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Roshan Susairaj

After a difficult childhood and economic hardships had severely impacted Roshan and his family, the Cuomo Foundation implemented a program to overlook his development.

 

Roshan with his mother Sujatha and his sister Jenifer attending a concert - Rome, May 2017.

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In 2008, as a very young boy Roshan Susairaj suffered the loss of his lower limb. The extent of the amputation and a badly ill fitting prosthetic leg further added to his health complications. When he was 10 years old the Foundation was introduced to Roshan and began contributing to the young boy’s recovery and rehabilitation. He was fitted with a correct femoral prosthesis in 2013 and provided with appropriate physiotherapy.

After completing his schooling in Chennai, Roshan enrolled in the faculty of science in his home town and successfully obtained a bachelor's degree in computer science. This achievement, coupled with passing the TOEFL exam, enabled him to enter a London university, where the young man, now 21, is pursuing a master's degree.

This strengthening process could not be complete without the consolidation of his family fabric. A more comprehensive approach to support was therefore adopted in 2016.

As a result, Roshan's sister, Jenifer, was awarded a scholarship that enabled her to attend a higher education institution in Chennai, while improving her English. She is now a bank employee and has thus gained economic independence, a crucial development in the career of this young woman who is taking her destiny into her own hands.

Roshan and Jenifer’s mother Sujatha has also benefited from a program of vocational retraining and funding that has allowed her to regain a sense of self-worth and also support her family. After selecting to train as a qualified seamstress, she has opened her own Sari boutique and workshop in the Mylapore district of Chennai, close to her home. She is boosted not only by the financial independence she has created but also by the social life it makes possible.
Today, Sujatha approaches her future with confidence and her two children are undoubtedly the direct beneficiaries of the optimism that now prevails in their family.

« Spread My Wings » - interview with Roshan Susairaj (filmed in 2019)
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Awa Gueye

In 2012, a severely unwell young Senegalese girl called Awa Gueye underwent life changing cardio surgery in Dakar to correct rheumatic mitral valve regurgitation…

 

Young Awa Gueye with Maria Elena Cuomo and Francisco A. Diaz Lison at the Cuomo Cardio-Pediatric Center - Dakar, January 2018.

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The medical procedure was carried out effectively by the eminent cardiologist Prof. Gilles Dreyfus ; as an humanitarian action initiated jointly between the Cuomo Foundation and the French NGO La Chaîne de l’Espoir.

Subsequently the Cuomo Foundation would be responsible for the funding of the CCPC in Dakar, the first cardio paediatric surgical centre in West Africa. Rheumatic heart disease remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children and young adults in the developing world.

After being treated Awa Gueye was able to resume her schooling and in 2017 a Cuomo Foundation scholarship award enabled her to enter Engineering College in Dakar (Ecole supérieure polytechnique de Dakar) to study for a 3yrs degree in Applied Biology and Chemical Engineering. In 2020 she successfully graduated and so impressed the Foundation that they agreed to continue support and funding for her Masters studies. The closure of colleges last year due to Senegalese Covid-19 restrictions have now ended and Awa has commenced her 4th college year which will culminate in obtaining a Masters in Biological Engineering and Biotechnology. Her future now looks bright with the prospects of a career in Research Biology becoming a reality.

I could never thank the Cuomo Foundation enough for saving me from the horrors of my heart disease and through its support allowing me to fulfill a wish that was dear to me; being able to carry out my educational project.

– Awa Gueye

 

"A Heart on the Hand" - a film about Awa Gueye directed by Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Sène Absa.

 

 

 

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