Water For
Africa

This is a story of hope. This is Halima’s story.

Halima is 14. Two years ago, she was badly burnt in an accident when she fell into a fire during an epileptic seizure. Her face, neck and hands were severely damaged. She received no hospital treatment as her family couldn’t afford it.

Her father died some time ago and her mother abandoned her after the accident. Today, she lives with her 70-year-old grandmother in one of the poorest villages in Tanzania, so you can imagine how difficult life is for her.

As Halima continues to grow and mature, the facial deformity is only likely to worsen because of the lack of skin flexibility in her neck area.

Despite her severe injuries, she is a gentle, cheerful soul who loves to play and enjoys eating lollies like most 14-year-old kids.

Water for Africa was desperately trying to help find a solution for Halima, which would involve surgery to return some normality to her life. Even though she is currently on epilepsy medication, she struggles with everyday tasks. Obviously, surgical reconstruction is extremely expensive and very specialised. Coming from a background of extreme poverty, Halima’s only hope was a small miracle. Her future was looking very bleak until the amazing power of social media kicked in.

Across the various platforms, more than one million people read her story, thousands sent their love through generous comments and, thanks to tens of thousands of shares, a few uniquely gifted surgeons decided to change Halima’s life.

Forty-five days after the original post, I was extremely happy (actually that is a serious understatement – I was so pumped) to share that Halima had undergone life-changing surgery, which went wonderfully well.

Halima had eyelid, neck and mouth release surgery and will require a further operation next year to fix her hands.