Richmond B. Tholley
A fifteen-year-old boy in a village in the Northern District of Tonkolili is calling for financial support to ameliorate a health complication that has hampered his growth and schooling and left him stigmatized.
“I’m calling for help from the general public, the government, non-governmental organizations, and individuals. My parents cannot afford to pay the hospital bills after the doctors at the Government Hospital in Magburaka said he can’t get treatment in that facility,” the 15-year-old boy said.
James Turay is living together with his grandmother in Makama village, Simiria Chiefdom. Recounting his health ordeals, 15-year-old Turay said his mother took him to a nearby stream in the village when he was just a toddler. While at the stream, Turay said he was informed that a devil transmitted/transferred the above ailment to him.
From that stage, he said he has been living with swollen eyes and jaws. Recently, a humanitarian picked him up while traveling to Bumbuna, and he later publicized the issue.
The longtime health complication, he said, has affected his schooling.
“I’m stigmatized by colleagues and the community,” Turay said.
Life is not easy for the 15-year-old boy since the health complications started years back.
