Teen's treatment ends in tragedy

OaklandTribune.com ^ | January 3, 2004

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

They were just trying to save his hair.

But what started as a desire to preserve Koran Akindele Jenkin's dreadlocks, grown during his 13-year life, ended in tragedy and changed the Berkeley boy's world forever.

Koran had picked up head lice in his thick, black shoulder-length dreads during a backyard campout with a group of friends. The eighth grader had never in his life had a haircut. He loved his hair. His mother loved his hair. Koran, a member of a hip-hop group, needed the hair to complete his look.

But as the critters hopped around in Koran's locks, mother and son became increasingly repulsed and headed for the boy's pediatrician. The doctor was out.

They drove to Alta Bates hospital, where medical staff covered Koran's head with a surgical cap and instantly diagnosed him with head lice, his mother said.

Medical staff talked of a prescription medicine, but because there are dangers, it was not prescribed. Then the conversation turned to how gasoline and kerosene are used to clean the hair and kill head lice in some cultures where dreads are more common, his mother, Ayodele Nzinga, said.

In the end, medical staff told Koran to get a haircut so over-the-counter treatments could readily attack the lice.

"We discussed cutting his hair," said Nzinga. "He was in tears, I was in tears. We didn't want to cut his hair. So we remembered that we had some gas in the car (trunk) for emergencies. We figured we would clean (the hair) with gas and then use the medication."

That was Sept. 18. At home in Berkeley, mother and son headed to the kitchen with the gas. Bent over the sink, Nzinga covered her son's eyes and face with a towel and soaked the hair in gas. It's a compact kitchen and the sink and the gas stove are tucked in the small space.

Nzinga said nothing was on in the kitchen, but somehow the pilot light on the stove flared, sending enough of a spark to set Koran's head ablaze.

"One minute I was twisting the gasoline out of his locks and the next minute my baby was on fire," said Nzinga, a single mother who has seven children ages 12 to 26.

Nzinga said she couldn't move quick enough. "If I could have remembered what to do quicker maybe he wouldn't have been burned so bad," she said, tears streaming down her face.

Water wasn't working to douse the flames so Nzinga grabbed a towel that was on the nearby washing machine and wrapped his head in it. "I brought him to my (chest) and smothered the fire out," she said.

From that moment forward Koran's life was forever altered, family and friends said. He was burned over 23 percent of his body and spent two weeks at Doctor's Hospital in Pinole and two months at Shriner's Hospital For Children in Sacramento. He underwent eight surgeries, including many skin grafts.

His right hand, which sustained fourth-degree burns, was so badly damaged doctors had to amputate all his fingers.

Nzinga, with third-degree burns to her left hand and second-degree burns to her right hand, was also admitted to Doctor's Hospital, she said. Her hand is still badly discolored and she has some pain.

Looking back, Nzinga said her boy was amazingly strong from the minute the accident happened.

"He said, 'We are going to be OK, Mama,'" she recalled. "I think he was possibly in shock too, but there are two ways to deal with extreme trauma -- fight or flight. You can either stay coherent and fight on your own behalf or you can become hysterical."

The past three months have undoubtedly been the most difficult in Koran's short life, his mother and brother said. The home-schooled teenager went from a star on the basketball court who had interests in photography, drama, poetry and hip-hop music to a boy who sometimes needs his younger brother's help to get dressed.

"He's just angry right now because some of the stuff he could do before he can't do anymore," said brother Stanley Hunt, 12.

Adds Koran: "I was very good at basketball. ... I'm not sure I'll be able to play basketball again."

Still, Nzinga said doctors are pleased with his progress.

"They said he's doing amazingly well ... he's going to have to have a lot more surgery," she said.

His care is time consuming and has often kept Nzinga from her job as an artist-in-residence at the Prescott Joseph Center for Community Enhancement in West Oakland.

In addition to his medications and the twice-daily dressing changes, Koran must wear a plastic face mask for protection and pressure garments for healing. He is required to go to Shriners once a month and visits his own pediatrician at least twice a month.

Nzinga, a community activist, artist and poet, has been working toward a doctorate degree in transformative education and change to better her life. She said she is doing her best to make ends meet, but sometimes it's tough.

Thanks to contacts with Camp Winnarainbow, Wavy Gravy's Berkeley-based performance arts camp, friends will hold a benefit Sunday night to raise money for the family. Koran has attended the camp since he was 7.

The benefit begins at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. Organizers are asking for a $10 to $20 donation to see many performers. On stage will be Wavy Gravy, the Original Action Pack improv comedy troupe; Rashidi Omari of Company of Prophets; Silver; Rudi Mwongozi: the Sounds of New Afrika; B.U.D. Hi Beats; M.A.C. with Commander Rude Dog; Wadi God; JT the Bigga Figga; Human Earthquake Marvin X; Citizen Payne; Congo Square 2 Drum Circle; Paradise; Gabriella; Mechell La Chaux; the Blue Jazz Diva, Wordslanger; Kemrex on the turntables and others.

"I've never done something like this before," said organizer Zappo Dickinson, who stayed at Koran's bedside when Nzinga couldn't be there. "I'm just hoping for it to be successful and a fun-filled night."

Nzinga is nearly speechless when she counts the people who have come to her aid.

"When as many people come to your rescue as came to mine, you know someone is listening," she said.

But she said she is also grateful for the lessons that she and Koran have learned through the tragedy.

"We learned not to use (gasoline) in a closed space," she said. "And we truly know the essence of an accident. It's something you didn't think out because if you did, you wouldn't have done it."

Maybe most importantly, she and Koran have learned acceptance, she said.

"We have learned the ability to accept what the universe gives you and to fight really hard for that to be enough."

[CARDINALRULES]

Damn I wish I hadn't read this....now my head is itching.
Happens everytime, also with the mention of chicken pox and poison ivy.

[Ole Okie]

Before the environmentalists saved the planet (ha!), a simple application of DDT worked wonders. A lot of Europe was deloused after WW2 with DDT.

And it's a little kinder on the scalp than gasoline.

Although in my Navy days, I saw a guy shave his pubis and apply massive doses of Campho-Phenique to his nether regions to get rid of crabs.

[clamboat]

I noticed there are hardly any intelligent responses to this story, which is annoying. Why is that? It does not occur to people that using gas, alcohol,etc. is common country remedy to remove not only nits, but ticks and other undesirable pests.

While gasoline may be a common home remedy, it is not applied inside a home, and certainly not inside a small kitchen. If she had dragged a lawnchair outside and soaked his head we would not be having this discussion.

I don't question the efficacy of the treatment - maybe gasoline works just fine. But I am wondering if this would not have been avoided if there had been a man in the house. I'm not kidding, hear me out. I know I have become intimately familiar with how volatile gasoline can be through a number of thankfully harmless incidents. That has given me great respect for it, and all of those incidents are simply not things that most girls or young women would go through.

The first one I recall was as a boy scout when someone soaked the logs in a big bonfire in gasoline before lighting them. The gas fumes had predictably crept low along the ground in every direction from the logs. When lit, a ring of fire expanded out from the center of the fire, consuming the vapors that were low to the ground. We all just instictively jumped up when we saw this happen and noone was hurt. The flamefront literally passed under us that quickly.

The second time I was stripping some paint with an electric drill, a wire brush attachment, and gasoline. Why? I don't know, but I was, and it worked pretty well. At one time in a fit of idle curiousity I stuck the wire attachment on the end of the electric drill into the bucket of gasoline and truned the drill on. Instantly the gas all caught fire and I singed my hand and face. No big deal, but gee, I don't think I'll be that stupid again.

So maybe being a a boy and doing lots of smaller stupid things while growing up helps you avoid doing the really biug stupid things as an adult.

[cyborg]

I admit I am more annnoyed at the teasing, assuming things about this woman because of her name, her single status,etc. Yes it was stupid to do it inside though. Oh well.

[Syncro]

The kid is lucky he didn't have "crabs."

The treatment for them is similar.

Only after you light the hair on fire and the little critters run out of the heat you stab them with an icepick...

[octobersky]

LOL!

[HardStarboard]

>>>Nzinga, a single mother who has seven children ages 12 to 26.<<<

>>>It's something you didn't think out because if you did, you wouldn't have done it." <<<

These two quotes when juxtaposed, show that there has been a continuing problem in Nzinga's ability "to think it out"!

[wardaddy]

In JA, venomous spider's nests which can result in death when they spawn and bite is not infrequent amongst Nattys.

Pass that chillum mon...

[LisaMalia]

I'm just sitting here shaking my head..........

[Dr. Zoo]

Woodstock Generation's Wavy Gravy I wonder?

Yea, he was the guy at Woodstock in the orange jump suit with the megaphone and no front teeth. He is all over the place in the movie of that event

He also has a 3,000 acre ranch in Laytonville in Northern California where he and others are permanently retroed into the Sixties.

We used to have the same dentist in Scott's Valley that put the star in one of Ken Kesey's front teeth.

I first met him at the "Flower Farm" by La Selva Beach in Santa Cruz area.

They specialized in "buds"...

Only he was Hugh Romney then.

What I really miss is his campaigning for Nobody for President every 4 years.
Now that was funny.

[T Lady]

Mom's not a very bright bulb, is she?

...'Transformative Education'? Now, just WHAT kind of job can you get with THAT, if anything?! Only in the Land of the Fruits & Nuts, folks.

-Regards, T.

[Syncro]

Ping to Post # 130

[radiohead]

there's OTC preparations to take care of lice.

No kidding. What a shame this kid has such a stupid mother. What a shame she didn't exert some parental control and make him cut his hair and use the OTC treatment on what was left.

This reminds me of the classmate's mother who was trying to get rid of a bees' nest. She made a preparation of bleach and boiling water. As Murphy would have it, she tripped while taking it outside and the concoction spilled on her, burning her terribly.

I'll admit to being a bit of a homebrew fan myself, but dayum, sometimes you have to submit to the evil corporations and just buy the can of Raid.

[csvset]

Here's a pic and a article from the Chronicle.

Koran Jenkins, 13, has undergone eight surgeries since September. A fund-raiser is being held to help his mother, Ayodele Nzinga, with growing expenses. Chronicle photo by Katy Raddatz

East Bay artists rally to help burn victim
Patrick Hoge, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, January 2, 2004
Source

Ayodele Nzinga had heard somewhere that gasoline was effective for killing head lice, and she was applying the fuel to her son's hair in her Berkeley kitchen on Sept. 18 when a spark from the pilot light on her stove flared, and the boy caught fire.

Koran Akindele Jenkins, 13, was severely burned over 22 percent of his body, particularly his head and hands, from which he lost most of his fingers.

A self-described "hip-hop lyricist'' who has performed in a duo with his brother Stanley, 12, called M.A.C., Koran looks forward to again pursuing music and theater with The Lower Bottom Playaz, a troupe that his mother directs at the Sister Thea Bowman Theater at the Prescott-Joseph Center For Community Enhancement in West Oakland.

Nzinga, a single mother of seven, said that at first she was racked with guilt, but now she is determined to focus on her son's recovery.

Nzinga directs three nonprofit theater groups around the Bay Area, and is also a poet and spoken-word performer whose stage name is WordSlanger. She is an artist-in-residence at the Prescott-Joseph Center.

Such artistic pursuits do not make much money, Nzinga said, and she has suffered financially, even though Koran has received much of his medical care free from the Northern California Shriners Hospital in Sacramento.

Nzinga said the costs of driving back and forth to Sacramento, staying in motels, using cell phones and buying medications have combined to bring her family to the brink of financial ruin.

"We are not rich people. This has played total havoc with a really, really delicate budget,'' Nzinga said, adding that she is two months behind on rent and facing large utility bills. "We are on the verge of economic collapse. ''

To help Jenkins' family, numerous performers in various disciplines will gather for a benefit Sunday at Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center in Berkeley. The evening features Wavy Gravy and the Original Action Pack improvisational comedy troupe, as well as Rashidi Omari, Silver, Rudi Mwongozi and Nzinga.

Wavy Gravy got involved because for six years Koran has been a scholarship student at Camp Winnarainbow, the circus and performing arts camp in Mendocino County that Gravy runs with his wife, Jahanara Romney. Nzinga's children have attended the camp for more than 15 years.

"It's a horrible thing that's happened to this child, and I'm honored to be able to do something to help him in his recovery,'' Gravy said.

Also helping to organize the fund-raiser is Zippo Dickinson, one of the primary staffers at Winnarainbow, who visited Koran regularly while he was hospitalized.

Dickinson said he had worried that Koran, a gifted athlete, would be vulnerable to depression because he held himself to such high standards on the basketball court.

To Dickinson's surprise, however, Koran has shown tremendous patience.

"He's just maintaining himself very well. It's mind-blowing,'' Dickinson said. "It has been amazing how well he's maintained a positive attitude and how he's tried to help those who are helping him.''

"I get depressed sometimes, feeling sorry for myself," said Koran, who has undergone eight surgeries. "I wonder why this happened to me. But it was just an accident. There's nothing I can do to make it different.''

---

Benefit for Koran Jenkins

The benefit for Koran Akindele Jenkins is at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center, 1317 San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley. $10-$20 donation. (510) 525-5054; www.ashkenaz.com. Donations can also be sent to WordSlanger, c/o the Prescott-Joseph Center for Community Enhancement, 920 Peralta St., Suite D, Oakland, CA, 94607.

E-mail Patrick Hoge at phoge@sfchronicle.com

[dmzTahoe]

This will end up with a lawsuit against the hospital and doctors who failed to give her full and detailed instructions, along with warnings, when mentioning the gasoline remedy.

Wait and see...

[Old Professer]

I once put oil-based paint in a styrofoam cup and climbed a ladder to touch-up a sign; got paint all over me.

[Old Professer]

The Onion disallows its stories to be posted here-anyway this is too stupid even for them.

[Redcloak]

What planet are these people from?

[T Lady]

All kidding aside, all this mother had to do was go to the local drug or grocery store, or Wal-Mart, and buy a bottle of RID Shampoo. It's advertised in practically every parenting magazine in America. In order to avoid such tragedies, and to primarily prevent the spread of lice in the home was certainly the reason RID was invented in the first place. And no, it doesn't matter what race the kid is, either. Lice is lice, no matter whose head it gets in.

-Regards, T.

[The Game Hen]

Cool!
I was a little preschooler living outside Clark in '68-'69. My Dad was a USAF Navigator and we lived in the Diamond Compound.