Children of Fire in the DRC

Auckland Park-based Children of Fire charity has sent two occupational therapists to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo to pass on their skills in helping burn victims.

Evanthia Pavli, who runs her own successful practice at Linksfield Clinic is on her second Children of Fire medical mission to Congo, and specialist hand therapist Roxanne Wentzel of Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is going for the first time. Accompanying them is Jessica Hamman, a long-term medical volunteer with the charity. The trio will sew customised pressure garments and splint limbs for some 50 patients, and will give a lecture to medical students at the University of Kinshasa about their profession.

Carefully moulding a simple piece of thermoplastic can allow a child to retain use of a finger, a hand or an arm that would otherwise be a disability to the child.

Occupational therapy is a vital healing skill for children that have suffered burns. Africa has tens of thousands of burn survivors every year, but the profession is barely known on the continent outside South Africa.

“These key skills will improve the appearance of children who were hurt just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said the charity’s trustee Bronwen Jones.

“A stitch in time saves nine, but an occupational therapist in time can save a child ever needing surgery at all.”

Children of Fire has been working in Congo since 2009. It has assisted burns survivors in Goma and in Kinshasa, taking them as far afield as Cameroon, South Africa and the USA for surgery or rehabilitation.

Details: 011 726 6529