“Angela is a sweet little two-year-old girl,” shares our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation (AMHF). “She is the second-born in a family of three children. Angela is very friendly and likes being around people.” “Angela was born perfectly fine without any deformities but, at the age of one year, her legs started to bow outwards,” explains AMHF. Angela, who lives in Tanzania, has bilateral genu varum, a condition that makes one’s legs bow outwards. As a result, it is painful for Angela to walk and it is likely that she will develop early osteoarthritis if this condition is left untreated. For work, Angela’s father drives a motorcycle and her mother sells secondhand clothes. While they work hard to pay for their family’s daily needs, they cannot afford the cost of surgery for their daughter. $940 covers the cost of Angela’s surgery, which will straighten her legs and allow her to walk without pain. “It worried us to see the condition of our daughter getting worse,” Angela’s father tells us. “Our hope is for Angela to get the right treatment so that she can walk without feeling pain and without people staring and passing comments about the appearance of her legs.” Watsi donors, let’s help get Angela get back on her feet feeling comfortable and confident!

Dinesh is a bright little boy from Nepal who loves school and playing with his friends. He suffers from a condition called chronic suppurative otitis media, a perforation in the membrane of his middle ear that causes hearing problems, drainage, and constant pain. Dinesh can barely hear at all, and doctors at Nyaya Health say he “needs treatment immediately” to prevent his condition from getting much worse. Because this is an urgent case, they plan to treat Dinesh in the next day or two under the assumption that Watsi funding is coming. The average income in the area of Nepal where Dinesh lives is $1 a day. His family has a small plot of land that supports them for six months out of the year, but they cannot afford to cover the cost of his care. We need to raise $975 to cover the cost of the travel, lodging, pre-op, surgery, and supplies it will take to make Dinesh’s treatment possible. Dinesh is in nursery school, but the severity of the infection is making it difficult for him to attend. His mother is very proud of him and optimistic about his future. She hopes he’ll grow up to become a political leader who can develop their community. Doctors at Nyaya Health believe in addition to preventing further complications of his condition, there’s a good chance that with surgery, Dinesh will begin to get his hearing back and be able to live a happy, healthy life.

Dila is a 5-year-old girl from Nepal who was burned in a fire 14 days ago. 25% of her lower body is covered in severe burns. If left untreated, Dila’s wounds will get infected, or worse, the skin will turn into a post-burn scar contracture and limit her mobility for the rest of her life. Fortunately, doctors at Nyaya Health can make sure Dila gets the burn treatment and skin graft surgery she needs to fully recover. Dila lives with her father, mother, two brothers, and one sister. Her family earns their living by farming a small piece of land. The land is hardly enough to sustain them, let alone pay for the expensive medical care Dila needs. Dila attends the local government nursery school and loves playing with her friends. Her parents want her to to complete her education. They are optimistic about their daughter’s treatment and believe she can get healthy again soon. Let’s help make it happen!

Ezra suffers with the most common and completely treatable congenital deformity throughout the developing world – clubfoot. Ezra has a case of relapsed clubfoot affecting his right leg. Without surgery, he will be unable to walk, and running is out of the question. This affects his ability to go to school, play with friends, and live a normal life. Fortunately, the doctors at CURE Malawi can operate on Ezra to change that. Ezra lives in an economically disadvantaged family in the extremely economically disadvantaged country Malawi. His parents have the same hopes for him that each of us would for our own children – to have a bright future with meaningful work and a family of his own– but without the ability to walk those dreams won’t be possible. After surgery, attending school, finding a job, and having a family of his own someday will be possible for Ezra.

Juan and Juan are 4-year-old gemelos (“twins” in Spanish) from a rural community in Guatemala where Wuqu’ Kawok runs a nutrition program. According to Dr. Rohloff, the two boys suffer from “one of the worst cases of chronic malnutrition we [Wuqu’ Kawok] have ever seen, which was brought on by extreme poverty, frequent infections and lack of access to food.” Wuqu’ Kawok’s staff have been treating Juan and Juan in their home for several months now, but in collaboration with their parents and local health workers, have concluded that the boys need to be hospitalized for approximately five weeks in order to fully recover. Juan and Juan love to spend time together exploring the outdoors. Let’s help their family pay for their five week hospitalization to health so they are able to continue their adventures!

David is a 1-year-old boy from Guatemala who was born with a rare birth defect that will severely limit his quality of life if it’s not corrected. For his first year of life, David’s stool has been leaving his body through his abdomen, where doctors redirected his bowel at birth because he was born without an anus. This has resulted in multiple infections, persistent dehydration, and malnourishment. The doctors in Guatemala can perform surgery on David to allow him to function normally, but we need to raise $895 to pay for it! David’s father recently died from an aggressive cancer and his mother cannot afford to pay for David’s medical care. Let’s come together and get David the money he needs to have this surgery!