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Feleng







Feleng’s nose looked un-nose-like on 6th November 2014, except to people who’ve seen many noses rebuilt from scratch. Generally it was healing well. Boy and surgeon were pleased.



Feleng’s newly-made nose being cleaned by his surgeon Mr Baljit Dheansa at the McIndoe Centre in East Grinstead



On St David's Day 2014, Feleng, Dorah and Wendy were among a group who set off to Emmarentia Dam, Johannesburg to rehearse Macbeth with their drama/literature tutor Professor Martin Klammer, Writing Director from Luther College,
Decorah, Iowa, USA. Feleng had just had surgery at Jo'burg Gen which did not achieve what he wanted to achieve at all. He wore some tape on his face to (possibly) prevent keloiding.



Feleng (11) with Clara (9) and Loide (16) on a visit to blow bubbles with burns survivors in Baragwanath Hospital on Saturday 11th May 2013. They are red velvet cake too!









Feleng proudly danced and modelled at the Johannesburg School for Blind, Low Vision and Multiple Disability Children's talent show on Saturday 10th March 2012 and received the bronze medal for his unique efforts. Mama-Mitta photographed him proudly.
On 9th March he want to moyo restaurant at Zoo Lake with his friends Amina, Adoun, Dikeledi, Mabontle and Mama. He collected feathers, admired Canadian Geese, strolled by the shore, ate fruit and cake, had his face painted with black and white art and practiced his French.



Picture of Feleng on Jan 2012







Music lessons at school 2012



One of the problems of ectropion scarring is that eyelid reconstruction needs to be repeated several times until adulthood and even after that. And even with access to the best ophthalmic surgeons in South Africa, it is not enough to guarantee a burned child's eyesight can be preserved.
Dessication of the cornea is common. It is crucial to thoroughly wash hands before administering eye drops, to keep ophthalmic medicines at the correct temperature and to apply them at the correct times. Topical antibiotics are used as prescribed as well as long-lasting lubricants.



Brothers ready for breakfast, December 2011



With friends from the SA Department of International Relations and from Europ Assistance



The children dashed out from a swimming session to thank City Power's Robert for repairing their street lamp!



Feleng pulling crackers, December 2011



Messages of love from siblings



















Feleng and his school mates learned about Transport in January 2012 which included visiting the Johannesburg Transport Museum, rowing on Zoo Lake and later, even going go-karting.







Feleng loves music and his friends



Feleng with his Gogo on her birthday



I'm a bit old for teddies but never too old for smiles!



Feleng's 9th birthday



Feleng and family December 2010



Feleng, Lebo and Ayanda



Feleng, Tshego and Katleho


Feleng and Mitta share a common Sotho ancestry and now that he is part of her extended family, they enjoy spending time together.



Tefo (10), Feleng and Zandile, township buddies. October 2011



Feleng loves helping his little cousin Boholo, playing in the pool in Dobsonville.



Clean Feleng; muddy Boholo; "Dirt is good little cousin - it means that you're exploring your world."



Feleng with little cousin Boholo (1) and friend Zandile (11) at the pool in Dobsonville in October 2011.



"Boholo, you ate too much chicken today! You're heavy."



Feleng is a traveller! Here he is in late September 2011 on a Shosholoza Meyl train journey to East London in the Eastern Cape.







When Feleng travelled to Switzerland for the first time, in search of surgery, many of his sisters and brothers at Children of Fire drew him pictures of the journey they imagined that he would take across Africa to Europe and even what an aeroplane might look like. He still treasures the drawings several years later.





Feleng in Oleyres and Avenches











Feleng met Basotho cousins and roasted maize kernels over the fire with them.





Puppy and Imbawula .... on Feleng's Lesotho trip.









Feleng travelled to Lesotho to get a feel for his roots, with Mama Mitta. The scenery was beautiful.





When the Swiss Ambassador and his wife visited Children of Fire October 2009, Feleng was the star of the show, having had great surgery in their country.





Feleng gives homemade tactile Swedish drafts board to Swedish visitor February 2010







Feleng celebrated his 8th birthday three days early with telescope, stylish shirts, socks underpants from his Swiss Mum, Kari. Then we sent him off on a bus to visit the home of his classmate Doreen in the deepest Free State countryside, travelling to Harrismith and then on til the tar road runs out and then 21 more kilometres or so of dirt road. It is vital for our children to remain in touch with their roots - in Feleng's case they're Sotho.



Feleng playing in the garden, May 2011





Feleng and his little friend Zanele in September 2006



Feleng and his much-loved Mitta celebrated her birthday with a balloon ride together on 22 August 2010







Feleng is in need of so much more surgery, but obtaining the expertise in South Africa or further afield is hard. It is either costly or not available.

He still needs digital distraction to improve his hand, a lot of work on his nose, and a back muscle transferred to the back of his head.

Eyelid contractures will need to be re-released in years to come.

He has years of operations ahead of him and will need to remain in Children of Fire's specialised environment with a paramedic available 24/7 and other medical help close at hand.

He has developed a close affinity with social work manager Mitta Lebaka and is bonding well with her extended family, aunt Ayanda and gogo Gloria. This is helping him to link to his Sotho roots; similarly with the time he spends with classmate Doreen Msimanga's Sotho-speaking family in some extended holidays.



Feleng, July 2007, enjoying a drink at the Kilimanjaro climbers return party at moyo, Zoo Lake, Johannesburg.

When a drip is put up and there is infection at the needle site afterwards, this is the result.

Feleng (lighter hand), Sunday (darker hand)

February 2010







Feleng is back in South Africa tonight … but still seems to have a foot emotionally in two hemispheres….

















Feleng is home tomorrow









Feleng Mahamotse returned to South African after surgery in Zurich, Switzerland, on Monday 9th March 2009. He was accompanied by Children of Fire’s British volunteer Christopher Wilson.

He has become a popular boy in the ancient city and he loves taking photographs.

Monica Mueller, a reporter with Zurich’s daily German-language newspaper Tages Anzeiger, says: “He really enjoys taking pictures! He took 500 photos of myself, photographer Sophie Stieger and his South African careworker Abegail Ximba, when we visited him in hospital! “Feleng is such a nice boy, we will miss him!”



Prof Brigitee Pittet-Cuenod draws muscle to be removed from Feleng's back



the article is also online http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/. It is also teased at at the front: Something along the line small boy lies great hope in Zürich…










Feleng with Alpine geraniums; Feleng with smiling fire hydrant

Feleng in Swiss-Roman town of Avenches











Feleng by Geneva's famous water spout (spouting since 1891…!)



Near Lake Geneva, Feleng enjoyed trying out playground toys that don't even exist in South Africa.



On August 22nd 2008, Feleng Mahamotse hand-delivered a letter to Athar Sultan-Khan, Chef de Cabinet, United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Geneva, dealing with the inaction of UNHCR Pretoria, from a variety of human rights advocacy groups in South Africa.

All those affected, await the response.

Feleng is a South African burns survivor who has an increasing number of friends who are refugees and are also burns survivors.



Feleng riding a black horse beside the city of Geneva, Sunday August 24th 2008.



Professor Brigitte Pittet-Cuenod at the University Hospital of Geneva, feeling the side of Feleng's face and scalp, as she traced arterial flow on 22nd August 2008. The Professor considers how blood flow would be maintained to his existing scalp when split ribs are placed in the bony deficit (hole) below.



Feleng enjoyed exploring Zuerich with Kari Sulc of Nepomuk Kinderladen in August 2008, especially because there are so many drinking fountains where one can fill up a newly obtained plastic syringe.

Nepomuk sent Feleng home with beautiful Czech wooden toys and stickers to share with other burned children. Nepomuk is based at Klingenstrasse 23, CH-8005 Zürich see www.nepomuk-online.ch



Feleng and charity director Bronwen Jones first paddled in Lake Geneva, where they were kindly hosted by Elaine and Pierre Morel. Early the next morning they took the plunge and swam in the chilly August Alpine waters, admiring the snowy peak of Mont Blanc in the distance.

Feleng was kindly hosted by the Sulc family at Oleyres, near the ancient Roman town of Avenches, Switzerland. Flowers and Alpine architecture were vastly different to the streets of Johannesburg with which Feleng is familiar.



Feleng liked to go walking with Milan Sulc and his big brave dog Betsy in the forests of Oleyres, Switzerland, looking for wild mushrooms.


Feleng Mahamotse (6) met with three surgeons at the University Hospital of Zurich in Switzerland on August 20th, 2008.

Dr Walter Kuenzi (glasses on his forehead)

Dr Merlin Guggenheim (wearing glasses)

Dr Angelo Biriama (no glasses)

Feleng gave the surgeons toy metal bicycles from Africa as a “thank you” for taking time to meet him… but could not resist playing with the bicycles himself, before being diverted with all the levers to make a hospital bed go up and down… and the gift of large plastic syringes.


Feleng Mahamotse has just been on an interesting trip to Switzerland to search for a forehead… and we'd like to print a collection of his impressions about his travels…





Children of Fire child Feleng Mahamotse (6) sets off to Switzerland on Sunday night (arriving Monday morning) in search of a forehead.

He is going to meet Dr. Merlin Guggenheim at the Verbrennungs-Chirurgie Unit of the University Hospital in Zurich and doctors in other Swiss cities as well.

Feleng lost his forehead at the age of one month when he was severely burned in a shack fire. He was treated at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.

He lives at Children of Fire in Auckland Park and in the past two years has undergone surgery to his eyelids at Johannesburg Academic Hospital and at St John’s Eye Hospital.

He needs a digital extractor to lengthen his damaged fingers but that equipment is not available to paediatric burns patients in South Africa.

He also needs the massive boney deficit (hole) in his skull filled with strips of demineralised bone from a cadaver, which could grow with his own skull. So in Organ Donor Month, South Africans might think how even their skull bone can help a badly injured child, once the donor has passed on.

Feleng is a very bright little boy who attends the Johannesburg School for Blind, Low Vision and Multiple Disability Children in Auckland Park.

He loves climbing on the jungle gym, stroking his big fluffy dog “Buttons”, playing with toy cars, drumming and playing on the piano, and generally being a happy mischievous chap. His best friends are Sizwe, Zanele, Obvious, Thapelo and Sicelo.


Feleng (6) after the third attempt on his eyelid, Oct/Nov 2007


Feleng Mahamotse in February 2008 with tactile sheep art made from recycled milk packet tops, fruit juice foils and other plastic bottle lids.

Here are Feleng Mahamotse’s CT scans made in December 2007.

Feleng turns six years old on 19th December 2007.

He was burned at the age of one month. The boney deficit resulting from the burns was exacerbated by sepsis shortly after injury.













Feleng in April 2008 with his friend Tammy Mitchell whom he hopes to visit in the USA one day.








This material is Copyright © The Dorah Mokoena Charitable Trust and/or Children of Fire , 1998-2024.
Distribution or re-transmission of this material, excluding the Schools' Guide, is expressly forbidden without prior permission of the Trust.
For further information, email firechildren@icon.co.za