Yebsira Girma

In one day Yebsira Girma’s life changed.  She just finished eating dinner with her family and then it happened.  She had a grand mal seizure.  Her mom, Yesunesh, didn’t know what to do.  She had never seen a seizure before.  Yebsira’s mom, brother, and sister were able to carry her to the clinic that is approximately one-half of a mile from her home.  The doctor gave Yebsira medicine to stop her seizure.  When she woke up and saw her mom’s worried face she started to cry.  She was just an eleven year old girl who had no idea what happened to her.  All she knew is she woke up to see her mother crying and praying over her.

Three years later, Yebsira is a very sweet, fun sixth-grader.  Yebsira has been through many struggles these past three years.  After her first grand mal seizure she went through many tests.  The doctors were not able to find a cause of her seizures but they did find something.  They found a heart condition.  Yebsira has a hole in her heart that causes the blood to back up in her heart before it flows through her arteries.  Other than making her tired, her heart condition does not cause her any problems right now so the doctors are only monitoring this condition for any change.

Yebsira’s mother was overwhelmed with not only one diagnosis for her young daughter, but two.  Yesunesh is unable to work because she cares for her father who is very old and can not do anything for himself.  Yesunesh moved her three small children into her parent’s home when her husband died ten years ago.  Yesunesh kept asking God “how can I provide the care for Yebsira that she needs?”.  Yesunesh’s situation may look bleak to some but she knows that God will not forsake her and her family.  Yebsira’s life is precious and Yesunesh believes that God will provide for all of their needs.

Yebsira has had to have specialized care over the past three years.  Her seizures were getting out of control and there seemed to be no end in sight.  Yebsira wasn’t just having one seizure here or there, she was having as many as six in one day.  The average number she would have in one day was four and then three or four days later she would have approximately four more seizures in the same day.  The seizures were beginning to take a toll on her young body.  She was having intense headaches, memory troubles, and muscle spasms.  

Yebsira’s mother was desperate to find help for her daughter.  Before her seizures started, Yebsira was admitted into the Blessing the Children (BCI) program in 2008.  After her seizures started missionaries began to ask how they could help Yebsira and her family.  Over the years, missionaries have helped to pay some of Yebsira’s medical and drug expenses.  But even with all the help from the doctors and missionaries Yebsira’s condition started to fail.  Yesunesh decided to step out in faith and take Yebsira to a specialist in Addis.  

Yesunesh was given some money from Blessing the Children Canada (BCC) but she still didn’t have enough.  She decided to borrow money from friends and family.  The medical tests were very expensive and even though the doctors still were unable to find a cause for her seizures they did change her medicine.  Yebsira was given the new medicine approximately three months ago and her life has been radically changed since then.

It has been three months since Yebsira has had a grand mal seizure.  Yesunesh never gave up on her child or God.  Even though she couldn’t afford it, she fought to find help for her child.  Recently, Yebsira was down to her last pill and the family didn’t know where the next supply would come from but they never doubted God.  After Yebsira took her last pill they got word that a long-term missionary in Debre Zeit had just sent Mussie (Missionary Team Coordinator and Assistant Director for BCI) to Addis to pick up a new supply for her.  

Yebsira is a wonderful girl that is strong in her faith.  She is a fighter.  She tries her best not to let her condition affect her quality of life.  When asked how much school she has missed due to her condition she said that she always goes to school.  Not only does she not want to miss school but she doesn’t want her other relatives to know about her condition.  

Yebsira, her mom, and two siblings live in Yebsira’s grandparent’s compound.  Yebsira’s grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are not believers in Jesus Christ.  She doesn’t want her family to know about her health issues because she doesn’t want them to doubt God.  She is afraid that they will say “if your God heals people, why won’t He heal you”.  God may choose not to heal Yebsira but Yebsira is now able to tell her family that God is providing for her medical care when it looked impossible.  She is now able to tell her relatives that her God does the impossible.

It is absolutely impossible for Yesunesh to purchase the medicine and laboratory tests that Yebsira needs.  Here are the medical costs that Yesunesh must find a way to provide for:

*Yebsira needs a checkup every three months.  Just to get in to see the doctor is 100 birr ($6).

*The doctor may order laboratory tests during these checkups.  The cost varies but the average is 280 birr ($16).

*Yebsira has to have a brain EEG every seven months.  This costs 500 birr ($30).

*Yebsira’s new medicine costs 1200 birr ($71) for a month and a half supply.

There is no possible way that Yesunesh can afford the above costs.  Even if Yesunesh had a job she still wouldn’t be able to afford it.  The average income of an unskilled woman in Ethiopia is approximately 500 birr a month ($30).  BCI is also unable to cover all of Yebsira’s medical costs.  We need to find someone who would like to help Yebsira by purchasing her medicine every month and a half.  If you would like to help Yebsira, either by giving a one-time gift or a monthly gift, please contact Melissa Strawn at melissa@blessingthechildren.org.

When asked how this condition makes her feel Yebsira said “I feel sad because it makes me different from everyone else”.  Yebsira is a young girl that has a lot of dreams and ambitions but she can not succeed if she is having four to six seizures a day.  Yebsira needs to stay on this new medicine, this is not an option.  When asked how her life has changed in the past three months she said:

“My life has changed a lot since receiving the new medicine.  I am able to play football with my friends.  I love football but I could not play before because of my seizures.  I am also able to learn now.  I always went to school before but I spent a lot of time sleeping in the nurse’s room.  I am now staying with my classmates and learning.  I enjoy school.  Civics and English are my favorite classes.  I want to be a doctor so I can help poor people.”

Yebsira is a determined girl that refuses to give up.  She is very thankful that people have helped her and she has faith in God that he will continue to provide for her.  She knows that even when the situation looks bleak, her God always shows up.