19th Mar 2024 4:09:34 AM

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Nomthandazo Shongwe












Nomthandazo Shongwe born 18th October 1986 was burned in July 2008. She came to Children of Fire on 14th August 2010 for assessment.

She was burned when a paraffin heater exploded.

She has a child of her own Thabiso that she is not looking after and the father of the child is not supporting him. He lives with Nomthandazo's grandmother.

Nomthandazo is not looking after herself.

Her mother Patricia is at her wits end as her daughter is deeply depressed, and will not attempt to use her hands at all.

Nomthandazo turns the television on with her toes.

Her hands are crippled by the delays, the depression, the lack of occupational therapy and the family waiting on the young woman like a princess.

Nomthandazo can take trousers on and off, except for buttons, but she makes her mother do all this for her.

Nomthandazo cannot put on a long sleeved top or take it off, as her deformed hands get stuck in the sleeves.

She is reluctant to use her teeth to hold, grip or pull anything - her face is badly burned aswell.

Nomthandazo's family needs a break from caring for her.

The young woman needs something to shock her into the reality that her mother will not be there to wait on her forever.

Nomthandazo's grant fell by the wayside because of the time that she was in hospital.

If the state continues to be so ineffective in trying to repair this young woman, she will be a burden upon her family and society for the next fifty years.

She is capable of learning a skill and contributing to South Africa but first of all she urgently needs hand surgery and thereafter, determined therapy.

















Nomthandazo has problems from the baldness at the top of her head, to her burned-away ears, to severe facial damage, to her non-functional hands, to her legs scarred with donor sites. Her depressed demeanour and her overwhelmed mother - and the fact that at end August 2010 she did not even have a surgery date to look forward to - mean that nothing will change unless a determined compassionate surgeon will take a holistic view.

Is there anyone out there who cares?

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