Washington Chimalaro is a lively, 18 month old boy who first came to see us at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in October 2014.
His Malawian born parents were sad and shocked when they realised their son was born with clubfoot.
His father, Steve jumped into action and did some research online on clubfoot and they went for their first treatment visit at their nearest hospital when Washington was only 4 days old.
They received Ponseti treatment, but Steve felt that they were not making the progress they were hoping to make. They were then referred to Charlotte Maxeke where their treatment continued.
As Washington had a more complex case of clubfoot his treatment was lengthy but great results were achieved. Washington is now walking and running and a very happy, healthy little boy. His father wrote this message to STEPS and the hospital staff.
Dear Mr /Mrs.
I’m Steve from Malawi. I am so happy with you people there. I was so worried about my son when I saw his foot. I 
was just thinking how did this happen to my son. That was after two days, the following day me and my wife visited our nearest hospital to ask for help.
They did give us a letter that we must go Relatong hospital but there they did not know what to do with my son. I was there for two months but nothing was happening. They then sent us to Johannesburg Hospital.
Now we are so happy, our whole family. He can walk nice and I make sure every day to see that he’s got shoes to walk with during the day and night his sleeps with his boots. Well done Joburg hospital!
Yours,
Steve Ndlovo
