Meet Minenhle
“There’s a girl in my class who is mean to everyone. She points at me saying that I don’t have straight legs like the others,” Minenhle said with sadness in her eyes.
Minenhle looks at her legs and wishes they didn’t look so different. As a toddler, she walked fine but started to develop bowed legs when she began school. Her family noticed her left leg was starting to protrude out more than the other. Concerned for her ability to walk as she grows, they took her to the hospital, and she had an operation to straighten her left leg in 2019. The procedure only left her in more pain than she was before.
Minenhle loves to run around and occasionally plays soccer with her friends. Recently, it has become difficult for her to participate in this kind of fun, though. Although she doesn’t need help walking now, she may need help moving around independently as she grows older and her legs bow out wider. Without surgery, she may have difficulty walking independently in the future.
During a clinic visit with our doctors a few weeks ago, Minenhle’s family was given the option of corrective surgery here at the CURE Children’s Hospital of Zimbabwe. After the first attempt at surgery, her family is a bit wary of how it will all go. But, they are trusting God that all will be well. Minenhle will have surgery on her left leg first, and after a few weeks, the doctors will operate on her right leg. She looks forward to seeing her legs straighter.
About the CURE Children’s Hospital of Zimbabwe
Established in April 2021, CURE Zimbabwe is the first and only hospital in the country of 14 million people to provide orthopedic care for disabilities such as clubfoot, bowed legs, and knock knees to children regardless of their economic status. The teaching hospital has 18 beds, three operating theaters, and an outpatient clinic. The hospital was refurbished by the Zimbabwe Orthopedic Trust in partnership with the Zimbabwean government and is located adjacent to United Bulawayo Hospital in Bulawayo.
