SEPARATED FROM STRUGGLING DAUGHTER BY Dh100,000 DEBT
Fathima Dania’s parents had to send her back to Sri Lanka because of the cost of surgery
At the age of 11, Fathima Dania has had to undergo more surgery than most people would in a lifetime. She was born with arthrogryposis, a condition that makes muscles contract and limbs curve into deformity.
Fathima’s mother says her pregnancy was troubled from the start.
“During my six months’ scan doctors noticed there were complications,” she says.
Doctors said her amniotic fluid level was low and the scan showed the baby had physical deformities.
She was advised to deliver her daughter at home in Sri Lanka because she had no health insurance. Fathima was born there a month later, on May 24, 2006, a year after the family’s move to Dubai.
“She looked like a frozen chicken. Her hands were stuck together and her legs were bent upwards” the mother says.
Fathima had deformed arms and legs and no muscle strength. She has since needed operations to straighten her limbs and to open her palms, which were clamped shut.
The surgery has put a strain on the family both financially and emotionally.
The mother returned to the UAE a month after her daughter was born but had to regularly travel between the two countries so Fathima could undergo further surgery.
The family has been forced to take out loans and borrow money from family and friends to keep up her treatment to help her perform simple tasks and to become more mobile.
“At that time I could never think that she would walk so soon. A lot of hard work and treatment has meant she stands on her feet now,” says the mother.
But the treatments have meant the that family has accumulated so much debt that they were forced to send their daughter and two boys back to Sri Lanka to live with their grandmother, who they also support financially.
“My daughter is a cute 11-yearold, she has a spirit that is as cheerful and effervescent as other children of her age,” says the mother.
“Though she has multiple problems, it is apparent that she makes a conscious effort to come across as a normal child. From the age of 5 she had to go through several operations in and outside Dubai.
“She just wants to be around people and live a normal life like other kids. And she wants to be beautiful, pretty. She says to me, ‘Why do I have to have scars, I’m ugly’.
“But she is beautiful. She’s a happy child and always a gift for me from Allah. I want to give the best treatment and make her successful in her life.”
Fathima’s mother and her husband have borrowed up to Dh100,000 to pay for their daughter’s treatment. They are now unable to afford school fees although every day Fathima asks her mother when she can go back.
“Schools wouldn’t accept Fathima because she required a wheelchair and the one school that did required fees that were too high for me,” she says.
“My dream is to send my children to school and lead a normal life. I’m really frustrated. Her friends come almost every day asking when Fathima will come back to school.”
Her mother is now struggling with being parted from Fathima and that worries her daughter’s progress will be hampered by their separation.
“She needs me. I was the only person doing her physiotherapy, taking her to the doctor and following up with her treatment.”
Fathima’s parents have stayed in Dubai to try to earn enough money to repay their debts but as they work low-paying jobs, the couple are struggling financially.
Hisham Al Zahrani, manager of zakat and social services at Dar Al Ber Society, says the family are appealing for help to settle their debts so they can be reunited.
“This young girl has lived a very difficult life. Her family have spent all their earnings and income to help her lead a normal life but now it has all fallen apart and they need support.
“Back in Sri Lanka the children do not go to school.
“We hope you can support her by helping her pay off her debts of around Dh100,000 and bringing her daughter back to be with her.”