NEED YOUR HELP

This is a photo of a little friend of mine. His name is Charlie. I've known Charlie for a couple months, but he's always been swaddled up in blankets - it's only just recently come to my attention that he has CLUBBED FEET. I read about this condition in our medical book, "Where There Is No Doctor", and it says this can be cured at birth by the doctor. The longer it goes untreated the more difficult the repair. The bones are getting stronger and harder every day. I think he's currently about 6-7 months old. There is no way he is getting treatment here in Tanna. His father, a 21 y/o friend of mine, was told by the local hospital that a doctor would be on hand that could help him, but then the guy never showed up. It's not clear, or relevant, why the birthing doctor (if there was one) didn't take care of the problem at birth.

I'm thinking that there must be a way that we can fix the problem ourselves - build a brace or daily therapy or combination, but maybe I'm kidding myself and the really he needs a professional to break and re-set the bones.

I'm hoping that someone out there - maybe you - can provide sound advice or forward this post to someone who may have some guidance.

If there is the possibility that we can treat him here, with no medical help, using only makeshift tools and such, then I would need some ideas on how to do the therapy or how best to construct a brace.

If there is no helping the baby without breaking and re-setting the bones then that information would be helpful as well.

ANY information could potentially be helpful.

In related news:

It seems I'm turning into a one man Red Cross down here since I'm also helping the above baby's 12 y/o uncle. Danny was on his death bed just one year ago, suffering from some crazy infection in his legs. The details aren't clear to me (happened before i got here) but taking him to the hopistal only made it worse - he contracted some other infections while being treated. Now he is doing much better, and his right leg has healed, his weight is back to normal, his spirits are up - but he is still crippled in his left leg. He mostly sits around, sometimes staying in one place for hours at a time while all the other kids are running around him. Lately he's been using some makeshift crutches, but I'm convinced he would be doing much better if he had regular physical therapy. You know... just got up and walked around a couple hours each day. Of course they (Ni-Vans) don't know anything about that kind of stuff and really all they need is someone to show them how to do it, and to give them some motivation. So that's what I started doing. Two weeks ago I lifted him up and made him walk with me for a few yards without his crutches. His parents saw me do this and now they've started doing it as well - but not very often. But I did hear his mother yelling at him to start using only one crutch - the muscles in both his legs have atrophied since he sits around so much. The other night I took away one of his crutches and hid it at my house. At first he was alarmed and I felt bad for taking away a crippled kids crutches, but after a few minutes of talking in local language with his parents he actually thanked me and recognized that I was helping him and that he wanted to walk again. So that made me feel good - I'm confidant that I can get him walking again - but I'm more concerned about the baby. If he doesn't get proper treatment he'll be crippled for life.

And you thought I was just playing with coffee and dancing with Heads of State!