she sent me really graphic photographs saying that he was attacked on the 7th of may and he needed treatment in south africa, and that s where i got involved. there was lack of resources in zimbabwe for his treatment and for him to stand an optimal chance of leading a normal life, with reconstruction, rehabilitative therapy, he had to come to south africa there was just no doubt about that. rodwell and his mother arrived injohannesburg at the end ofjune to begin his reconstructive surgery. so when he arrived, i remember him coming out of the ambulance, and he was lying on the stretcher with a little hoodie
Transcripts for BBCNEWS Our World 20210928 01:36:30 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
soon, rodwell and shamiso will return to zimbabwe. rodwell still needs more surgery and his future is uncertain but shamiso is hopeful. it will amplify the inner man in himself and understand at the end of the day, there are more important things in life. i hope it isjust such a beautiful success story where he is able to say one day that lots of people gave me a second chance, they believed in me. i would hope that this . journey he has been on, of reconstruction, of healing, will be a platform or a - foundation for him to build on. and for him to set goals
and do whatever i can, so i was very happy to offer my services pro bono and i think the rest of the team felt the same way. bye bye. so the big procedures involved firstly identifying the big injuries, correcting all the fractures on the face, on the upper and lowerjaws, the orbit in which the left eye was housed originally, placing prosthetics into the nose or what would eventually become a nose on his left eye, and placing a large, what we call, a free flap to reconstruct the defect that was in place of his upper lip, so we had to use a piece of his thigh to reconstruct that part of his face. in august, two months after arriving in south africa, rodwell was discharged from hospital, but it s a long road to recovery. rodwell lost his left eye in the attack. he is now on his way for an appointment with an ocularist.
they also suffered life changing facial injuries. hello. how are you? please to meet you. hello, rodwell. we ve both been through the same experience as rodwell. 0bviously way back, more than five years back. i remember, i was attacked on the 12th ofjune 2011. it is tough being young and going through something like this. i remember being so young and just kind of wanting to reclude into my family s arms, you know. how old were you when it happened? i was 12. even closer to his age than i was. i was 15. and he is nine. i think his situation is more severe than i think both of ours.