8-year-old boy attacked by Chimpanzee to undergo rare life-changing surgery

8-year-old Dunia Sibomana

Dunia Sibomana, 8, whose lips were torn off during an attack by chimpanzees as he played near a river in his native Democratic Republic of Congo will undergo a rare double-lip reconstruction at a New York hospital next week. Doctors at Stony Brook Children's Hospital on Long Island will perform the first of several surgeries on Dunia Sibomana on Monday. The goal will be to restore functioning lips that will improve his speech and stop constant drooling.
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                                                                                         (C)AP

The attack occurred two years ago in a war-torn region that struggles with environmental conservation and is home to some of the world's few remaining mountain gorillas. Taunts from other children drove Sibomana from school in his village bordering Virunga National Park in Democratic Republic of Congo. He was brought to the United States six weeks ago by Smile Rescue Fund for Kids, a philanthropy founded by retired Stony Brook dentist Leon Klempner, who helped arrange the surgery donated by the hospital and its doctors.

                                                                                       (C)AP

Sibomana is temporarily enrolled in second grade at a Long Island elementary school, where he is learning to read and write English. His native language is Swahili. Park rangers in Democratic Republic of Congo are still searching for Sibomana's older cousin, who was part of a group of children attacked by the chimpanzees. They believe he may have been killed in the attack or so severely disfigured that he chose to hide from friends and family, officials said. Sibomana's younger 4-year-old brother was killed in the attack.