Toddler needs help

National, Normal
Source:

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

ONE-year-old Raphael Gunisa needs urgent help.
He was born with deformed legs and feet, making it hard for him to walk or stand.
When he was just three months old, he was given away for adoption by his parents, who are both unemployed.
The parents reasoned that they already have three boys and wanted a daughter instead.
But Cella Gunisa, 40, who became Raphael’s foster mother, knew better.
Gunisa told The National the parents were aware that the boy had physical deformities and did not want to have anything to do with him.
Last week, a doctor at Port Moresby General Hospital advised her to bring the boy to the hospital’s physiotherapist for check up.
Raphael’s legs and feet were put on cast which shall remain for the next six weeks.
“The physiotherapist would know if his legs and feet would have some changes,” Gunisa said.
The doctor said they would know later if surgery could fix Raphael’s problem.
At present, Raphael moves around the house by crawling.
The boy, who is one of the 97 children being looked after at the Tembari Children Centre (TCC), a day care-orphanage facility, also needs some help with food.
He needs toddler’s milk and vitamins, according to Gunisa, who is herself jobless like her husband and living at ATS Oro Settlement at 7-Mile.
Those who wish to help Raphael may contact Penny Sagembo, TCC founder, on cell phone 7261 9552.
For any assistance, they can also coordinate with Alfredo P Hernandez of The National newspaper through landline 324 6712.