This little guy is one-year-old Orlando from Guatemala. Orlando was born a healthy baby, but when he was six months old, he began getting sick frequently. Our medical partner, Wuqu’ Kawoq, reports, “His development started to falter, and he has trouble with motor development (standing/walking) and with language. He is very short, a sign that he is not getting enough high quality food.” Orlando needs to be enrolled in a feeding program to help him resume normal development. This treatment costs $535, and will stop his frequent illnesses and improve his appetite. In the long-term, a feeding program will help Orlando’s brain develop fully, letting him excel in school later in life. "I feel helpless," Orlando's mom says. "I know that he is not growing well, but I don't know what else I can do." She says she is excited to see her son’s health improve with financial help from Watsi donors!

Mary is a 12-year-old girl from Tanzania who is the second born out of seven children. She dreams of working as a nurse in her district’s hospital. Mary used to attend primary school, but had to stop in her fourth year. The long walk to school is too difficult for Mary to manage because she has knocked knees, which causes her a lot of pain when she walks and puts her at risk for developing early arthritis. Even though she can’t go to school, Mary works hard and helps her widowed mother with chores around the house. Her mother grows vegetables, beans and maize to sell, but barely earns enough to cover the family’s expenses. Mary’s uncle has been working to find a way for Mary to get surgery so she can go back to school. “I miss going to school and playing with other students. I hope I can be treated so that I can go back to school and also be able to help my mother fetch some water, firewood and do other things,” says Mary. For $940, we can fund Mary's corrective surgery to fix her knocked knees. This will allow her to walk without pain and get back to school, so she can achieve her dream of becoming a nurse!

Bahati is in preschool. He enjoys drawing and coloring pictures. His father works at a timber company and his mother sells produce from her small vegetable garden. Bahati likes to play with the other children in school, but experiences pain in his leg and sometimes cannot run. Our medical partner, the African Mission Healthcare Foundation, has diagnosed him with chronic osteomyelitis of the right tibia, which means that his right shin bone is infected. Bahati's doctors report, "he has pus discharging sinuses below his right knee. He sometimes walks with difficulty. Bahati is at risk of pathological fracture of the tibia, if not treated." His mother tells us, “I am very afraid that if Bahati doesn't receive treatment soon, my son will end up losing his leg. He is so full of life and has opportunities for a better future; we wouldn’t like to see Bahati held back in life because of his leg.” The surgery to remove the infected bone portions, plus antibiotics, costs $1000. Bahati’s doctors add, "the treatment will control infection of the tibia, allow healing of the bone and stop [the] pus drenching sinus. Bahati will be able to concentrate on his studies; play and have normal growth."

Meet Fostina! She is a sweet, ten-year-old girl from Zambia who “was nothing but healthy and brought only joy to her family” for the first six of years of her life, according to our medical partner CURE International. Then, at age six, her family began to notice a slight bow in her legs, but doctors had high hopes she would outgrow the condition. The opposite happened. Now at ten years of age, her legs are severely bowed out and far beyond the ability of her local doctor to correct. "Fostina has trouble walking," her doctors say, "which is extremely painful, awkward, and embarrassing. This also causes stress on other joints in her ankles and hips and she has experienced social difficulties due to her very noticeable disability, because her culture largely believes in curses.” Thankfully, Fostina was referred to our partner, CURE International. Fostina has already had one successful surgery, thanks to Watsi donors. She needs our help to fund her final operation. For $1000, Fostima will receive a proximal tibial osteotomy, which will correctly realign her legs. She is expected to recover fully; she will walk out pain-free and with a new source of confidence.

Kyaw Zin is a 20-year-old from Burma with congenital heart disease. He recently moved to Thailand with his family in pursuit of a better life, but his medical condition still prevents him from fully participating in the world around him. Kyaw Zin’s mother first sought medical attention for her son when he was two years old. Doctors diagnosed him with heart disease, but as a family that made only a few dollars a day working as gardeners, treatment was financially way out of reach. So, for the last 18 years, Kyaw Zin has lived with shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and fatigue. His fingers occasionally turn blue. Once, when he was 16, he collapsed completely. We’re raising $1,500 to give Kyaw Zin the heart surgery he needs to live a healthy life. Let's do this!

This smiley guy is Said. Said is an infant from Somalia whose parents hope he will “become a great leader in our country and change it for the better.” Said was born with an open bladder, which puts him at risk for infection and social isolation as he grows up. Said’s parents traveled across the Somali border into Ethiopia to seek treatment for him. Traveling through Somalia is not easy, and they needed donations from friends and family just to cover the transportation costs to get to our partner hospital. For $1,500, we can pay for Said's bladder exstrophy repair surgery and allow him to grow up healthy!

Nakuwa is a proud mother of four from Tanzania who recently discovered a lump in her breast. She worries that the lump may be cancerous, but she cannot afford to have it removed. Nakuwa's husband died many years ago, so she now lives with one of her daughters, growing sorghum (a grassy grain) and selling the crops to earn a modest income. Nakuwa tells her doctors that she hopes to live a long life so that she can support her family and contribute to her community, but that this mass is weighing heavily on her mind. For just $350, Nakuwa can have an operation to remove the mass from her breast. This operation will reduce the chance of local recurrence of tumors, and allow Nakuwa to return healthily to her family and community.

Richard is a charming three-year-old boy who is the first born in his family. Both of his loving parents are subsistence farmers, who for a year have been trying to raise funds for their son's health care costs. Richard was born with hypospadias, a condition that prevents him from passing urine normally. If this condition is left untreated, his doctors say it will lead to infertility and social stigma when he grows up. "I hope that as the first born, Richard will one day be well enough to lead a normal life, play like all children and be the man he is supposed to be," says Richard's father. For $900, Richard will receive the corrective surgery he needs to restore his reproductive system, allowing him to live a healthy and dignified life.

At 21, Ka Saw has lived many lives. He’s lived in Burma, then at a refugee camp in Thailand, and then all over Bangkok; working on a fishing boat, in an ice factory, and at a crab shop working to support himself. But everything was cut short when he started having severe pain in his side. Doctors in Bangkok diagnosed Ka Saw with kidney stones. They placed a small rubber tube, called a nephrostomy tube, into his kidney to allow urine to leave his body until the stones were removed. But because Ka Saw is a migrant worker, they denied him financial support for the rest of his treatment. Ka Saw needs our help to raise the $800 he needs for surgery to remove his kidney stones. His dream is to make enough money to go back and work with children at the refugee camp. Let’s help Ka Saw get healthy so he can keep contributing to his community!

Eremon is 14-year-old boy from the northernmost region of Kenya. Eremon has a deformity in one leg, called a "knock knee," which makes his leg angle inward and causes pain and limited mobility. A $1,000 corrective leg surgery will repair Eremon's knee and restore him to physical shape that will allow him to walk, run, and increase his balance. Our partner, CURE International, writes, "Our hope is that Eremon will finally be able to walk without pain." Let's help Eremon get this surgery so he can live a normal, active life!

Emily is a wife, mother of one, and proud business woman from Kenya. Emily is pregnant and excited about her expanding family. Although she feels some pain in her lower abdomen that makes walking challenging, she is hoping to have a healthy baby and a smooth delivery. Emily works in the local market selling fish, tomatoes, and onions to supplement her husband’s farming income. Emily aspires to invest in a more lucrative business to better support her family. Even though both Emily and her husband work, they can’t afford the expense of a safe delivery in a health facility. But without it, Emily is at risk for life-threatening complications that could be fatal without a trained attendant nearby. For $215 we can help Emily and her child have the safe start we all deserve.