Zambia’s Elinah Chibuye is grateful to have needed facial surgery in SA and live a life of ‘a normal child’

As a child with a severe facial tumour, Elinah faced a tough life in Zambia which has now been eased thanks to big hearts and incredible surgery from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

In a remote village in Zambia, raised in a hut with no electricity, prospects for Elinah Chibuye living life to the full were dim.

The fifth of eight children in a farming family, she had a neurofibromatosis type 1, a facial tumour that in Australia would be removed when she was a baby.

Living some 400km from the capital Lusaka, such medical care was simply out of reach.

By the time she turned 16, the tumour had grown through her skull to cover half her face.

It grows on nerve tissues so is extremely painful — and continued to grow.

“I want it off. I want to be normal like the other children," she said.

Elinah’s facial tumour could not be dealt with in her home country of Zambia.

Cruel taunts meant she missed school and community social events, shunning public life.

Enter the Children First Foundation, the Australian-based, donor-supported charity that helps disadvantaged children from developing nations with operable conditions that cannot be treated in their home country come to Australia for complex surgery and treatment.

Their African in-country partner Kamandete Chuma became aware of Elinah’s plight and sought help at major hospitals in Zambia.

“The doctors declared that her case could not be managed in Zambia as there were no surgeons with the experience necessary to undertake her surgery safely,” he said.

“It has been very hard for her. A hard time growing up, when she wanted to go to school, play sport, and have friends. Like any young girl.”

So plans were made for life changing — physically, mentally, emotionally — surgery at Cleft & Craniofacial SA based at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

The Children First Foundation arranged for Elinah and her mother Rabecca Kalunga to be flown to Adelaide where the culture shock saw their insistence on washing clothes by hand while staying at Ronald McDonald House rather than use a washing machine.

Ms Kalunga’s gratitude was in shy smiles to staff and Ronald McDondal House and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Australian-based charity Children First Foundation brought Elinah, seen here with family members, from Zambia to Adelaide for craniofacial surgery at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Kamandete also came, as an interpreter and invaluable support as Elinah and Rabecca dealt with the daunting challenges of a city in a strange land and looming surgery.

World-renowned craniofacial surgeon Dr Mark Moore led the Cleft & Craniofacial SA team that undertook the complex four hour operation to remove the massive tumour earlier this month.

Unfortunately it was too late to save Elinah’s right eye but Dr Moore said overall the surgery went well.

“Elinah’s outlook long term should be much improved,” he said, noting it was a team effort to perform the surgery.

Elinah is optimistic she now will be able to have the life of, in her own words, “a very

normal child” – catching up on some of the school she has had to miss, making new

friends and not being ostracised because of her condition.

“I just want to be like other kids,” she said through Kamandete. “Now I am happy.”

Children First Foundation is an Australian-based charity which has assisted hundreds of children access quality surgery not available in their home country and changed their lives.

In 2024 it helped 64 children and aims to deliver 300 cases in the next three years.

It has four major programs including Miracle sMiles which facilitates complex surgery in Australia for children who cannot access the medical care they need in their own countries. They also help with post-operative care, in-country surgery and enabling children to access care at home.

It receives no government funding and relies on the generosity of donors, see childrenfirstfoundation.org.au.

Originally published as Zambia’s Elinah Chibuye is grateful to have needed facial surgery in SA and live a life of ‘a normal child’