Boy, 10, fears going home after hyena bite
● After half-a-dozen operations and months of treatment in a Johannesburg hospital, 10year-old Rodwell Khomazana from Zimbabwe still doesn’t know if he will ever smile again following a horrific hyena attack that ripped his face apart.
Rodwell and his mother Shamiso Mabika were flown to SA in June and since then surgeons have worked pro bono on reconstructing the boy’s face at the Sandton Mediclinic.
On Friday his prosthetic nose was fitted, the last of the reconstructive surgeries, and he is now weeks away from returning home.
A team including speech therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and psychologists volunteered to help the grade 3 pupil deal with the trauma of the attack.
He is being taught how to eat and speak again, but doctors say it is too early to tell if he will ever be able to smile again.
His mother this week spoke about her gratitude to the medical teams and charity organisations that have rallied to help her son.
“I can’t express how thankful I am for the help we have received here,” she said. “I was in so much pain seeing Rodwell with those injuries. I felt like the world was against us.”
Rodwell was at an all-night church service with his grandmother in Masvingo, about 300km south of Harare, when he was attacked.
“He fell asleep with the other children. Around midnight a hyena dragged him away. His grandmother picked up a stick and beat the hyena several times as Rodwell was being eaten by the animal,” Mabika said.
With the help of the doctors, Rodwell is able to look at a mirror again, she said.
“Rodwell is feeling safe here. He is a little scared of returning home. He says the hyena will come and attack him again.
“I have hope that he can live a normal life again. He wishes to be a doctor one day.”
Rodwell lost his nose and an eye in the attack and his cheek was ripped apart and facial bones were crushed.
His upper lip was torn off, leaving his teeth and gums exposed.
Doctors in Zimbabwe did what they could to stabilise him before he was brought to Johannesburg by a South African trauma nurse, Maqshuda Kajee, who facilitated the medical evacuation.
Plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Ridwan Mia, who has dealt with lion, cheetah and leopard attack victims over the years, told the Sunday Times he had never worked on a child with so many components of his face injured or missing.
“We got all the surgeons who were going to be working on him into theatre, so we could examine him under anaesthesia. The doctors in Zimbabwe attempted to stitch down whatever they could to close some of the holes. Unfortunately we had to undo quite a lot of that.”
Despite discounts, the hospital bill still amounts to about R1m and charities such as Meal SA and the Smile Foundation are assisting with funds.
Kim Robertson Smith, general manager of the Smile Foundation, said the group was trying to raise as much money as possible for Rodwell.
“Rodwell is a very resilient young boy who has faced the unimaginable with such bravery, a true warrior who has such a positive outlook, no matter what he has been through.”