Dorah Mokoena will be 5 years old in April 1999. This little South African girl was severely burned in a squatter camp fire at the age of six months. She was turned away from 3 hospitals which were convinced she would die.
Because of the severity of the fire and because of the delay in getting appropriate treatment, Dorah lost her nose, eyelids, lips, bone in her forehead and hands. She was separated from her mother for two years and spent most of that time entirely cot-bound. Nonetheless Dorah had several friends. One of these, Bronwen Jones, visited Dorah regularly with her young son Tristan and his friend Thobeka, to try to ensure that Dorah knew the pleasure of childhood friends.
In December 1997 the doctors charged with Dorah's wellbeing intended to remove her eyes, because they said she was blind. And because the dressings used to protect them were deemed too expensive. This decision - and the ability of caring individuals to overturn the decision and to save Dorah's eyesight, led to an appeal published in The Times (UK). The formation of the Dorah Mokoena Charitable Trust in the United Kingdom and the Children of Fire Trust in South Africa followed as a result of the response of the public to Dorah's plight. The two organisations assist each other to provide medical treatment and therapy for Dorah and other child victims of injury and disability with South Africa; proactively try to prevent burn injuries through education of South African communities; and inform people how to seek the swiftest and best-possible medical treatment for children who are burned.