She is very cute, with her pink sweater, her matching cat-shaped slippers, and her Hello Kitty rubber band. Looking at her so wise and smiling, you can’t imagine that above the head of this 4-year-old child, who lives in the Republic of Congo, there is a filthy sword of Damocles. Or rather above his eyes. Because Ghislaine is suffering from a bilateral cataract, which would risk making her almost blind if she had not benefited from the support of the NGO La Chaîne de l’espoir, which organized her visit to France for surgery.
“You came back to take care of your eyes my little grandmother”, slips Françoise Verdin, her foster mother, giving her a kiss, while the little girl naturally climbs on her lap. Françoise and Jacques Verdin, who have a pavilion in Marly-le-Roi (Yvelines), about twenty kilometers from Paris, welcomed Ghislaine at the airport on Saturday November 12. She arrived at the same time as another 7-year-old girl, whose operation in Brazzaville had also failed.
“Humanitarian without leaving home”
La Chaîne de l’Espoir, which has existed since 1994, usually welcomes children with serious heart disease, and operates mainly directly on site, abroad. “We are moving towards cooperation in the countries in which we operate, the objective is the autonomy of these countries”, explains Christine Couton, the association’s press officer. In 2021, 90,000 children benefited from its programs, including 6,850 operated on. This year around 70 children are transferred to France, for a period of a few weeks to several months, depending on the severity of the medical intervention.
Ding, dong, a big metal and wood clock, of the comtoise type, strikes 11 o’clock. The little girl watches, impressed by this sound that she doesn’t seem to know. Jacques and Françoise Verdin stop talking for a second, gaze at her tenderly, accompany her astonishment. They have been welcoming children from “la Chaîne” for more than 20 years, they say. Ghislaine is the 27th, but for all that she was still “highly anticipated”, explains Françoise Verdin, a nurse by training. “As soon as the Channel tells us when she is coming, we mark on the board “Ghislaine is coming”. We would really miss not having children anymore. We tried to do humanitarian work without leaving our homes, ”adds Jacques Verdin, a retiree who worked in television.
Three weeks of recovery
The couple, who have been married for 51 years, are working to ensure that the little girl has everything she needs in the weeks she is in France, before and after the operation. “They arrive with few and often unsuitable clothes, because in Brazzaville it is hot. She came with flip-flops, so we bought small shoes, tights…”, explains Françoise Verdin. “Do you hear it? She hums. So she is fine. We noticed that we generally needed 48 hours to convince, ”adds her husband.
This Friday is the big day, the little girl is having her right eye operated on at the Adolphe de Rothschild Foundation Hospital, near Buttes-Chaumont, in Paris in the 19th arrondissement. Before the second operation one week later. Three weeks of convalescence will follow in order to monitor and prevent any risk of infection before being able to find their parents in Brazzaville. For the last days, Françoise Verdin has planned to draw a calendar with an airplane in the last box. “And I’ll take her to the Eiffel Tower. We will buy small odds and ends to bring back to his family. “With the hope that the little girl will be able to contemplate the small Eiffel towers for a long time.
La Chaîne de l’Espoir is launching a new call for donations, through the “Objective Zero Day” campaign, can be found on their website.