Clubfoot: How Training Shaped Two Brothers’ Futures
On a warm morning at Hôpital Analakininina, the local hospital in Toamasina, two brothers sit side by side on a wooden bench. Five-year-old Fanirisoa looks around the room with confidence, his curiosity evident as his eyes follow every movement. Beside him, his younger brother, three-year-old Vonjy, leans closer to their mother. He is quieter, more reserved, still seeking reassurance in her presence. Despite the medical setting, the brothers smile easily, laughing and nudging each other whenever they can.
Both Fanirisoa and Vonjy were born with clubfoot, a congenital condition that causes a child’s feet to twist inward and downward. Without treatment, clubfoot can make walking painful and limit a child’s ability to run, play, or attend school.
When Fanirisoa was born, his parents did what many families in Madagascar do when access to specialized care is limited. They turned to traditional methods, which involved massaging and bandaging, hoping his feet would straighten. The treatment brought some improvement, but it was never enough. As Fanirisoa grew older, walking remained difficult and painful. He could not move as freely as other children, and his parents worried about what his future might hold.
When Vonjy was born with the same condition, those worries deepened. The family feared both boys would face the same struggles.
Their father, Edmine, remembers the emotional weight of those early years.
“Before, walking was painful for them,” he said. “They used to cry and say, ‘It hurts.’”
In their community, the boys were sometimes teased and nicknamed for the way they walked. Their parents did not respond.
“We didn’t say anything,” Edmine explained, “because that was just how things were.”
Ten Years of Training, One Family
When the family heard about the Africa Mercy® and a clubfoot clinic at Hôpital Analakininina, they decided to go. With the hope that their sons could be treated, they left their village in Madagascar’s central highlands and traveled more than eight hours to the port city of Toamasina in search of care.
When they arrived, both boys were assessed.
Fanirisoa, the older brother, was accepted for treatment under the current Mercy Ships mentoring program, which focused on older children and more complex cases. But Vonjy’s situation was different. His case did not require referral to the ship’s team.
At first, that distinction could have felt confusing. The family had come seeking help for both sons.
Instead, it revealed something deeper.
Nearly ten years earlier, Mercy Ships had helped establish a Ponseti clinic at Hôpital Analakininina through its first clubfoot mentoring initiative in Madagascar. Local healthcare professionals were trained to diagnose and treat children using the Ponseti method, creating a foundation that would continue long after the ship departed.
One of the clinicians who witnessed that beginning is Dr. Saholy Razafindranaly, a Malagasy general practitioner and Ponseti trainer.
“2015 marked the beginning of clubfoot treatment using the Ponseti method here in Madagascar, with support from Mercy Ships,” she explained. “More than 3,000 children that we know of have been treated and healed from clubfoot since then.”
Because of that earlier investment, Vonjy was able to receive care entirely from Malagasy health professionals trained through the original initiative. He did not need outside intervention. The knowledge remained. The skills had taken root.Fanirisoa’s care represented a new chapter.
While he was treated at the same clinic, his case was part of a renewed mentoring program led by Mercy Ships. The program was designed to train Malagasy medical teams to treat older children and more complex clubfoot cases.
Mercy Ships physiotherapist and Clubfoot Mentoring Program Manager Nick Veltjens from Australia explained the difference. “Back in 2015 and 2016, the focus was really on building skills to treat younger children,” he said. “This year [2025], we are building the capacity of local clinicians to treat much older children.”
While the principles of the Ponseti method remained the same, treating older children required additional expertise, patience, and experience.
For Fanirisoa, this meant weeks of careful casting, gradual correction, a small but crucial surgery, and close follow-up. His treatment was not only about restoring his own mobility. It was also part of hands-on training that equipped local clinicians to continue treating older children long after Mercy Ships left.
Dr. Saholy recognized the partnership’s deeper purpose with local health teams. “Mercy Ships doesn’t just provide care,” she said. “They train local health workers. They share knowledge, and that strengthens our experience.”
For her, the work mattered because it built skills that would last beyond the patients being treated.
Carrying It Forward
Watching his sons stand and move without pain felt extraordinary for Edmine.
“Now their feet are straight, and they can walk normally,” he said. “If they had not received treatment, it would have been a heavy burden for us as parents,” he reflected. “One day, we won’t always be there for them, and living with that kind of disability would have been very hard.”
What he wanted now was a life without limits for his sons.
“Their feet are just like everyone else’s,” he said. “They can do everything the others can do.”
Behind that progress is a long-term commitment to training that extends far beyond a single family. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Rachel Buckingham from the United Kingdom volunteered with Mercy Ships and helped train Malagasy surgeons in the OR on the small yet decisive procedures used in clubfoot care.
“The goal is to strengthen local teaching and training so that, one day, Mercy Ships is no longer needed,” she said.
Treated side by side, Fanirisoa and Vonjy carried the impact of two moments in time, one shaped by training planted ten years ago, and the other helping to train for the future.
When knowledge is shared, healing does not end; it is multiplied.
