A young man from Swaziland in Africa could receive a life-changing operation thanks to the combined efforts of staff and pupils at Swansea's Pentrehafod School, a warm-hearted surgeon and the University Hospital in Cardiff. Pupils at the school had been supporting a Swaziland orphanage for children affected by HIV/AIDS called the Lighthouse Project, where Zulu-speaking Sanele Dlamini lives. Sanele, who is almost 17 years old, lost his parents at the age of four, was moved onto foster parents, then finally ended up with a neighbour, who used Sanele as a slave.
(Media-Newswire.com) - A young man from Swaziland in Africa could receive a life-changing operation thanks to the combined efforts of staff and pupils at Swansea's Pentrehafod School, a warm-hearted surgeon and the University Hospital in Cardiff.
Pupils at the school had been supporting a Swaziland orphanage for children affected by HIV/AIDS called the Lighthouse Project, where Zulu-speaking Sanele Dlamini lives.
Sanele, who is almost 17 years old, lost his parents at the age of four, was moved onto foster parents, then finally ended up with a neighbour, who used Sanele as a slave.
Sanele was forced to carry logs on his shoulder all day, every day, and the orphanage believes that this is what forced his spine into an S-shape.
The condition wasn't new to Jill Ahern, one of Swansea Council's Community Education Development Officers at the school, and she decided that Sanele could be helped.
"I recognised Sanele's condition straight away as Scioliosis because my daughter Siobhan had had corrective surgery only a year before and had made a remarkable recovery.
"I told Mr Paul Rhys Davies, the surgeon at Landough Hospital who had done such an amazing job for my daughter, about Sanele's plight, and amazingly he said he would try his best to help us.
"The operation will involve removing discs in his back, putting artificial bone back in place and inserting titanium rods to support his back. It's a very big operation!"
Mr Davies has agreed to carry out the operation free of charge and an implant company are donating the implants and titantium.
Now Jill says staff and pupils at Pentrehafod are all pulling together to raise the money to enable Sanele to come to Wales for his operation.
Valentine's Day was the day the Lighthouse Project gave as Sanele's birthday and the school has now designated 14th Feb as Sanele Dlamini Day.
Each pupil has been asked to donate a pound and a range of other fund-raising projects are underway.
A brighter future for Sanele has become a personal quest for Jill, whose daughter overcame a similar physical struggle, and she and her friends will personally care for Sanele as he recovers.
"We hope to raise £1000 in school. Sanele will be here for about three months, staying with me to recuperate and I shall go out to Swaziland to bring him back. His English is minimal and he will need a Zulu interpreter.
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