If I stay longer in Soddo, I am sure I will get well completely. Then when I get back to my home, I can start school. I want to be a doctor when I get older so I can help people in the way I have been helped.
Abraham Fantahun was 13 when he first came to the Mossy Foot Project clinic. He was born in the Gojam zone of Northern Ethiopia and had three brothers (one had died) and two sisters. One sister lives in the capital, Addis Ababa. This is Abraham’s story of life with mossy foot disease.
Abraham’s Story
When Abraham was a little boy, he never wore shoes. When he was six years old, a small wound appeared on his left foot and then one on his right foot also.
One day, his mother asked him to dig a hole near their house. While he was digging, Abraham hurt one of his feet with the tool he was using. After that, his feet began to swell, getting bigger and bigger. As he continued to work barefoot, the swelling worsened.
Perplexed, his parents took him to many clinics in the area. The doctors and nurses gave Abraham injections and pills but nothing helped his condition.
His parents also tried many local remedies such as herbs and potions, without any result. Abraham’s feet were huge. When he scratched his itchy feet, white marks were created and puss came out of his skin.
Abraham attended school until third grade. Because of his feet, other children at school made fun of him and called him names.
A man who worked at a clinic in Abraham’s region suggested to his parents that they take Abraham to Tikur Anbesa Hospital in Addis Ababa. So his mother brought him to Addis Ababa where he stayed with his sister. The doctors at the hospital said that Abraham needed surgery on his feet, but his mother disagreed. She asked them to use some way to lower the swelling, but the doctors told her they had no other solution.
Then his mother took him to a different hospital in Addis Ababa where Abraham received medicines and ointments. Because his feet were very big, the ointment he was given was not enough to cover the entire affected area. He was also given injection and different pills.
Abraham’s sister was married to a man who had a spiritual father who worked at an Orthodox church in Addis Ababa. The man saw Abraham at church one day and was concerned for his feet. He described a place he knew in Wolaitta Soddo in Southern Ethiopia. The man said that Abraham would get well if he went there.
Coming to Mossy Foot Project Clinic
This man convinced Abraham’s family that Abraham would be healed if he went to Soddo. However, Abraham’s sister could not afford to take him. Because this man had compassion on Abraham, he offered to cover all the expenses. The man gave Abraham 400 birr and took him all the way to Wolaitta in his car.
In Soddo, Abraham stayed in the Mossy Foot Project compound, being treated by Feleke Kolcha and Lukas Mengistu, two of the trained wound care specialists on the Mossy Foot Project staff.
First the open sores on his feet had to dry out before further medication could be applied. Abraham was given big shoes that fit his swollen feet. After the open wound began drying out, Feleke and Lukas bandaged his feet and applied white ointment. Abraham also soaked his feet in a bucket filled with bleach solution, which removed the mossy growths around his feet.
Within just a few days of coming to Soddo, Abraham began to improve. The swelling was reduced and slowly the wounds disappeared.
Abraham was amazed at the difference in his feet since starting treatment at the Mossy Foot Project clinic. Now he had hope for the future.