Grema lives with his family in a city in Yobe state, Nigeria. When his young son Mohammed, two-years-old, got sick, they didn’t know that it was noma and they didn’t know where to find help. Finally, someone told them about a hospital in Sokoto town where patients can receive free medical treatment for noma. They arrived after a two-day trip but it was too late. Little Mohammed’s face was already disfigured. He was also severely malnourished because it was too difficult for him to eat due to the wounds noma caused in his face. Grema likes to show a picture of his son when he was healthy taken before he was affected by noma and became disfigured.

“Whenever I see him in this condition it truly hurt my feelings. I know it’s from Allah, but when I look at this picture in my phone and then I look at him, I find it hard to accept.”

Sokoto, Nigeria, 4 November 2016.