OUR PROJECT
A journey with consequences
During a trip to Ghana Ingrid-Maria Boehm was struck by the many people suffering from clubfoot, a birth defect, and by the hardship which these people have to endure in the difficult conditions there.
Children in Ghana do not have access to the non-operative treatment normally available to babies born with this defect in Austria.
With a monthly wage of about EUR 25, most people cannot afford an operation for their child when it is a little older.
An operation required to correct a clubfoot and the subsequent rehabilitation in Ghana cost about
EUR 700!
This personal experience prompted Ms Boehm to take action.
With her initiative Heart for Children, which she launched in the year 2000, Ms Boehm has been supporting children in Ghana who suffer from birth defects (clubfoot) and the consequences of Polio.
WE HAVE ALREADY PUT HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN ON A SOUND FOOTING!
The pillars of our work
Our work is based on 4 solid pillars:
1. THE DONORS
Money collected at talks and other events, and the financial support provided by friends and acquaintances, have provided the financial resources for funding 45 operations.
2. PRIESTS AND VOLUNTARY HELPERS
Your donations are sent directly to the hospital and the rehabilitation centre.
We therefore guarantee that the sick child benefits from every euro that is donated, on the basis of 1:1.
Three Catholic priests and voluntary helpers are committed to selecting the children from families that live in great poverty.
They liaise with the hospital, arrange the transport, and ensure that the children are accompanied as necessary.
They are also responsible for ensuring that the costs are settled directly with the hospital.
3. DOCTORS
The operations are carried out at
-
St. Anthony's Hospital in Dzodze, and
-
St. Joseph's Hospital in Koforidua.
The children's rehabilitation takes place at the
-
Orthopaedic Training Centre in Nsawam
4. SCHOOLING AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
We concluded an agreement with the LILIANE STICHTING FONDS, Holland, in 2006. This arrangement enables us to offer our children schooling and vocational training after their recovery.
Our partnership with LILIANE STICHTING FONDS also gives us access to a mediator network of about 70 mediators throughout Ghana.
Cooperation and support
1. LILIANE STICHTING FONDS
This organisation is today active in 80 developing nations in Africa, America and Asia. Its objective is to provide social and medical rehabilitation facilities for handicapped children and young people. The organisation also makes available funding for schooling and vocational training for persons up to 25 years of age. Through a cooperation agreement signed in 2005, children cared for by Heart for Children are now also eligible for these schooling and training facilities.
The facilities offered by Liliane Stichting Fonds are overseen by a worldwide network of about 1,200 mediators. This enables the organisation to help more than 40,000 young people each year.
2. DR. PAUL ROMPA AT ST. ANTHONY'S HOSPITAL IN DZODZE
Dr. Paul Rompa, a Dutch orthopaedic surgeon, visits Dzodze twice a year to perform special operations at St. Anthony's Hospital for the duration of one week.
On his website you will find some impressions of his work and many photos of his patients.
3. ST. STEPHEN'S CATHEDRAL PARISH
We are very grateful for the support provided for our project by Caritas with responsibility for the St. Stephen's Cathedral Parish in Vienna. There is an article on our project on page 18 of the Parish bulletin for December 2006.
4. WE HELP AUSTRIAN DOCTORS FOR DISABLED
We want to establish an orthopaedic centre in Ghana together with the Austrian organisation "Austrian Doctors for Disabled".
After a joint fact-finding mission, and following another work assignment of the doctors in February 2006, two orthopaedic surgeons from this organisation were again operating at St. Joseph's Hospital in Koforidua in October and performed many operations. This help is vital because there are at present only about five orthopaedic surgeons in Ghana, a country with a population of about 20 million.
Follow-up projects launched by Austrian Doctors for Disabled as a result of our financial assistance in 2006:
Ghana: team of doctors dispatched twice a year to St. Joseph's Hospital in Koforidua.
Mali: clubfoot project in Bamako.
