Nadiatou in Burkina Faso
Living with your inlaws is not always easy. When Mamata?s husband, Idrissa, had to leave Burkina Faso to find employment in Gabon 1,200 miles from their home, Mamata was forced to stay with her inlaws. Because their son Nadiatou had clubfoot, Mamata was often on the receiving end of accusing glances from her husband?s parents.
But not everyone in Indrissa?s family treated his wife poorly. Aboubacar, Indrissa?s nephew, regularly accompanied Mamata and her son to the clinic visits at Schiphra Hospital in Ouago. He would do this before going to school for the day and then would pick her up at the end of the day. Because Mamata only speaks her native language of Bissa, she had trouble communicating with the French-speaking staff at the clinic. Aboubacar helped with the translations.
After not being satisfied with how she was welcomed in another medical center, this Muslim mother was very happy to discover that treatment was available for free at the Hope Walks partner clinic at Schiphra Hospital. Mamata and Aboubacar were grateful for the prayers offered by the parent advisor and were relieved after each counseling session. At the clinic, she was curious to see how casts could treat her baby?s feet. Once the final cast was removed after Nadiatou?s tenotomy, Mamata was amazed.?
?It?s like God gave new feet to my baby,? she said. She now walks through life with hope and a smile. And her son will walk on straight feet into the future.?
