Early in 2009 Werner Krause from Brüggen met a 19 year old Egyptian leg amputee in Hurghada. Pharmacist Dr. Jean Nasr, a good friend, informed him that this jobless young man’s name is Mustafa Ismael and that he comes from somewhere near Aswan. At the age of three he lost his left leg while playing on the railway lines. Since his parents are poor farmers who have other siblings of his to care for they were unable to have the ten-year old prosthesis, which no longer fitted, replaced by a new one. Due to his disability, Mustafa was unable to work and just managed to scratch a living doing occasional services for tourists. Werner Krause was very annoyed about the old wooden prosthesis, and after some deep thinking and minute investigations decided to help the young Egyptian so that he would be able to work and support himself independently. Since Werner Krause couldn’t expect any help from Egypt, he was hoping for the support of medical centres and manufacturers of prostheses in Germany.
When he returned to Germany after his stay, he took the old prosthesis with him, and nearly got into a lot of trouble for it. He had to make it clear to Egyptian customs that he had not stolen the ancient thing, but was taking it to Germany to be repaired.
Back in Germany Werner Krause looked around for appropriate experts. As a response to some coverage numerous helpful people came forward. Prof. Dr. Dietmar Pierre Koenig, Medical Director of the LVR Orthopaedic Clinic in Suechteln and the Orthopaedic technicians Lettermann in Viersen were able to help most suitably: “Mustafa can be treated in the clinic and will receive a new prosthesis. After a stay of 2 – 3 weeks he will be able to return to Egypt with his new prosthesis.”
Our man from Brueggen covered the expenses for the airline ticket, clothing and other sundries, the costs for treatment and the new prosthesis were covered by the Medical Director and the orthopaedic technicians.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy for an Egyptian to fly to Germany as it is for Germans to fly on holiday. It was a long odyssey to get all the necessary documents for his stay in Germany, Egyptian ‘red tape’ is much more stringent than in Europe. It took Werner Krause and Mustafa more than 7 months to overcome all the obstacles. At the end of October 2009 Mustafa could finally travel to Germany where he started his treatment a week later. After a further 3 weeks of physiotherapy Mustafa returned to Egypt at the end of November.
Due to numerous donations and the un-bureaucratic help from Germany, Mustafa has meanwhile started a commercial apprenticeship in a pharmacy

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