The Thursday July 9th, 2020 edition of the newspaper The Horizon in Cameroon carried the following caption on its front page:
“SOS: Conjoined twins in dire need of help at HGOPY. Contact parents on 671490130 / 674982214 / 655272963.” The caption also had a picture of the conjoined twins joined by the buttocks.
ATRUD immediately got in touch with the family and launched a fundraising campaign on African community forums based in China. The appeal touched the hearts of many donors who chipped in what they could in spite of the hard times with many people barely surviving the global pandemic caused by COVID-19. In one week of fundraising, over 3000RMB was raised for initial support and a representative of ATRUD was sent to the hospital in Yaounde where a team of doctors was currently studying the case of the twins before surgery.
“Fundraising continues until the problem is solved.” ATRUD president said referring to the sum raised as initial support for basic bills because when surgery finally took place the family would likely spend many times more.
ATRUD is therefore appealing to persons of good will who are yet to make a gesture of support to do so without any hesitation. Donors all over the world can donate through ATRUD for proper channeling or even get in touch directly with the parents of the twins using the numbers cited at the beginning of this article.
The parents of the twins Mr. Ekana Richard and Mrs. Ekana Caroline expressed their thanks to the donors calling them people of God, ambassadors of goodwill and good examples of the saying: “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” They were deeply touched by the humanitarian gesture coming from people they don’t even know.
Team ATRUD wishes the twins a very successful surgery and a happy life thereafter with their parents. Updates on the situation will be announced through ATRUD news channels as progress is made on the case.