Making a new home, a new life for Moses

Courtesy of Karen Cooper

Karen Cooper is shown with Moses a year and a half ago. He is the size of 4-year-old despite being 10 or 11.

Meeting a disabled boy in Nigeria inspired a Ramsey County social worker to make a difference.

By MARIA ELENA BACA, Star Tribune

Last update: May 12, 2008 - 11:12 AM

As a social worker for Ramsey County and Mercy & Unity Hospitals, and a frequent traveler, Karen Cooper has witnessed suffering and cases of survival against the odds.

But one disabled boy's smile has launched her on a mission.

Cooper, of Woodbury, is raising $10,000 to bring a boy named Moses to Minnesota this summer for evaluation and treatment he can't get in Kaduna state, in northern Nigeria. After a fundraiser last month, she's about halfway there.

During a mission trip to Nigeria in 2004, she insisted upon visiting the only resident of a "motherless home," a boy who was dying, she was told.

It turned out the boy, Moses, wasn't dying. He was malnourished because orphanage workers withheld food to avoid cleaning a soiled bed. His social development was stunted from years of isolation. And he is physically disabled; Cooper believes he has cerebral palsy.

Moses was abandoned when he was about 2 years old. Some in Nigeria believe physical disability is caused by demons or a family curse.

But there was something about the look in Moses' eyes that touched her.

"He has a beautiful smile and laugh," she said. "He has a sparkle in his eye. I looked at his face and said, 'This boy should not die.'"

Her friend, Jacob Yali, of St. Cloud, remembered meeting with Cooper after the orphanage visit.

"We were eating at the table, and she was just sobbing," Yali recalled. "So I asked her why, and she told me she met this little boy in a crib, just left there to die. She said, 'I would like to make the difference in the life of this little boy.'"

In the time that followed, Cooper visited twice more, spending lots of time with Moses. She helped to support him, sending diapers, food, clothing, toiletries, toys, a new bed.

Last summer, Cooper worked with the Nigerian government to have Moses removed from the orphanage; he was taken in by Yali's sister, Na'omi, and her husband, Iliya Musa, a Christian minister. He's thriving in his new family, gaining weight and slowly becoming part of a community, said Yali, who last visited Nigeria in January.

Cooper still helps support Moses, especially since Iliya died in February, leaving his wife and five children.

She already has lined up pro-bono medical evaluation and treatment through United Family Practice Health Center in St. Paul, Therapy Connections for Kids in Little Canada, Shriners Hospital in Minneapolis and others.

She believes she'll get a visa for him and Na'omi; all that's left is raising the money to get them here.

Girl Scout troops are donating money and making cards for Moses; people have seen her brochures and donated, too.

"One of my favorite African proverbs is 'When spiderwebs unite, they can tie up a lion,'" Cooper said. "I think that speaks to this project. So many people have come together. We're making a difference to help this little boy. There's so much out there, but we can only start with one."

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409

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