12.14.05
Thursday Born
by Anthony Parker
About thirty years ago, a seven-month old baby was beginning to learn to walk, pulling himself up from the dirt courtyard, using the wooden benches low tables of his West African home for support. When the baby began to run a high fever, his concerned parents took him to a local clinic, where he was treated for malaria by receiving a quinine injection in his hip. The baby recovered and returned home.
But something had changed. He was no longer able to pull himself up, and his legs stopped developing normally. He learned to crawl around on the dirt floor, but was unable to walk under his own strength. What had happened, which was sadly common at the time, was that the quinine injection had not been administered correctly, and the child, like thousands of others who received the same treatment, had been crippled.
The child, who like other Thursday-born boys was called Yao, came from a family who eventually found the means to pay for an operation on his legs, where the mal-formed bones were broken and straightened, and he was fitted with leg braces. He applied himself to his school work and eventually went to university, but was unable to finish because of lack of funding.
He returned to his hometown of Tabligbo,Togo—which is now and for a few more months my hometown—and found work as a school teacher. Because teachers in public schools are paid only sporadically, he also opened an after-school tutoring center, housed in a grass-covered shelter near his home.
Because of his own handicap, Yao also developed sensitivity toward others in a similar plight, whose families are not able to help them. Last year, he came to me with a photo of a young boy who needed the same operation that he had received. We had just returned from furlough and someone had given us a generous gift, asking that we use it “for the children.†We were able to help pay for this boy’s operation and leg braces. Yao handled all of the logistics and did so responsibly.
It’s just part of our life here that we often receive requests for financial assistance. Yao continues to come to us, but I believe that he is our only regular visitor who has never asked for help for himself. He has gone to different schools in the area and identified the most needy students, and helped them with school fees and supplies. Recently, he was able to take some funds that were given to us to another aid organization to secure “tricycles†(see below), which will allow two handicapped students, Theodore and Gentille, to continue their schooling.
In addition to his school teaching, Yao has started a non-profit organization that he has registered with the government. He is trying to get an office set up. He has managed to install electricity and a telephone line. Right now, he needs a very basic computer so that he can have access to the internet and provide office services to help support himself and his little organization. I’m sure that the more needs he is able to meet, the more new opportunities will arise.
Yao does not attend the church that we work with here in town. As far as I know, he doesn’t attend regularly anywhere. I’ve asked him about his faith and why he does what he does. He just says “It’s all about God.†Indeed, it is.
In keeping with the spirit of this site, I want to acknowledge Yao as a note of God’s grace here in Togo, West Africa.
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