A few weeks ago Pete and I were in FETAV office paying in money from the car boot sale when a poor family came in desperately seeking help.
The mother was carrying her young son, Enesken who is seven, but he is tiny and looks more like a 4 year old. Little Enes, who is an only child, was born with severe genetic disabilities. He is deaf so unable to speak and he has only 2 fingers and a thumb on one hand and three fingers and a thumb on the other. His only means of communication is clapping. He also has problems with walking and has small braces on his feet (it is possible that he is missing some toes as well but we couldn’t see this and didn’t like to ask). He also needs his head supported. Despite his disabilities he is a lovely little boy with a beautiful smile.
The young family comes from Esen village, where they live with Enes’s grandparents and they are very poor so Enes has so far been unable to receive the hospital treatment that he so desperately needs to improve his condition. This treatment should have started early on in his life. At the moment he attends a local disabled unit every Friday where he receives physiotherapy but that is the extent of his treatment. His father is unemployed and his grandfather, who has only one leg, has kidney problems and is having dialysis three days a week so times are very stressful and extremely hard for the family.
Dilek Dincer, the Director of FETAV, which is the foundation that the 3C’s legally operate under, was made aware of the family’s plight after visiting Enes at the hospital and had invited them to come to FETAV office to see if there was a way of helping them. It was fortuitous that we had unexpectedly popped into the office that morning and were able to meet the family. Dilek said that it was “kismet”.
She told us that Enes needed to go to Izmir hospital to have a special ABR Test for his hearing and that this test cannot be done at the Devlet hospital in Fethiye. Once he has been tested, dependant on the results of the test, it may be possible that a special type of hearing aid would enable him to hear and in turn, eventually to speak. Unfortunately, the government green card will only cover a small part of his treatment. It does not cover the special test, a hearing aid, nor the family’s transport costs from Esen to Izmir.
Dilek said that although Enes has a large number of problems, at the moment his lack of hearing is the main issue and she asked if it would be possible for the 3C’s to help. She said that his other problems could be addressed later on.
We felt that this was too important an issue to wait until the next 3C’s committee meeting in late April, so contacted the rest of our committee and it was unanimously agreed that we would fund the transport costs to Izmir and back and pay for the test. Dependant on the results of the test, our committee further agreed to purchase whatever hearing aid application was recommended by the consultant and also to see if there was any other way that we could help him.
Dilek made the appointment for the test and Enes, his mum and grandmother travelled to Izmir hospital the following week. Thankfully the results were encouraging and the audiologist’s report recommended that Enes be fitted with a special hearing aid, which cost 6000 TL.
We are now pleased to advise that Enes has been fitted with his new aid and is now attending the Ozel Saygin Rehabilitation Unit in Patlangic (one of last year’s 3C’s projects) where he is being shown how to use it and where he will eventually receive speech therapy. Enes’s family is really grateful for the help given to him and his grandmother was in tears at our last meeting.
Dilek has said that in a few weeks time, she will arrange for Enes to see the consultant at the Devlet hospital to see if there is any further help that can be given to improve his disabilities or to make life easier for Enes. Dependant on these findings we hope to be able to help Enes further in the future.
Out of the numerous projects that the 3C’s have funded over the years, we really feel that this is one of the most deserving and gratifying and one that has already made a huge difference not only to the quality of life of little Enes but also for his family unit.
This life-changing project was only made possible through the generosity of our supporters, whether it is through a financial donation, attending one of our fundraising events, donating items for our raffles and auctions or donating unwanted goods to or buying things from our charity shop. We know a lot of our supporters are based in the UK and that there are many children at home who are also desperately in need of help, but children are children wherever they are and we thank you sincerely on behalf of Enes and his family.
Although we would love to show you a photo of Enes, we obviously cannot do so, but believe us his smile is even bigger and more beautiful now that he has heard his first sounds.
