“I feel jealous when I see people’s faces” – Noah, 19-year-old orphan

He was not born with the stubborn tumour that has disfigured his face, but the mysterious death of his parents has left him with the sad condition that requires expensive surgery to rectify.

The teenager from Burundi has dropped out of school as a result of mockery by peers over a condition he neither prayed for nor contributed to in any way.

It all started when he noticed a pimple inside his mouth and complained to his parents about it. Both he and his parents did not take it seriously, thinking it was just one of such bumps that would die off by itself.

The said pimple however remained and kept growing and enlarging till it became the tumour it is today.

Noah’s parents subsequently realized the seriousness of the situation of their second and last child. They then decided to take him to the hospital for treatment, but mysteriously, his father died the night before the day they had scheduled to visit the hospital.

After his father’s burial, his mother who was supposed to take the youngster to the hospital also died shortly after, leaving Noah in a hopeless situation.

His elder sister and only sibling got married and left to live with her husband, so the young man became destitute and had to struggle to fend for himself.

As if the fight for survival at that young stage of his life was not daunting enough already, poor Noah had to combine it with the trouble of hiding in the forest and living a solitary life sometimes at the riverside to avoid being bullied by unsympathetic members of the public.

He told Afrimax English TV in an interview that when he sees people with normal faces, he wishes he could have theirs.

His sister has managed to convince her husband to allow Noah to live with them so that she can feed him from her trading activities. She however cannot afford the expensive surgery that her brother requires, so she only gives him painkillers to ease his pain.