Meet Fred

Fred was born in Uganda with a cleft lip and palate. In poor communities, most children like Fred die of malnutrition or infection. It’s only through the sheer, loving determination of Fred’s mom, Sissy, that her boy has survived.

Even at 6 years of age, Fred still has difficulty eating. He’s smaller than other children his age. He also suffers many more ear and throat infections than most other children do.

Sissy’s fierce love and care could do a lot to protect her son’s body, but it couldn’t protect him from the mockery and rejection from other children – because of how he looks ... and how he talks. His cleft palate affects his speech.

For Fred’s mother, her heart broke every time her son came running home crying. He held his hand over his mouth to hide his malformed lip. The other children made fun of him.

Fred was too afraid to go to school. This is tragic. If he is to have any hope of escaping from poverty, he desperately needs an education.

Together, we help children like Fred – by finding them (children with disabilities are often hidden away and forgotten) and then giving them an operation their family cannot possibly afford.

The wonderful news is, Fred has been found. And he’s received the surgery he needed to correct his cleft lip and palate.

At last he has a smile! No more bullying or cruel taunts.

Fred’s operation is just the start of our 12-month plan for him. His plan includes special training to improve his speech and extra help to catch up at school. Also, his family is desperately poor. They need options and support for a better income.

This is the power of your sponsorship at work!

The sound of Fred's progress

Is this the same Fred whose life had been ruined by cleft palate? Look at this bright, bubbly boy. He loves his school uniform so much he wears it on his long trips to the speech therapist. Speech is the last barrier in Fred’s journey out of disability.

Fred is a bright boy and he is now doing well in a class of children his own age. However, the effects of his cleft palate can still be heard in his uncertain speech.

Sometimes the children smile at the sounds he makes. This could make him shy and withdrawn, so the teacher keeps a sharp eye out for teasing.

“I like Fred a lot,” his teacher Mrs Malirosi says. “He always pops his head into my office, smiling and waving.”

At the hospital, Fred’s speech therapist Julia is very pleased with his practice and concentration as they work through sounds like taa, daa, paa, maa, nii, baa and bii-baa. When a sound comes out as a “sss”, Julia holds his nose closed to help him make this “front sound”. Then he tries it without holding his nose.

“Well done!” Julia exclaims. “This is much better than in the beginning. You really made some progress.”

You will also be pleased to know that Fred’s mother, Sissy, was given a big family-sized mosquito net. “Since then,” she says, “none of us have had malaria.”

How wonderful! Isn’t this what your cbm Child Sponsorship is all about?

Fred starts school!

Thanks to cbm Child Sponsors, Fred has now started at the school he was always too scared to attend, because he feared he would be mocked about his cleft palate.

It is a pretty little school, painted red and white, about three kilometres from Fred’s home. The principal is very excited to hear what cbm Child Sponsorship has done for Fred. "I thank God for this," she says, "and I can assure you that Fred will be well looked after at our school”.

Reduced income is one of the worst problems faced by families with child disability. Fred’s mother Sissy says, "Now that Fred will be going to school every day, I can focus on my work. I am so grateful."

Fred’s parents still need time off to take him for speech therapy at CORSU, the hospital where his cleft palate was so well repaired.

Julia, Fred’s speech therapist, says that after years of forming sounds behind the big hole in his palate, Fred is having to learn to speak all over again. But Mama Sissy is taking the exercises very seriously and Julia is very pleased with Fred’s progress.

Fred’s surgery was just the start of his journey. Thanks to your support as a cbm Child Sponsor, we are able to walk with children like Fred all the way to a brand new life for their whole family.