10%

Rise Up & Walk

Rewriting the story of clubfoot

By CURE International

May 12^th, 2015

This is what clubfoot in India looked like before CURE. For some families, clubfoot in India still looks like this now.

This is Lalita.

She was born with clubfoot. Lalita’s father was also born with clubfoot. At a time when treatment wasn’t available, the only option was to endure.

Not only did Lalita endure the physical pain of walking on the calloused sides of her feet, she also faced punishment inflicted on her by other children. They would push her down and run away laughing, knowing she couldn’t defend herself.

More than the physical pain, Lalita experienced the pain that comes from isolation. Even when she was with other people, she was still alone.

“Nobody used to sit and talk with me; nobody would study with me. They never shared anything with me. I had to be alone all the time.

“I never thought I’d get married. It is not a practice for disabled people to get married.” ~ Lalita

Lalita’s father did what many deemed impossible; he arranged for her to be married. He told her the man had “some problem in his foot,” but wouldn’t say more. It wasn’t until her wedding day that she realized her future would hold more of her past: her husband, Betpal, had clubfoot – severe, neglected clubfoot – just like she did.

Lalita and Betpal have found some joy in their shared pain. They understand and help each other. They’ve built a family together. But even in moments of joy, there is a visible hopelessness in Lalita’s eyes as she sits, knowing that pain is coming as soon as
she stands.

Betpal can’t ignore the futility of his work as he spends his days at the sewing machine. He understands the pedals mean pain. He knows his work might be enough to clothe his family, but it will not be enough to provide for them.

Despair has even crept into their hope for the future. When asked what their dreams are for their children, they aren’t sure how to respond. They can only think about today because today is all they can handle. Today there will be pain. There will barely be enough to live on. There will be a sad anticipation that nothing will ever change.

“There is so much sadness in my life; there is so much pain. But I just get up with the hope that this day also will pass by.” ~ Lalita

For Lalita and Betpal, and for hundreds of thousands of other families in India, clubfoot has been more than a physical disability. Clubfoot has been synonymous with pain, hunger, indignity, and exclusion.

That is starting to change.

This is what clubfoot in India, for some families, looks like now.

This is Mohit. He was born with clubfoot.

Mohit almost lived the old clubfoot story. His parents, Sunita and Charan, took him to a private hospital days after he was born. They were told that casting would be expensive and there were no guarantees it would actually work.

One medical bill can mean a lifetime of debt for a family in India. For Mohit’s family, it would have meant selling their only cow, a single action with a devastating domino effect.

Without the cow, they wouldn’t have had milk to sustain their family. They wouldn’t have been able to afford sending their three children to school. If the cow had been sold, Mohit’s grandparents would have had to move out. There wouldn’t have been enough to provide for a family of five, let alone seven.

However, none of that happened. It didn’t have to happen because a new chapter is being written into the story of families facing clubfoot in India, one that tells of healing the sick and proclaiming the kingdom of God.

Sunita and Charan took Mohit to a CURE Clubfoot clinic. They couldn’t believe what they were told by the CURE counselors: Mohit could receive free treatment and permanent healing. Even though he was born with a physical disability, he could live his entire life unaffected by it.

They could even keep the cow.

As a result, Mohit’s family lives a life that is completely different than it would have been if treatment at CURE had not been available.

There is food on the table.

Visitors are welcomed with hot chai made with the cow’s milk.

There are schoolbooks by the door.

Mohit and his siblings attend good schools. They get to focus on education because they don’t have to focus on clubfoot.

There is love in this house.

The whole family is able to enjoy today together. They don’t have to fear the future separately.

If you saw Mohit today, you would never know he was born with clubfoot. His feet are completely straight. He runs down the street. He jumps and plays. He helps take care of the animals. He is a six-year-old boy who loves being a six-year-old boy.

Disability, for Mohit’s family, is now an afterthought.

For Lalita and Betpal, it is the whole story.

CURE is changing the story for more and more children with clubfoot. Our 110 clubfoot clinics in India treat over 6,000 children each year, providing free treatment for those who need it most. In a culture where the poor are sometimes regarded as less than human, CURE is demonstrating God’s love for His children.

Mothers who have been blamed for their children’s disabilities are reassured of God’s love for them. Our counselors, who are trained to educate families on the treatment process, also lift up each family in prayer.

Along with providing well-rounded care for disabled children and their families, CURE’s clubfoot program in India is also a valuable resource to the community. When corrective boots could not be found in the quantity or quality that was needed, our program staff in Delhi decided to make the boots themselves under the training of the man who invented them. This opened up a number of new jobs in our brace shop. Many of those jobs are now occupied by disabled adults, for whom it would have been nearly impossible to find work elsewhere.

CURE can’t go back and change reality for families who experienced what clubfoot in India was like before, but for families who are living with the life sentence of clubfoot - even families like Lalita’s - healing can become part of a new reality.

Like mother, like father, like grandfather, Lalita’s youngest son was born with clubfoot. This time, however, there were options. This time, they found CURE.

“When my son’s feet were corrected and he could walk normally, I could not express my joy. I often think that he need not live a painful life like his father and his grandfather. It gives me immense joy to know that my son is not going to have a painful life.”
~ Lalita