Back home

By Doug Page | Thursday, April 5, 2007, 03:00 AM

Rhobi Chacha recently left Dar es Salaam, the capital of her native Tanzania, and returned to her village in the north part of the country, not far from Lake Victoria.

Chacha and her translator, Patrick Kangoye, arrived in the Miami Valley in December. The 19-year-old orphan lost her leg when she was hit by a bus when she was 14. Sidney orthodontist Lisa Alvetro brought the woman to the area to be fitted with a prosthetic leg.

Wilson Memorial Hospital and Fidelity Orthopedics donated their time and expertise, and the Sidney community raised money to help make it possible.

Chacha and Kangoye flew back to Tanzania in February.

“Rhobi has already left our home to her village. I went with her the two past weeks.The people at the village were very happy to see here on two legs. They couldn’t believe their eyes that Rhobi was walking on two legs. Rhobi was very happy seeing her relatives,” Kangoye e-mailed this week.

Plans are in the works for a Miami Valley group to return to Tanzania to check in with Chacha and continue work on establishing an orphanage in her village.

Permalink | | Categories: Rhobi's leg