A leg for a better future

Mohamed Balene is a 20 year old boy (31.12.2002) who has lost his father since childhood (17.04.2004) and his mother since pre-adolescence (06.08.2011), who in January 2008, at the age of 6, was victim of a bad accident with a crane while working on a construction site in Ivory Coast.

Following the injury, after several difficult hospitalizations between Burkina Faso and Benin, he had to undergo the sub-genicular amputation of his left leg. Unfortunately, following the operation, due to the lack of economic resources and healthcare support, he did not have access to the provision of prosthesis of the limb even though the measure would have been strongly indicated.

When we came into contact for the first time during the planning of the "Liceo Nassablé computer room" project, Mohamed was mobilizing himself with the support of two crutches, now resigned to the impossibility of being able to benefit from a prosthesis.

Thanks to the collaboration with SwissAbility, the Humanitarian Association "if...", through private funding, has decided to support the costs for the prosthesis procedure and the consequent rehabilitation at the A2D center in Parakou in Benin.

During 2023 the rehabilitation process concluded with great success and to date Mohamed has been hired as a volunteer teacher for the French-Arab primary school of Daroul Houda in Cinkassé also in the northern region of Togo.