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Dr Clemens, a German anthropologist working in the Pokot region, a very remote area in northern Kenya, met the girl who had suffered severe burns. Half of her scalp was missing and the wound was severely infected. Dr Clemens felt compelled to find out if there was anything else that could be done to help this girl. This is where Tulisa came into the picture.
Tulisa was able to raise 15,000 euros to fund a series of plastic surgeries required to restore Chemwetich’s appearance. Half of her face had been burnt, as had half of her scalp.
The girl had bravely endured the shame of living as an outcast for more than six years. She had to endure deeply dehumanising living conditions like hardly any other child of her age. She had access to neither healthcare nor schooling.
A relative, her uncle, brought her to Nairobi. She was immediately taken to hospital, where the chronic wound on her head had to be treated before the first operation could be carried out. Her uncle acted as a translator, as the girl speaks and understands only Pokot.
As her uncle was only available for a month, communication proved to be a major challenge. Given that Chemwetich would soon be in Nairobi without an interpreter, she was given a crash course in basic Swahili. A private tutor was hired who came to the hospital for three hours every day to teach her Swahili. Once the wound had been properly prepared, several plastic surgery procedures were carried out. The thin skin on the skull, which kept breaking open, caused particular problems. This ultimately meant that Chemwetich had to stay in hospital for two months longer than planned, which drove up the cost of treatment considerably.
At that point, we feared that, after several years of chronic scalp wounds, cancer cells might have developed. Fortunately, the biopsy carried out did not confirm this. We remain convinced that she has a good prognosis.
On behalf of Chemwetich, Tulisa would like to thank all the donors who made her treatment possible!