Nairobi — There is hope finally for two boys who had their genitals chopped off in bizarre incidents in Western Province.

The Royal Dutch Airlines, Kenya Airways, a Canadian doctor living in Kenya, a Spanish surgeon, a Kenyan Cabinet minister, and the World Bank have come together to help the two in the "re-construction" of their manhood.

In less than two weeks time, Philip Barasa (12) and Oscar Kituyi (14) will be on Dr Pedro Cavada's operating table, thousands of miles away in Valencia, Spain.

The "re-construction" surgery will last about twelve hours for each of the boys.

It will be the best New Year's gift to the families to hear that the boys have regained their manhood.

For Philip, May 2004 is a month that will always be etched in his memory.

His penis was chopped off in a ritual administered by a man who was not known to him.

The boy was on his way to Malakisi Hospital, where his mother was hospitalised.

He was by then living with his sister in Mumias.

Philip, unable to raise bus fare to Malakisi, decided to trek for 35 kilometres. But as fate would have it, he did not complete the journey.

"When I arrived at Kipchenje village, I bumped into a man who asked me where I was going," said Philip.

He then welcomed Philip to his house.

"After making myself comfortable, the man brought me a cup of tea which I gulped then started feeling strange. When I came to, I found myself half-buried in a sugarcane plantation at night," recalled Philip when he visited our newsroom on Monday.

"I pulled myself out even though I was in serious pain and crawled to a nearby village. Maybe due to exhaustion, I fainted and found myself in hospital where the magnitude of the attack dawned on me," he added.

Since then, Philip has been in and out of hospital for medical care.

Oscar was living with his father in Bungoma town when a stranger approached him and asked if he could do menial jobs to earn some money.

"I agreed since I needed the money badly. My mother was dead and my father was struggling single-handedly to make ends meet," recalls Oscar.

He remembers boarding a boda boda (bicycle taxi) that took him to Kibachenje where he had been offered the "job".

He was offered a cup of tea but after taking the concoction, Oscar started feeling dizzy.

"I was then led into a sugarcane plantation by two young men. One held me tightly as the other pulled down my trousers then removed a knife and attempted to chop off my manhood. I fought back in vain before I lost consciousness.

"When I came to, I found dogs licking my wounds," he said.

Oscar and Philip were both admitted to Bungoma District Hospital, where they met Dr Ken Jones, who later took them to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.

"We decided to seek further help since the urologists at the hospital could not help the two," said Jones.

"At first I didn't imagine the reconstructive surgery could work. But I was assured by a Dr Gesore, who is based in Nakuru," said Jones.

But for Oscar, who lost his testicles as well, only the penis can be reconstructed. Jones, a Canadian doctor specialising in HIV/Aids, says Oscar will need at least Sh7,000 per month for testosterone transdermal therapy to maintain his masculine features.

Jones said without testosterone, a hormone produced by testicles, a young man can develop breasts and his voice becomes high-pitched like that of a woman.

Oscar will have to wear a patch containing testosterone on his arm every day for the rest of his life.

The patches, which come in packets of four, cost at least Sh7,000 at the Nairobi Hospital, the only facility in the country we were informed sells the hormone in the East and Central African region.

The potency of one patch lasts seven days.

Gesore informed Jones of a Spanish plastic surgeon, Pedro Cavadas, who boasts of 98 per cent success in penile re-construction. We immediately contacted him and he agreed to come to Kenya to observe the boys. Cavadas visited the country early last December at his own expense.

The surgeon promised to foot the entire medical bill estimated to cost Sh4.5 million.

"But because he has to observe them for six weeks after the operation, he said they have to be flown to his hospital in valencia Spain, but at our own expense," said Jones.

The boys accompanied by Jones and a relative, are now set to travel late next week but are yet to raise enough funds.

Trade and Industry minister Mukhisa Kituyi, Royal Dutch Airline (KLM), Kenya Airways and the World Bank's regional office for HIV/Aids have donated return tickets worth Sh976,000.

The four urgently require at least Sh400,000 for their upkeep for the two months.

Kituyi, who gave a peronal donation of a ticket worth Sh244,000, urged well-wishers to help the boys.

A third boy, Omondi, will have to wait until he is eight years old before undergoing a similar operation. He is five.

"Experts say at his age they can't harvest skin from one part of his body to induce growth on his genitals," said Jones.

The boys will undergo "reconstructive micro-surgery", a process in which a tissue will be harvested from around the penile area and elsewhere on the body then fixed on the stamp.

"It will grow as the rest of the body grows and the new organ can perform as well as that of any man," said Jones.

"It's a miracle that the boys survived after the ordeal. They bled so much they should be given hope now that God has granted them another chance to live," Jones said.