HA-MASHAMBA - Ms Jenneath Maligu Maphiri (31) of Tshiitwa at Mashamba Village will never forget the first weeks of March 1991, following freak fires that attacked her Grade 6 daughter, Livhuwani Maphiri (12), in the face when she was one week old.

The unemployed mother revealed that when the freak fire attacked her daughter, her hat and other clothes were not burnt. "I cannot even tell you as to what caused that fire. All this happened at my child's father's place, during a time when we were not on good terms, as he apparently was not happy because I was staying with him. I started to realise that something strange and terrible was attacking my child after I heard her burst into tears, with frightening screams," she said.

She said that at the time, nobody in the family could see that the hat on the baby's head was burning. She further stated that the face of her only child started to become dry and dark, and that the baby was always crying to indicate that she was in severe pain. In an effort to get treatment for her child at an early stage, she took the little girl to Elim Hospital, where the doctors told her that they could not cure her daughter, as they didn't know what treatment they could offer. She said they referred her to the Ga-Rankuwa Hospital in Pretoria.

On arrival at Ga-Rankuwa, she was told that the children's ward for burning wounds was full and she returned to Elim Hospital. After two weeks, she was sent to Kalafong Hospital in Pretoria, where her toddler received two months of treatment, which didn't make any changes. "After realising that their treatment was not achieving anything, the doctors asked me to sign some documents, so that the child would undergo a skin transplant," she elaborates.

As a result, they replaced the skin with skin they had removed from the back of her legs, and it worked. Jenneath's mother, Mrs Mmavhadzi Mukwevho, paid all the travelling and medical costs because the young girl's father, Charles Mathebula, is unemployed. When Livhuwani was sent to crèche, tutors were faced with a big challenge to teach other kids to associate themselves with Livhuwani, as they were scared of her and they always separated themselves from her. "It was painful for me to her that other kids at the crèche dissociated themselves from my daughter," she said.

The devastated mother is asking those who can help her with advice and financial assistance to phone her at a friend's number, 072 392 2131.