A young old girl who dreams of one day becoming a doctor is facing an uncertain future following a six year long battle with a congenital disorder.
To compound her situation, Tanayaradzwa Mapila’s parents are farmworkers who cannot afford to meet the expensive bill for an operation by specialist gynecologists, costing US$1 700.
In a diagnosis made by the Premier Service Medical Aids Society (PSMAS) doctors in Rusape they have referred to specialist attention but the family cannot meet the bills to reverse this birth defect.
Perhaps her desire to become a doctor is borne out of the regular interaction that she has had with the medical practitioners over the years, since she started experiencing pain when she was just three months old.
Congenital anomalies are structural or functional anomalies that occur during intrauterine life, they are also called birth defects, congenital disorders, or congenital malformations.
Such conditions can develop prenatally-before a person is born and may be identified before or at birth, or later in life
Mother of the child Faith Musenguri (44) is a general hand at a farm in Rusape, who has parted ways with her husband, who also incidentally works at a farm in Marondera.
Musenguri said her daughter has been experiencing pain since she was three months old and when she initially raised the issue with her doctors they said a surgery would only be feasible when she turns seven, but her pain has increased over the year.
She said after diagnosis with specialists in Mutare the total cost of the medical bills were beyond their reach as a family.
“We are appealing to any well-wishers to come and assist my child because we have nowhere to start from as I am currently working at a farm.
“We parted ways with my husband, but he is also employed as a farm worker in Marondera and between us we cannot raise the amount needed. We are getting help from this employers who have taken up interest in our child,” said Musenguri.
The father Mapila Mapila (61) also works at a farm, and when his estranged wife visited it ignited interests from the farm owners who initiated an appeal for assistance for the family.
Cara Burger who employs Mapila, circulated the message appealing for help when 263Chat picked up story and talked to the mother who was emotional in a telephone conversation, expressing how they are at a cross roads.
