10%

Gambo walks

By CURE International

May 31^st, 2018

As CURE Storytellers, we give tiny pieces of our heart to each and every patient that darkens our door, but every now and again there’s one who comes along and demands the whole big, beating organ. In this case, that child is Gambo.

Gambo was carried into CURE Niger. He didn’t make waves. He was shy and insulated himself from our world with the comforting presence of his mother. You see, before Gambo could even walk, he was badly burned when he accidentally pulled a pot of boiling water onto his leg. There is no hospital near where Gambo lives, so his family did what little they could to ease his pain and treat the burn. Gambo’s burn did heal with time, but it did so in a way where a skin flap connected Gambo’s thigh to his calf, contracting his leg backwards and rendering it useless. Gambo was too young to walk when he was burned and, now, he never would.

The painful saga continued as Gambo’s ravaged leg developed a chronic ulcer. Literally adding insult to injury, people in their community whispered guesses as to why all this evil was befalling little Gambo. There were a variety of ideas, but everyone agreed it was punishment for something Gambo or one of his family members had done. Gambo finally made it CURE Niger where he promptly received the treatment he would need. Since Gambo lives far away, he stays in our guesthouse as he goes through the routines of bandage changes, wound cleanings, and physical therapy. As the physical healing has been happening, we’ve also begun to see evidence of the spiritual healing that is happening as well.

Slowly, but surely, Gambo started to come out of his shell. He began to trust that we loved him and were there to support him. It started with small peeks from behind his mother's back, which progressed to small smiles. Soon, he graduated to letting us sit near him and then to full on playing with us. He joined us in our morning chapel services. His mother allowed us to pray for them daily. They both took part in our Bible stories, crafts, and games. All the while, Gambo’s leg slowly gained strength.

We are privileged to be witnesses to truly remarkable events here at CURE Niger, but there is nothing like witnessing someone who had been written off as a crippled walking for the very first time. Gambo had been standing for a few days prior. He was working on his balance and utilizing muscles that did not have a use before his surgery. We were sitting cross-legged on the ground as Gambo played at our knees. He pulled himself up and swayed slightly before us. His small hand reached out to balance. He clumsily turned around, rested briefly, pushed off, and stumbled the few steps to his mother.

Writing is part of our job, but we do not have the words to convey the sense of joy and honor we had to be present at that moment. This was a young man who had literally never taken a step before in his life and was never expected to walk. Just months before, everyone was convinced that he would have no future. He would never work. He would never marry. He would never support his parents as they aged. He would forever be a burden... but with these few, simple steps, Gambo shattered all these assumptions. He had potential. He had hope!

At its essence, this is what CURE is about: practicing resurrection. With Christ’s death and resurrection, He took death, sin, and destruction and turned them in life, salvation, and healing. We want to follow this example. With each slice of a scalpel, setting of a bone, and tying of a suture, we yearn to turn pain and inhibition into joy and hope. We want to see self-consciousness and fear turned into strength and love. We want to see the lame walk. We want to see the sick healed and the weary come to know Jesus!