International (MNN) ― CURE Clubfoot Worldwide, a CURE International initiative, not only aims to eradicate clubfoot globally and raise awareness about the deformity, it introduces Christ to non-believers.
The program is being used as a catalyst to shelter those who are societal outcasts because of the deformity and to build relationships with non-believers.
"We're finding that there's a tremendous need and a wonderful response in every country we go to," says program director Andy Mayo. "What's been a surprise, even to me, is the need of these mothers who are coming."
At a Kenyan clinic, CURE did an unofficial survey that found 75-percent of mothers who had brought their children to the clinic for treatment had been rejected by their husbands, families, or both, because of the child's deformity.
"So much of this has to do with lack of education and ignorance," says Mayo. "In these poor villages, so many times people don't know the reason for this, and so they assume that it's the fault of the mother."
Members of the community often ridicule and tell a mother that she should destroy her baby. Mothers often come to the clinic depressed and hopeless, and counselors then have the chance to share hope with them.
"That's a wonderful job, to be able to tell a parent that you've got a solution for their problem."
Mayo sees the mothers not only finding a safe haven at the clinics but ministering to each other's needs as well. After meeting a hairdresser with no source of income at one of the CURE clinics in Africa, a woman recruited five people from her village to give the hairdresser their business.
The program also allows for relationships to be built with non-believers in the community.
"We look at this and say, ‘We're not the church'," says Mayo. "We want to be doing things that support the local church, that give people the opportunity to build relationships with non-Christians and from those relationships then invite them to church."
Clubfoot is corrected through a nonsurgical procedure offered by the CURE program called the Ponseti method. Gentle manipulations stretch the tendons and ligaments of the foot, and a plaster cast is applied each time to maintain the degree of correction. During the child's six-week medical treatment, a relationship is built between parents and the counselor, and a door is opened for the counselor to share the Gospel. Therefore, CURE usually appoints local pastors or laypeople as counselors.
"One of our goals with using counselors that are local pastors [or pastors' wives] or laypeople is to make that connection so that as we develop that relationship, they can invite them back to the church," said Mayo.
The CURE Clubfoot Worldwide initiative has clinics in 10 developing countries, with the largest programs in India. The state government in Delhi asked CURE if they could partner with the initiative, even though CURE is a known Christian organization. This project has been in operation for 2 years and has treated 4,000 children. The goals for 2009 include programs in 8 new developing nations and the treatment of 5,000 children.
Your gift of $200 can provide a child with club foot treatment. Click here to donate.
