Flying for life from South Sudan to Uganda

Little Godfrey Matale and his teen mother Ide Harriet are among the nine babies and nine carers Mission Aviation Fellowship is flying from Juba, South Sudan, to Tororo, Uganda, from where they will be driven for close to an hour to receive treatment for hydrocephalus. 

MAF has flown Ide and her baby here before and is returning within four months. Unlike when they first came for treatment, Godfrey’s condition has now worsened. His brain holds 10 extra millilitres of water than it did at his first diagnosis, making his head 6cm large now. 

Despite the extreme discomfort, the little baby has not been able to cry to communicate his pain for three months. 

The eight-month-old must first receive treatment for bedsores before his much-needed surgery.

“His development is going to be very slow,” says Doctor Emmanuel Okello, a surgeon at CURE Children’s Hospital of Uganda. 

“We have to work on his nutrition, but we will also have to do regular physiotherapy because the head is too big. But before anything, we are going to tap water from his brain to relieve him of some pressure.” 

MAF came into partnership with CURE Children's Hospital of Uganda, to fly these children so they can access the free treatment the hospital offers. There’s no health facility that does hydrocephalus and spina bifida surgeries and treatment in South Sudan.

“We appreciate the collaboration we have with MAF. It would be very challenging getting patients down here from South Sudan by road, as it is very exhausting and additional burden on them. MAF also helps us bring these patients more urgently and we are very grateful,” CURE Children’s Hospital of Uganda Executive Director, Tim Erickson, says. 

Angelina Akoi, another young mother on the flight, is happy that they don’t have to go by road.

“Flying us here is very helpful because traveling by road for so long with a sick baby is very uncomfortable and cumbersome. Thank you MAF for making this possible,” she says.

Hydrocephalus can be detected during pregnancy and, if treated immediately after birth, the child has high chances of healing and living a normal life. 

“I never attended any antenatal visits during my pregnancy,” Ide says.

This is the difficulty faced by thousands of mothers in South Sudan and several other African countries. What would have been a small matter escalates into a life-threatening crisis because of a lack of basic health facilities. 

According to Dr Okello, one of the main causes of hydrocephalus is neonatal meningitis. 

“Neonatal meningitis or neonatal sepsis attacks the brain cells which are responsible for absorbing the excess water back into the blood stream,” says Dr Okello. 

“Also, preterm babies are prone to having this problem. All this affects the rest of the child’s development.

“If managed early, the child can be well. The major issue is mothers come late.” 

Dr Okello explains the reaction to the condition in some communities.

“Some think its witchcraft and some babies are even discarded in trash cans due to ignorance. In my village in Agago, (northern Uganda) babies with this condition used to be discarded in water bodies. But the situation is now changing,” he says.

Asked about baby Godfrey’s condition, Dr Okello says, “God keeps them until they get here. It’s a miracle.”

Godfrey is Ide’s only child, and she says that she wouldn’t want to have more children. Just eight months old, Godfrey can’t breastfeed, and only feeds on some milk with a spoon. This has left him severely malnourished.

One of the other patients flown by MAF, Akuok Ameer’s baby Amor Mading only showed signs of hydrocephalus when her head begun expanding three months after her birth.  

“When I saw my baby’s head expanding, I asked God, why me? My husband could not help because he does not have the money to afford treatment,” says Akuok. 

What unifies the nine mothers and babies that MAF flew is that they all can’t afford private treatment and so they rely on the pro-bono option provided by CURE in collaboration with the organisation Usratuna. 

MAF pilot Dave, who flew the children with their mums from South Sudan, was deeply touched.

“I’ve been flying with MAF for 20 years, and it’s because of flights like this that I still love what I do! Here were nine South Sudanese mums, each with a precious little baby who was suffering with something that would be severely painful, and possibly even fatal,” he says.

“In South Sudan they had no hope of physical help and healing. Yet, through the help of many, including MAF and CURE Hospital and others, we were able to bring them to a hospital in Eastern Uganda, where specialists will literally give them a new lease on life. 

“A flight like this is huge! It’s part of a team effort that is life-giving and life-changing for each of these nine precious souls.”

Angelina’s baby’s name is Makuyi Manyang, named after a white and black coloured cow with beautifully curved horns. Every one of these teenage girls loves their babies and their devotion is evident in how far they go to seek healing. 

MAF has done five flights in this partnership with CURE. One was for a pilot clinic bringing CURE staff to Juba, to assess the needs of the children and plan on how to get the service closer to babies in need. 

“I’m so glad that I got to play a small part in being the hands and feet of Jesus in one of these stories,” Dave adds.

“Ultimately, I hope and pray that through help like this - bringing physical healing and hope to the hurting - that many will also come to experience the eternal hope and healing that comes through Christ. That makes it all worth it!”