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Thapelo was burned by an exploding paraffin stove near Johannesburg. Tapera walked into a cooking fire on the ground in Zimbabwe. At Children of Fire they became friends. Tapera Jani went to an East Rand squatter camp on 7th January 2010 to say goodbye to his friend Thapelo Phore. Thapelo only returns to the charity in February 2010 for further assessment and, hopefully, axilla surgery. Tapera, Thapelo building railway tracks; Londeka on chair. 7 Jan 2010 Tapera Jani will return to his family in deep rural Zimbabwe in January 2010, with suitcases of food and dietary supplements. He is a healthy happy boy, fully recovered from the Kwashiorkor that brought him close to death in late 2008. He can walk on his repaired feet. We would have preferred surgeons trying to preserve his toes more effectively, but there is a skills shortage among plastic surgeons in South Africa and most of the orthopaedic surgeons that we encounter, like to cut. It is not an easy path to tread (no pun intended) between the plastic and orthopaedic options – not least because Tapera finally got surgery in Cape Town rather than Johannesburg and there was little direct communication between us and the surgeons who eventually did the work. We are going to work on a hospital project that will, in the long term, allow for the best options for the children – rather than having to struggle between cities in search of willing help. Tapera and turkey, December 2009 Tapera faces a lot of grafting still, but he's happy in Auckland Park Tapera's truly laid back in the pool with volunteer Tristan Tapera (in orange/brown striped jersey) has had surgery to one foot at Maitlands Orthopaedic Hospital in Cape Town. He is visited occasionally by Tracey Burns and fellow burns survivors Tavonga and Sunday. He is missing his Johannesburg home a lot. September 2009 Tapera Jani, aged 3 years 7 months, set off to the Red Cross Hospital in Cape Town on Tuesday 18th August 2009, where he hoped Prof Heinz Rode would improve both the appearance and the function of his feet. The scars on his legs are donor sites (skin taken to cover his damaged feet). Tapera aged 2 years 10 months is a survivor of Robert Mugabe’s genocide by starvation in Zimbabwe. His “fortune” was to suffer from terribly badly burned feet and for well-wishers to seek help for him. If his feet had not been burned, he would most-likely have died from kwashiorkor. Tapera weighed about 8.5 kg on arrival at Children of Fire. We would have expected him to weigh double that for his biological age. His head appears narrow because of muscle wasting in the temples, due to starvation. On Tuesday 18th November 2008 he had skin graft surgery to his feet. Tapera aged 2 years 10 months is a survivor of Robert Mugabe’s genocide by starvation in Zimbabwe. Tapera was nearly the youngest Children of Fire child in November 2008. This material is Copyright © The Dorah Mokoena Charitable Trust and/or Children of Fire , 1998-2010. 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 About Children of Fire | Contact us | Advertise with us COPYRIGHT © 2010 Children of Fire. All rights reserved. Designed Developed and Maintained by Fyre Interactive