"Without the stress and worry of finding money for her costly surgery, Ni Ni can focus her energy on looking after her health and her daughter," the staff at Burma Border Projects (BBP) tells us. Ni Ni is a 37-year-old mother who lives in Burma with her 15-year-old daughter. Her husband works as a day laborer in Bangkok to send money back to the family. Though her husband works hard, Ni Ni and her daughter cannot make ends meet with their small income and often have to borrow money or food from relatives. Ni Ni is also still paying back the debt she incurred from being admitted to a hospital for care that ultimately did not resolve the issues associated with her rheumatic heart disease. “When her daughter was six-months-old, she began suffering from heart palpitations, dizziness, tiredness, difficulty breathing and back pain,” the BBP team reports. “Her condition causes her a lot of stress and impacts her ability to look after her daughter and take care of household chores.” For $1,500 we can fund the complex cardiac surgery Ni Ni needs to get well. Following treatment, physicians expect Ni Ni will have more energy and less pain, which will allow her to find part time work as a cleaner in order to pay off her debts.

“I would like to be normal like my friends,” shares Ronald. Ronald is a six-year-old boy from Tanzania. He is in the first class at the local school and is a great student who loves attending school. Ronald was born with Hirschsprung's disease, a condition in which nerves fail to grow in the large intestine, paralyzing the intestine. “Ronald is unable to pass stool like other children, causing him great pain and discomfort,” our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF), tells us. Ronald needs a procedure that will resection the paralyzed part of the colon, and reattach the two good ends of the colon. The surgery will cost $975. “His parents have a small business, making enough money to survive but certainly no extra and not enough for covering the costs of Ronald’s surgery,” AMHF tells us. With surgery, “Ronald will be able to pass stool like other children," AMHF tells us. Let's help make it happen.