A young girl from Tanzania comes to America for lifesaving surgery. She has spina bifida and other health problems.
The child looks up at me with fear and uncertainty in her big, dark eyes that remind me of a deer's. They are big and bright in her dark face, and she looks scared out of her wits.
Her name is Bright Sunshine Tjahiti, and she is just 6 years old. She lives in a rural village back in her home in Tanzania, and she lives near the Ngorongoro Crater. She is of the Maasai tribe, and her father raises cattle for a living while her mother stays home and takes care of the house and the children. She was born with spina bifida that left her paralyzed and relying on Lofstrand crutches; and she also has respiratory concerns. She breathes by way of a hole in her throat, and her voice is barely above a whisper. Bright knows very little in the way of English, and so it is a challenge to try to explain to her that she needs surgery to correct a worsening scoliosis in her spine. Her body is curved at an angle, and it is starting to affect her breathing. She needs this defect corrected, or she will die.
Bright is a very pretty little girl, skinny, and dark, with ebony-colored skin, pink palms and soles of her feet, and short, wiry black hair done in a short, becoming Afro. She has tiny star-shaped earrings in her ears, and she is dressed in a pink hospital gown that sets off the dark tones of her skin. She wears well-worn leg braces on her stick-thin legs, and her crutches aren't in much better shape. Her body is tilted at an angle, and her breathing comes in hoarse rasps. It is clear that she is going to need the surgery very soon, and this is why she is now in our hospital, to have the surgery, which is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.
Bright is the oldest child of Charles and Miriam Tjahiti, and she has three little sisters: Loiyan (4), Tajika (2), and the baby, Grace (7 1/2 months), and they came to America thanks to the "Make A Wish" Foundation. This is her only hope to escape death and further disability, and her family is understandably scared and uncertain as to what will happen to their oldest daughter.
(To be continued.)
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Reviewed by serenety L
7/8/2003
Go on Karen, let us hear more about Bright Sunshine and her life. Fantastic write, as usual.
Love
Nico
Good story Karen. I have a small case of spinal bifida. but it isn't serious enough to stop me. I played football, was in the service and policed the mean streets of Bmore city. I think I got it from playing football in highschool. I remember getting twisted real bad one time in a game. Hurt like hell. hugs Grady
Yankee Doodle Daddy is a historical Appalachian Family Saga. The story follows a mother's reckoning as she struggles to survive and keep her four daughters alive.
