'I look really bad'
2008-09-29 22:43
Johannesburg - A Zimbabwean child who miraculously survived when she was mauled by two lions two weeks ago, was sitting up in her hospital bed in the Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg on Monday - surrounded by soft toys and recovering well.
Courtney Sparrow, 8, was moved from intensive care to a general ward on Sunday.
There she also saw herself in the mirror for the first time after the attack. "She looked up once, then looked down, then up again, then said: 'I really look bad'.
"Her mood goes up and down. I have probably heard her say 'ouch' a million times," her father, Ron, said on Monday.
Courtney has warned her six-year-old sister, Savanna, that her head has been shaved and that she now "looks like a boy".
Part of skull ripped out
Apart from seriously injuring her right arm, the lion ripped out part of Courtney's skull above her left eye.
The missing part of the skull was found after the attack. It is now being preserved under sterile conditions and will be implanted as soon as her injured cerebral membrane has recovered.
Courtney has already undergone three operations to clean her wounds, repair her punctured gullet and do some skin grafts.
Her wounds are now a symbol of a bleeding Zimbabwe: Courtney was mauled by the lions that were supposed to protect a second house on her father's farm from land invaders. This property was fenced, with the lions "securely" inside.
Zanu-PF supporters have been terrorising Sparrow for months by bumping against his gates, camping out outside the property, toyi-toying and breaking locks, he said.
On 16 September, Courtney walked with the labourers to the empty house without her mother's knowledge.
There, in a room at the back of the house, a lioness broke a window and dragged Courtney from the room by her right arm.
Saved by the gardener
The gardener, Benji Tewe, saved her life by first scaring off the lioness and then a second lion that had gripped her by the head.
Margaret heard the screams and ran outside. She saw Tewe with her daughter in his arms, bleeding and with her skull exposed.
"I thought she was dead, until she said: 'Mommy, mommy, help me please'. I called a friend to let the clinic know that we were coming."
Ron Sparrow was on his way to South Africa when he got the call near Beit Bridge. "My heart was beating in my throat. I turned around and rushed back."
Courtney was flown to Milpark the next morning.
Ron doesn't blame himself for the freak accident. He feels the political upheaval in Zimbabwe is to blame.
"I am a Zimbabwean, I have the same rights as anyone else in this country."
Sparrow's family has been living and working in the Zimbabwean game industry for generations. He breeds, among others, lion and buffalo and focuses on the hunting and tourist industry.
"The local community is loyal to me; they own shares in the farm."