HISTORY:

We were first contacted by Aalia’s mom, Nadia, in the beginning of 2009. At the time Aalia was two years old. She has a below knee amputation due to amniotic bands that wrapped around her leg in vitro. Despite this, her mom said, they instilled the belief in her that she is just like any other child her age. Her favourite animal is the zebra, Marty; from the movie Madagascar. And like most two year old girls, her favourite thing to do is play dress up! Her favourite colour is pink and she loves make up and shoes.

“My little girl is the biggest inspiration to everyone she meets. She is confident, independent and believes she can do anything she puts her mind to. Not being able to walk will take that courageous self assurance away from her, which will break her spirit.”

Aalia had outgrown her prosthesis and due to a lack of insurance, her family could not obtain a new one for her. With the assistance of OSSUR USA and Kyle Viljoen, CPO (sa) in Johannesburg, South Africa the IFPD was able to assist Aalia in receiving a new prosthesis in August 2009.

By November Nadia told us that Aalia and her new leg were now inseparable. She even wanted to sleep with it on! Her mom has to wait until she was asleep and then remove it. Since then, we have received occasional updates from Nadia about how Aalia is doing and our hope is to always stay in the background of Aalia’s life, and perhaps one day meet her ourselves.

AALIA’S HOPE FOR AFRICA

The IFPD created this fund in honour of this brave little girl. With the fund we hope to help other disabled individuals in Africa – whether on an individual basis or on a bigger scale by shipping medical devices to hospitals and rehabilitation centres in Africa.

Upcoming /Existing Projects:

SHIPPING MEDICAL DEVICES TO UGANDA  (in partnership with International Hope)

EMMANUEL – DRC (in partnership with Brittany & Christina)