Fitsum Girma is a sweet six-year-old girl who has known a lot of pain in her young life. We discovered her last year in a state of malnutrition so severe she was barely able to move.
Like both of her parents, Fitsum is HIV positive. She is one of nearly 1.2 million people in Ethiopia who suffer from the illness.
Fitsum developed an infection in a wound on her leg more than a year ago. Each time the wound would begin to heal, she would run out of medication and the leg infection would return.
The infection has continued to worsen due to her HIV status and lack of proper medical care. She has also lacked appropriate nutrition and hygiene needed to promote healing.
After being accepted into our program, Fitsum was able to immediately begin receiving daily vitamins, grain support, cow’s milk, and HIV medication. Through the support of generous sponsors, she received a bed with a mattress and sheets. Because of these gifts, she has achieved a healthier weight and no longer has to sleep on the floor. Her quality of life has improved dramatically!
The next step in her care was to address the leg wound. For this she was taken to a hospital in Addis Ababa where the family was told that she would need an expensive surgery to help her leg heal once and for all. Fitsum’s mother washes clothes for a living and her father drives a cart. They are unable to provide for the cost of any medical treatments, let alone an expensive surgery.
Fitsum was blessed once again when she learned that the hospital was willing to perform the surgery free of charge!
We are thrilled to say that the surgery to treat her Osteomyelitis was successful and she is recovering.
Unfortunately, Fitsum’s family has recently become homeless. They were keeping guard of a home while it was being built, which allowed them to stay rent-free. The house is now completed and they have been asked to leave. Her great-uncle has provided land for a house to be built out of wood and mud, but this is an unsanitary situation that puts her health at risk once again. 
We want to make sure that her leg remains healed. Her family is in need of cement for their new house as well as a metal roof. They also need access to running water. In addition, Fitsum remains malnourished and is very small for her age. She needs an adequate provision of nutritious foods to help her stay healthy.
Fitsum’s Urgent Needs:
$300: Metal Roof
$200: Cement Building Materials
$250: Running Water in the Home
$180: 6 Months of Additional Grain Support
Can you help Fitsum keep her leg healthy and get back to running around, as a six-year-old girl should?
If you are able to meet one or more of these needs, please make your donation online or by mail today!
Students at BCI Academy recently marked the end of the school year with a Parents’ Day celebration. Our kindergarten graduates wore caps and gowns and shared poems expressing their feelings about BCI. They enjoyed performing a song for their parents and showed excitement at their achievement.
Blessing the Children International 