Meet the Kids
The World Health Organization estimates that there are approximately 60,000 new TB cases annually in Tanzania.
The number of children with spinal tuberculosis is unknown, but there are hundreds that need surgery. Additionally, after surgery the children need education as they will always be physically unable to perform labor-intensive jobs common in rural Africa. With your help, we can provide the children with this life sustaining treatment and provide a life children in East Africa can only imagine.
Currently, we have five children who have been selected by the doctors in Ghana as eligible for this surgery. Their priority is the highest, so as soon as we get the money raised, they will be on a plane to begin their new life.
Now, let's meet the kids.
Grace
We met Grace (12 years old) in 2018, at a scoliosis clinic we hosted. She came that day with her mother. And proceeded to wait almost 10 hours to meet the doctors. She was 6 years old and smiling from ear to ear. Truthfully, in comparison to most of the children we met that day, her back wasn’t that bad. By American standards, she would have gotten surgery pretty quickly, but in East Africa, the idea of “severe” means something very different. Also, at 6 years old, she would require many follow up surgeries as the child grows, and this is a barrier for doing surgeries so young. Now, in 2025, Grace is finally ready for surgery and is scheduled to travel to the United States sometime in early 2026 to receive the life-saving care she so desperately needs.
Zainabu
Zainabu’s family first noticed a problem with her spine when she was 6 years old. They took her to the local hospital. The doctors gave her a back brace to wear and told her that as long as she wore the brace she would “grow straight.” Well, as you can tell by the pictures, she did not grow straight. After almost two years in the brace, they returned to the hospital and at that point, the doctors realized there was nothing they could do and told the family they should look outside of the country for help. That's where Stand Tall International comes in.
Zainabu is the only girl I’ve met whom actually dreams of becoming an accountant. In January, she started her senior year of high school. She has so many dreams for her future.
Benwadi
At 13 years old, Benwadi was brought to us after his mother made the long arduous journey of more than 16 hours from Iringa, by bus, to one of our screenings in Moshi. You could tell he was in immediate need of surgery. Luckily, through the help of our partnership with Texas Back Institute, we were able to secure his surgery in and in the spring of 2023, Beno was officially our second successful surgery in the United States. And boy, did he take to Dallas living! To this day he still asks about the BBQ!