![]() ![]() Chaix said Dunia once told him he didn't ever want to go back to Congo or speak Swahili again, but after spending time with other people from his home country and buying some traditional African clothing, he's "embraced it. after the school year or go to a boarding school in Rwanda. Intermediaries deliver the recordings to Dunia's father.Ĭhaix said it's still unclear what Dunia's future holds - whether he'll stay in the U.S. His father still lives in Congo in an area without regular access to phones or internet, but the two communicate via videos they record for each other. He spends weekends with a family from Congo, brushing up on his heritage and native language of Swahili.ĭunia's mother died several years ago. The hospital is covering the cost of the surgery, and the doctors have all donated their time.ĭunia has not lost complete touch with his homeland. Alexander Dagum, the hospital's chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery, said he knows of only three other cases in which the same surgery has been performed. He doesn't get the stares that he used to get."ĭr. Leon Klempner, an assistant professor of dentistry at Stony Brook Children's Hospital, who helped bring Dunia from Congo last November with the help of the nonprofit foundation Smile Rescue Fund for Kids. "A lot of the social stigma that he came with is now gone," said Dr. 'Hes ripping her apart,' Sandra Herold, 70, tells dispatchers about her pet, Travis. He has become fluent in English, learned taekwondo, soccer and surfing, and made friends in his new neighborhood. Police say Travis, seen here as a younger chimp, was like a child to his owner, Sandra Herold. He can once again open and close his mouth, eat and talk normally.Īnd doctors and his host family say the boy, who was once self-conscious, shy and withdrawn, has blossomed. He still has a lot of healing ahead of him, but nearly a year later, Dunia is thriving with a host family in Brooklyn. In January, Dunia underwent a rare surgery at a Long Island hospital that involved grafting tissue and muscle from his forearm to recreate his lips. His lips were ripped off, his cheek was torn apart and he was left with muscle damage that made it hard to swallow or communicate. Dunia's face was left a frightening mask. His 4-year-old brother and a young cousin died. Nine-year-old Dunia Sibomana was the lone survivor three years ago when chimpanzees attacked him and two playmates near a preserve in Congo. STONY BROOK - A Congolese boy who was severely disfigured in a chimpanzee attack is marveling doctors with his resiliency a year after he was brought to New York to undergo reconstructive surgery. ![]()
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