A Nigerian child thanks RC Belur
That acts of kindness are seldom forgotten can be seen from a Facebook post of the parents of three-year-old Miracle, a Nigerian girl, on the completion of one year of her successful heart surgery facilitated in Kolkata by RC Belur, RID 3291, particularly one of its members R K Bubna, last November.
This year, on Nov 2, Miracle’s parents, Joseph Chukwumaije and his wife, shared their joy at their child’s good health through a warm and loving FB post. It recalled how on this very day last year “Miracle underwent (an) open heart surgery at Narayana Super Specialist Hospital, Howrah, India.
I am writing to thank God and all of you that helped to save her life. As I sat back reminiscing the way we had travelled from Nigeria to India (unknown land and unknown people), it was hope and confidence in these unknown people’s goodness that was our major luggage during this journey.”
But their anxiety had evaporated “when daddy R K Bubna called out ‘Baby Miracle’, as we came out of the Kolkata airport terminal.”
The extent to which the larger Rotary family envelops strangers in its warm grasp just because they also wear the ‘Rotary’ label, can be seen from the gratitude expressed in this post. It recalls how the Nigerian family was treated by the Kolkata Rotarians as a “royal family; we were put up in the hospital’s private ward, served special food whenever we requested and all our medical expenses were paid. We cannot forget the love with which you welcomed us. Daddy R K Bubna had always come with food from the store because he was sensitive to our background as foreigners.”
To provide a recap of the article carried in Rotary News (Jan 2019), last year, RC Belur had jumped in to help the Nigerian child following an FB post, where Harshad Raveshia, a member of Rotary eClub One (Houston, US, RID 5450), had requested emergency medical help for the child as a team of US doctors visiting Nigeria could not operate on Miracle for want of adequate equipment and other facilities in Nigerian hospitals.
After seeing this post, Bubna contacted Raveshia and got from him the medical reports of the child, which were shown to doctors at the Narayana Super Specialty Hospital in Howrah. RC Belur has a partnership with this hospital for cardiac treatment of poor children and adults. Once the hospital confirmed that surgery could be performed on Miracle, who, apart from a hole in the heart, also had some other complications related to a very small left artery.
The surgery was done on Nov 2, 2018, and the child discharged on Nov 8. Club members Ramesh Tiwari and Vishnu Dhandhania took care of the arrangements to make the family’s stay comfortable in Kolkata. This project was undertaken in partnership with Rotary eClub One and RC Greater Nigeria, RID 9125, through a global grant from TRF. In the latest FB post, Miracle’s parents thank all these Rotarians by name, leaving the best part of the news for the last.
Not only that Miracle is now fine and is attending school, but she now has a baby brother. The parents had put away the thought of having another child due to Miracle’s heart problem, “but thanks to you all, she is now well and in school with her mates. May God almighty bless you all and your family abundantly.”
Says an overwhelmed Bubna, “I have been in Rotary for over three decades, and have done so many service projects, including with international partners. But this has been the best project of my life, as I was instrumental, by the grace of god, in giving a second life to Miracle, and bringing the smile back on her parents’ faces.”
