Sok Hak is a 24-year-old farmer with one brother and one sister. He likes to play soccer, go to his farm, and talk with his friends. Sok Hak has developed a cholesteatoma, an abnormal skin growth, in his left ear. It causes ear discharge, hearing loss, and pain. Sok Hak is unhappy and has difficulty working. When Sok Hak learned about our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre (CSC), he traveled for four hours seeking treatment. On November 23, CSC surgeons performed a mastoidectomy procedure in his left ear to remove the cholesteatoma. After recovery, his hearing will improve. Now, he needs help to fund this $842 procedure. "I hope that I can have good hearing," he says, "and that it will be easy for me to go to work."

“Ten years ago, Mao developed a cataract in each eye,” shares our medical partner, Children’s Surgical Centre (CSC). “Mao’s cataracts cause blurred vision, tearing, and cloudy lenses.” Mao, a 67-year-old woman from Cambodia, is a rice farmer. In her free time she enjoys planting morning glories and banana trees around her home as well as traveling to the pagoda to listen to the monks pray. Since her cataracts developed ten years ago, it has been increasingly difficult for her to work and do these activities alone. Mao shares, "It is hard for me to see everything, go anywhere outside on my own, or do any work." For $225 Mao’s cloudy lenses will be removed and replaced with clear lens implants so that her vision will be restored. After the brief, 40-minute procedure, her vision will be fully restored. Mao hopes that the surgery will allow her to work on her farm and travel independently.