Beauty

How can one little girl change the way I think about beauty so radically. 

Although the details are a little sketchy, at some point in the early years of Tani’s life she fell into a fire – maybe rolled into it as she and her parents slept or maybe was playing too close and tripped…whatever way, at a young age Tani’s face was burnt off and her fingers on one hand mangled – probably as she tried to stop herself. Thankfully her body was spared, except for a small saucer sized scar on her shoulder; but her she lost her nose, right eye, ear, top lip and some of her right hand fingers. 

Tani before her surgery

Being here I have seen some pretty disturbing sights; with enormous facial or neck tumours and thought I was now pretty immune to the shock of hard to look at people. But Tani shocked me.

However through this little girls life I have now come to realise even more the beauty within. 

Tani has been on the wards for the last 6 or so weeks – to be honest I have lost count. As we reconstructed her nose and top lip; releasing a flap from her scalp and attaching it to form a nose, while leaving the other end in place – waiting for the nose to form its own blood supply and then detaching it from the flap and attaching the flap back onto the scalp. It’s been a lengthy process – of careful wound dressing changes and nutrition, all to achieve the best wound healing environment.

At the beginning Tani was on the wards with Aissa (another little ones story that I have told a month or so ago) – during the plastic surgery speciality time. The two of them had fun together, playing with sisterly affection. Tani still recognises any photo of Aissa, with her eyes lighting up and saying her name over and over. And more recently Tani and Garfar have become like brother and sister on D ward.

Anyway this little girl is beautiful. She has made me take a rethink on all that I thought beauty was. Making me truly believe in a whole new way that beauty is from within. This little one has a special quality that makes it absolutely impossible to miss her inner beauty. I have spent many many days with Tani, even going back to D ward after I have finished my shift, or popping in when I’m passing the door. As the days go by she grows more and more radiant; her loving joyful spirit can almost not be contained in her little 10 year old body. 

So much is placed on the beauty of the body – being skinny, blemish free, the right weight, right build, right height, wearing the right clothes and the list goes on – all of these external things. Whatever happened to the importance of the beauty within? The beauty of character and a beautiful spirit.