Zelalem’s Story – Hope when life seems hopeless

After my father’s death we continued living with our mother in our small hut even though the house was not comfortable. Wind and rain blew through the roof and threatened us. We did not have much furniture or food in our house. At night all of us curled up in one blanket because that was all we had. Tasting the sorrow of coldness at night and sun burning our body during the day was normal life for us.

Life continued to be difficult for me and my family. My mother would go out and earn money to buy food. I also went to my uncle’s house and worked for him. He had many cattle for me to care for. I would take all of the cattle into the desert and stay the entire day in the woods watching them. Different kinds of plants grew in the woods. Thorny trees, big woods and all kinds of grasses covered the ground thickly so you could not see what was hidden underneath. Sometimes I stepped on thorny branches that made my feet bleed and I had nothing to stop the bleeding. Some times wild animals threatened me and the cattle. At this time my foot started to get sick.

Onset and Development of Mossy Foot

One night when I arrived home from the woods, I saw a small wound on one of my feet. I thought that it was an ordinary wound made by the thorns just like other times and ignored it. But the wound continued to cover my foot and it continued to get worse. The wound expanded and made it hard for me to take the cattle into the woods anymore. I went to a clinic and got treatment. After a month my foot got better and I started to walk again. Soon my mother got married to another man and gave birth to another son. Now we became three in my family. My oldest brother got married and became a good farmer in a different location.

I started school on my own when I was 12 years old. I worked and earned money to buy books for my education. Even though I liked to go to school, life was not easy or smooth for me. My foot began to swell. I was not sure what was going on but thought the swelling was because of the injury that I had before. But it turned out to be much worse than this.

Through first to third grade my foot got bigger and bigger each year. When I moved from third to fourth grade, my second foot started to swell. I had to walk for two and a half hours to get to school. School started at 8:30 but I arrived at school at 9:00 or 9:30 and I missed one of my classes. Ayele, one of my teachers, saw what was happening and encouraged me not to stop school. He told me that he would help me in any way he could until I finished school. At that time, only one government-run primary school was located near my home. Even with the swelling of my feet and all the obstacles and struggles in my life, I continued my education. However, my feet made it so difficult for me to walk to school that by the seventh grade, I was forced to stop going to school and stay at home even though this was not what I wanted.

I stayed at home and helped my mother with farm work and chopping wood for cooking. My neighbors felt very sorry for me and wished that they could help me. Everybody thought I would die and I also gave up all hope and waited for my last day. Students who had been in school with me completed school. Some became professionals and some got married and had children. When I saw this, I wished I had never been born. But I did not give up all hope.

I wanted to go to another country where I thought I would get some help. But I did not have enough money to get where I wanted to go. I decided to go to my old school and beg all the students for help. After gathering money from the students and teachers, I went to Arba Minch hospital. But at the hospital I was told that I could not get proper medication for the disease I had and that they were not educated in this treatment. They told me to go to Tikur Anbesa Hospital in Addis Ababa and that I could maybe get some medication for my feet there.

Hearing this I started to think about my future. Where would I get the money to go to Addis Ababa and where would I stay in Addis during treatment? With all these questions swimming in my head, I stayed another week in Arba Minch with my friends. They felt sorry for me and tried to think of ways to help me.

Hope for a Change

One friend told me something that rekindled hope in my heart. My friend told me about a place that provided free foot treatment and said he was sure if I went there that I would be healed in a few months. I had to think about this deeply. From my home, I had to walk for hours and hours to get to the Arba Minch hospital. Walking to Wolaitta Soddo could take days. But now at least I knew where I could be healed.

At that time I could not get out of my house; I could not wear ordinary trousers because my swollen feet would not fit in the legs. I had to order bigger and wider trousers that could fit my whole leg. Life grew harder and harder for me.

I went to my church and told them about my situation. I used to sing in a choir in my church so the church elders and almost everybody knew me. They felt sorry for me and agreed to collect money for my future medication. I also went to my school from which I dropped out and asked the director to let me address the whole school about my trip to Soddo for treatment.

With the money from my church and school, I came to Soddo one Saturday afternoon. I did not know the town very well so I had to ask people to show me where the clinic that treated my kind of feet was located. One gentle man showed me a newly built hospital named Soddo Christian Hospital. I was told to first pay 25 birr to get a card and then led to examination room by one of the nurses at the hospital. After examining my feet, the doctor told me that the growth and the extra toes on my feet should be removed by surgery.

Hearing this, I questioned myself. Why did this happen to me? What have I done for such punishment at my young age? Deep in my heart, I wept and felt bad. I controlled myself and turned my attention to the doctor. Surgery was not done on Saturday so the doctor told me to come back on Monday and that I would be given a bed after surgery. I went into the town and rented a room for two days.

On Monday, I returned to the hospital. At the entrance a young man asked me about myself and I told him my story. He told me that the cost of surgery at the hospital would be much more money than what I had and advised me to go behind the hospital where I would find another organization named Mossy Foot. He told me that they would provide treatment for free and that I would not need surgery.

Visiting the Mossy Foot Clinic

I went around the hospital and knocked on the door of the Mossy Foot clinic. A woman came out and asked me what I wanted. I understood what she said but I could not speak the Wolaitta language. She asked me if I spoke Amharic and I told her that I can speak a little bit. The woman went back in to the house and after a few seconds she came back with a white woman [Sharon Daly, Dr Barlow’s daughter, visiting from America].

The white woman knew some Amharic and she asked me some questions and got my information. She took me to Ato Meskele, the director of the organization. Ato Meskele told me to go to another place near the Mossy Foot office and told me that I should not have surgery right away but instead receive treatment and learn how to take proper care of my feet. He said then after two months I should return and by then he would know whether I would need surgery or could be treated some other way.

I was shown how to wash my feet with soap and soak them in bleach water every day and I was given white ointment medicine to use for the next two months. I was taught to bandage my feet and was given big shoes that came from the US. I was told to either go back to my home or rent a house in Soddo for the next two month. I went back to my home and applied all the advice I was given. Every day before I went to bed I washed my feet with soap and water, soaked my feet in water with bleach, put the white ointment medicine on my feet and wrapped my feet with the bandages. In two month my feet showed great improvement. When I returned to the Mossy Foot clinic, the shoes I had been given were now too big for me. I was given a different kind of shoe and more medicine and bandages.

I returned home with my new supplies and I continued to wash my feet and apply the medicine. My feet continued to improve and the swelling slowly disappeared. Eventually I could wear ordinary shoes from the market.

Thank You to God

I opened a barber shop and started my own business. Students and other kinds of people would come to my shop and have their hair cut. Nobody noticed my feet any more and I am living a happy life.Before when other people went to church on Sunday, I stayed at home and prayed to God to heal me and make me well so that I could worship Him. God heard my prayer and now I am serving him with a worship group (choir) at my church. Like Alazar [Lazarus] I was dead but now I am a living person by God’s mercy. Before, I did not feel worthy to talk with anybody. Now I have many friends who love me.

I have many reasons to thank God. My small words cannot explain it all. When I ran out of medicine and returned to Soddo for more, the Director said I had taken good care of my feet and to encourage me he gave me an opportunity to participate in one month training on cutting hair. This training is a great help for my small business back home. God is still working in my life!