Sunday, September 30, 2007

Special Needs Kids - Link

One of the programs we run is directed toward families with "Special Needs Kids" - children with medical needs requiring long term medical help. Many of these children's problems actually stem from severe, ongoing malnutrition. Some suffer from birth defects, others from ongoing medical conditions. The most recent quarterly magazine put out by Missionary Ventures ran this article, about the program (when you open the link, scroll down to the article entitled "What Else Could We Do?")

Below are pictures of Denexi Marbeli, before and after the initial surgery to repair her cleft palate. We currently have three more people in the program, waiting for cleft palate repair surgery. Two of these are young adults from very remote areas of the mountains, who have not yet received the needed repairs, in spite of being nearly 20 years old! We are working on scheduling surgeries for them in the near future. Our part is simply doing the leg work; connecting the patient with a visiting surgical team which is offering these repairs fairly close to our area, and paying for the transportation and housing as needed.

No comments: