so close to having all the money we need for this, but still need $1500.  If you would like to help, you can do it two different ways. The first is to go to my blog www.msmaggieinbotswana.blogspot.com (you are there!) and click on the photo of Erto and his mother Cathrine. It will take you to a web page where you can donate. If for some reason it doesn’t work, or you don’t want to put all your credit card information out there and sign up as they ask, you could make a donation by sending a check payable to me and I will go on line and make the donation directly. My address is 923 H Street, Apt. 3, Eureka, CA 95501.

Because of our efforts with Erto, STEPS is now getting ready to move into Botswana and train local medical personnel in the Ponseti Method to treat clubfoot so the beautiful children of Botswana don’t need to travel quite as far for treatment. For some children, it will mean the difference between getting treatment or not. It will mean the difference between a life spent walking and running, or a life spent simply watching the world go by, or worse.

Even $50 or $100 goes a very long way over there and you will be part of a group of wonderful friends of mine who are reaching out to help a small boy halfway across the world. Any money raised beyond his needs will help other kids just like him. It will make a tremendous difference in their lives. I thank you in advance.