Fridah is a beautiful, 20-month-old girl from Kenya. Fridah has grown up without a mother, but her widowed father has tried his best to shield her from her mother’s absence. Fridah has experienced delays in her development. Her father attributed the delays to her not being breastfed as an infant. During her mother’s burial early this year, a neighbor noted that something was not right with Fridah. She advised her father to seek specialized treatment, as the size of Fridah’s head seemed abnormal. During the consultation, it was confirmed that Fridah has hydrocephalus, a condition associated with excess fluid in her head. Hydrocephalus may be the result of an infection, trauma, malformation of the central nervous system, or genetic defect. Treatment for Fridah is a shunt to drain the excess fluid from her brain. Doctors place the shunt into the brain and connect it to a tube that runs under the skin and empties into the abdomen, where the excess fluid can be resorbed by the body. If not treated, Fridah could suffer brain damage, which may result in her premature death. Unfortunately for Fridah's father, it is hard to raise the funds required for her surgery. He works as a motorbike transport operator, and the little income he gets is just enough to meet the needs of his four children and maintain the family's three-room house. Fridah’s three siblings are enrolled in school and doing well. For $615, Fridah will undergo surgery and spend five days in the hospital as she recovers. Funding also covers the costs of imaging, blood work, and medicine. “I believe it not too late, and with surgery, we can keep Fridah's head from getting any bigger," shares Fridah's father. "I appreciate any sort of help accorded towards my daughter’s treatment."

Say hello to Shailande, a 20-day-old baby from Haiti who was born with a condition called an omphalocele, a birth defect in which the infant's intestine or other abdominal organs stick out of the belly button. “There is no skin covering part of her abdomen, which needs to be closed by surgery. Her intestine remains outside of her abdomen and her navel has become infected, causing her to experience abdominal pains,” explains our medical partner, Project Medishare. Shailande is the youngest of four children. Her mother sells food, and her father is only able to do random jobs in their zone of Cite Soleil, one of the poorest and most dangerous areas in Haiti. With their combined income, affording medical treatment is not possible. For $1,500, Shailande can finally have the surgery necessary to close her abdomen in addition to the antibiotics that can heal her infection. “I am excited to see the deformation gone and see my baby’s belly healed,” says Shailande’s mother. Let's make it happen for them!