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Humanity's long reach Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Morou Boureima and his 5-year-old son, Bachir, have come to the Rogue Valley from Niger to seek medical treatment for Bachir's arm, which was broken in a fall and did not mend properly. Former Peace Corps volunteers and Rotarians made the trip possible. By PAUL FATTIG GRANTS PASS - Like most 5-year-olds, Bachir Boureima doesn't have much time for small talk. After all, there is his bright new yellow school bus to play with, not to mention a tail-wagging old dog aptly named Bear plodding about the comfortable Grants Pass home of Amy Wilson. "I don't want to go home - I like it here," Bachir told his father, Morou, speaking in French with a rich West African accent. "He's happy," his father announced in English. Hailing from Niger, the father and son have come to Oregon to have the boy's right arm repaired by medical professionals. It was broken last year when Bachir fell from a school swing and had not mended properly. Bachir speaks French along with Djerma and Hausa, the two principal languages spoken in Niger. Other than a shy "Thank you," he speaks no English. Their long journey is the result of a joint effort by former Peace Corps volunteers living in the region and the Grants Pass Rotary Club. It began when Morou Boureima contacted Wilson by e-mail. The two had met when Wilson served with the Peace Corps in Niger. He explained that Bachir's arm had broken at the elbow and the boy could no longer fully extend it. His doctor in Niger said there was nothing that could be done. Morou was on an extended job away from home working on radio transmitters when the accident happened. He works as a technician for the national television and radio agency in Niamey, the capital of Niger. He and his wife, Aichatou, have two other children, Bachir's older brother and younger sister. The father would not accept the prognosis that his youngest son would always have a bad arm. Neither would Wilson, the associate Peace Corps director for agriculture in Niger from 1990 to 1993. She previously served as a volunteer from 1982 through 1984. A member of the Grants Pass Rotary Club, Wilson talked to fellow member Dave Trump, a retired pediatric surgeon, about the arm. Trump advised her to obtain an X-ray, which she did. When fellow Rotarian Timothy Cronin, an orthopedic surgeon in Grants Pass, saw the X-ray, he volunteered in the effort to help the youngster. If the work couldn't be done in Grants Pass, he suggested getting Bachir into the Shriners Children's Hospital in Portland. But Morou Boureima was only able to raise enough funds to purchase round-trip tickets to New York City from Niger. At that point, Wilson notified the Rotary and former Peace Corps volunteers that frequent flier miles were needed to cover the rest of the round trip between the Big Apple and Southern Oregon. Medford resident Bill Little, a former Peace Corps volunteer, donated 25,000 miles as did Trump. After 24 hours of travel, the two arrived in Grants Pass a week ago. "There has been an incredible number of kind gestures to help them," said Wilson, an Eagle Point native who learned to speak French, the official Niger language, while on an international 4-H youth exchange trip to France in 1980. One of those gestures included a full medical checkup for Bachir at the Grants Pass Clinic early this week. "He's got a bad break in the elbow that wasn't treated," Cronin said. "But there is a reasonably good chance his arm can be fixed. "If it is left untreated, it can become arthritic," he warned. Cronin, who had trained at a Shriners Hospital, is working with Wilson and others to see if reconstructive surgery can be done at the Portland hospital. He has sent X-rays and spoken with the surgeon who would be doing the work. "They felt it would be worth trying to tackle it," Cronin said. "Once we have the green light, we'll go up there." His office will provide follow-up medical service after the operation, he said. Meanwhile, Morou Boureima says they are happy to be in Southern Oregon and appreciate the help they've received. "This is a beautiful place," Morou Boureima said. "It is not like New York. People are more natural here." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.