MBOMBELA – Phineas Nkosi Tsabete (17) has a beautiful smile and a pair of caring, piercing eyes – despite having had to endure more physical and emotional hardship than any of us ever will.
Phineas was thrown into a fire by his own mother as a baby and underwent many years of suffering which finally came to an end on Wednesday, thanks to the goodwill of local doctors.
His right forearm was amputated in a private hospital, free of charge. Although drastic, doctors and Phineas himself, are convinced that he will now have a better quality of life. Phineas is being cared for at Msholozi Village at Mpumalanga Christian Network by Ester Nkosi.
She is the founder of the organisation which opened its doors in 2008 and cares for 60 orphaned children. It soon became clear that Phineas’ good spirit was instilled by this inspiring woman who has been taking care of him since he was eight years old.
“Phineas’ grandmother brought him to me. She said his biological mother never wanted him and threw him into a fire as a baby. She was still alive at the time when I first met him in 2007, but never again attempted to make contact with him. Phineas’ grandmother was very ill and knew that she wouldn’t be able to care for him for much longer,” Ester said.
Phineas had suffered extensive burns over a large part of his body. The skin of his upper right arm became fused with that of his torso. The arm is not functional and the flesh of his forearm was severely infected.
“He takes a cold shower every day because his body constantly feels as if it is on fire. The arm really causes him great discomfort, especially in summer,” Ester added. Allan Campbell came to Msholozi Village and saw Phineas. “Mr Campbell saw the scars on Phineas’ body and when he found out what had happened to him as a baby, he said that he wanted to become involved in his care.”
Allan phoned Dr Attie van Wyk of Lowveld Hospital, to see if he could help. Attie didn’t hesitate and consulted with Dr Alex Kuhn and anaesthetist Dr Johan D’Assonville and they agreed to operate on Phineas, free of charge.
The teenager underwent the life-changing surgery in Lowveld Hospital on Wednesday and the forearm was amputated in an hour-long operation.
He wants to become a teacher after finishing school. “Kids do stupid things these days. They get involved with drugs and other bad things and I want to teach them to lead a good life,” he explained.
Ester is confident that his dream will come true. “I have taught him to work with just one hand. Each and every child of mine has gone to school. Some of them are now studying at the University of KwaZulu-Natal,” she boasted. “I was a nurse, but my true calling was to take care of children. I like children to be healed, that is my desire. Some of the kids at my centre were thrown down toilets as babies, others were simply left at the gate. They have bad stories to tell enough to fill a book.”
When this journalist asked Phineas what he would like once he came out of theatre, he shyly replied that he liked ice-cream, polony and cheese – obviously appreciating the simple things in life. I returned with chicken, polony, cheese, a Bubbly slab and Jellytots, fearing that ice-cream might melt. However, Matron of the hospital, Louise Fouché, smilingly assured me that they had ice-cream which they would give him once he was fully awake.
