update on Lebahati

Almost two years ago I wrote a post about a little boy from a Maasai village who has hydrocephalus. I had traveled with the family and the project social worker to one of the hospitals in the area so he could see a specialist. During that time I developed a connection to Lebahati and his mother and I've tried to make visits to their home whenever I had the opportunity since then.

The update on his condition is that it has stabilized. By the time they made it to Dar es Salaam to a more specialized hospital they were told that there was no need for any intervention. His head will always remain larger than normal but he was not in danger of the condition worsening. He was somewhere between 3 and 4 years old at that time and not yet walking due to the larger-than-normal weight of his head. Now he is somewhere between 5 and 6 (no one really keeps track of these things out in the bush) and has learned to walk all by himself. Well, part of the motivation to walk is because Mom has a new baby and he can no longer ride on her back, but it is still quite a large accomplishment for him to walk independently.

I visited their home last week and was greeted by Lebahati walking up to me with a big smile on his face. He used to shy away from me, probably because he associated me with the trip to the hospital. His mom still teases him and asks him if he's ready to go with me to the hospital again, but this time he was all smiles. He even said later that I could take his baby sister if I wanted (I don't think he liked being usurped as the baby of the family). In the end I did not take the baby sister (who's name means "Of Jesus"), even though it was tempting, she's pretty cute. But I did leave with a great deal of joy! What a blessing it was to see this little boy growing and developing, playing with friends and having a more normal life.