Little Damian was already born in underprivileged circumstances. Until he was 6 months old he enjoyed the love of his mother, who died of tuberculosis in a small isolated cottage. Although she was under medical treatment for this, her cause of death was alcohol and drugs. Damian was discovered next to his dead mother two days after her death when neighbors heard him screaming.
Damian’s father was in prison at the time, so his neighbors, despite their own difficult circumstances, took care of him. When his father got out of prison, he tried to take care of Damian by taking on simple jobs in different villages. However, months often passed in which he could not bring anything home to little Damian. Due to these circumstances Damian got only irregular meals.
When the District Officer heard about it, he organized a meeting with the father and the neighbors, and together with them decided to take Damian to an orphanage to give him a better future. So the District Officer contacted us to admit Damian to the Mafiri Children’s Home.
In addition to missing medical records, it turned out that Damian never received vaccinations against childhood diseases and infections, which all children normally get. Also, Damian, who will be 4 years old in a few months, does not have any ID or other documents to prove his identity.
Our first step (on 31. August 2020) is to go to the hospital with the District Officer and Damian to have his health checked and get to know him better. After that, we take care of his official documents and all necessary procedures and welcome Damian to our Mafiri Children’s Home.
The house of the neighbors with whom Damian lived.
The neighbors who took in little Damian.
Damian, when we first visited him.
The cottage where Damian lived with his late mother.
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Hanno Breitfuss: hanno.breitfuss@iplace.at
Udo Neyer: udo@crimpers.at