"Osman is a 20year old boy, a year ago he was fit and healthy. He worked lifting people onto boats for the 7kms crossing to Gambia’s capital Banjul...the ferry is a simple one where people need literally to be put over the shoulder and carried to the boat in the sea...he came back one day and started shaking uncontrollably...this condition has never left him. When I first me him I saw him shaking, like an epileptic fit. I managed, with the help of his family, to massage him to a more relaxed state, as his whole body was full of tension. He needs assistance to use the bathroom, wash, get dressed, eating- all of which his mum and brother help with. Most of the day he spends simply lying on his bed. After saving money his family took him to 5 different hospitals in Gambia and Senegal, though they haven’t given any diagnosis, only take their money. There has been no therapy or help given apart from a list of drugs to buy which they can no longer afford and which were questionable in their benefits. To try to detect the cause, the next step would be a scan in Dakar 400km away in a taxi, which they cannot afford either. So I said that if I teach them how to massage him it would help him some relief and they would at least feel that they are giving him some physiotherapy to make his life a little easier....they don’t know what to do...he continually asked me to help him, he cries sometimes, tho I didn’t see him as he puts on a brave face. I felt really powerless tho I would love to change his life.