'Santa Rod' is raising funds for a boy injured in a dog attack

The man they call 'Santa Rod' is fighting to save the life of a child who was attacked by a rabid dog.

Eleven-year-old Amer, from Bosnia, never suspected any danger when he started to stroke an animal that seemed friendly. But instead of wagging its tail, the dog leapt at the lad's face, ripping out one of his eyes.

Subsequent tests revealed that the dog, which was probably a stray, had rabies.

Three months on, the youngster in a country where there is no National Health Service is in a coma fighting for his life.

But rather than being cared for in a hospital surrounded by medics and the latest in technology, Amer is in an isolated village in Bosnia where his elderly grandmother is caring for him, giving him medication and injections, with occasional visits from the local doctor.

Rod Howat, known locally as 'Santa Rod' after almost 30 years of ferrying Christmas presents, aid and cash to Bosnia, said: "Without the right kind of treatment, he could die at any time.

"He was taken to a hospital where you have to pay £120 to get a bed, and they won't let you in unless you have enough money.

"Every kind of medicine has to be paid for, even aspirin and paracetamol. If you can't pay, you are not treated."

Rod, 81, from Glossop, regularly sends money from his own pocket, as well as donations from well-wishers and local churches.

He said: "They know me as much as they do members of staff in Glossop post office, I am in so often sending money."

Rod, who comes from Oldham and once owned businesses in Tameside, started his humanitarian aid work in 1996, shortly after a war that split the Balkans.

He was part of a 23-strong group of electricians, builders and general maintenance workers, who used their two weeks summer holidays to transform a derelict former orphanage in a village in Croatia.

Rod and his workmates were associated with Christ Church, Tintwistle, as part of a project called 'Out of the Ashes'. The old building had been used by a farmer to store beetroot and potato, and although the team worked hard, it was clear a fortnight was not long enough.

One by one, most of the team moved back home, but Rod stayed, becoming part of the community and working on the building.

He later moved to a pitifully poor village in Bosnia, doing what he could to help the people there. Eventually moving back to Glossop, he embarked on regular aid missions to the village of Grabovica near Tuzla.

Carrying clothing, tools, medicines, hospital equipment, even wheelchairs, Rod made regular missions in his aging Land Rover.

But it was in the weeks before Christmas that Rod really came into his own, earning the name 'Santa Rod' as he took toys – bought or donated by the people of Tameside, Glossop and the rest of High Peak – to hand out to the street kids of Tuzla.

The journeys came to an end during the pandemic, but Rod is hoping to resume them at some point in the future.

Now he is raising cash to pay for treatment for Amer. Anyone wanting to donate can send a cheque to him at 32 Acre Court, Whitfield Avenue, Glossop, SK13 8LH.

As for the old orphanage that Rod and his friends helped transform? Well, it's now a hostel where poor children from Bosnia and countries where their fathers and uncles may have fought each other in that war, can meet in friendship.