Chorng is a 60-year-old soup cart owner from Cambodia. He lives with his wife, two sons, and eight other family members on the outskirts of the capital city of Phnom Penh. His younger son is at University and the older son helps run their soup cart. When not working, Chorng helps around the house and listens to traditional Cambodian music playlists from YouTube. Just over one year ago, Chorng had an ear infection. This infection caused a cholesteatoma, or an abnormal skin growth, to develop in the middle ear behind the ear drum. For this reason, Chorng experiences hearing loss, pain, and ear discharge. He is unable to hear his customers and relies on others to help him. He also has trouble communicating with his family and neighbors. Chorng traveled to our medical partner's care center to receive treatment. On February 28th, he will undergo a mastoidectomy procedure in his right ear. During this procedure, ENT surgeons will remove the cholesteatoma. Our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre, is requesting $926 to fund this procedure. This covers medications, supplies, and inpatient care. Chorng says, "I hope my hearing will improve. I want to be able to work more and talk with my customers."

Leakhena is a quiet 14-year-old girl from Cambodia. She and her twin brother live with their 65-year-old grandmother in Kampong Cham province. Her brother is learning to be a monk at a local temple, while Leakhena stays home to help their grandmother. At home, Leakhena likes to watch TV. According to her grandmother, Leakhena has had knee stiffness and difficulty walking since she was a toddler and is unable to fully straighten her right knee. When Leakhena's family learned about our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre, they traveled for three and a half hours to seek treatment. On February 15th, surgeons at CSC will perform a quadricepsplasty procedure of her right leg to help her walk better. Leakhena needs our help to fund this $482 procedure. She said: "I hope it will be easy to walk and I will not have any pain."

Wishes is a 5-year-old who hails from a village in Lilongwe District. She is the last born in a family of 3 children and is a bright young student in primary school. Wishes’ parents depend on small-scale farming where they grow maize and groundnuts for their family to eat and for commercial purposes to support the family. Since she was born, Wishes has been experiencing a painful abdomen, vomiting, frequent diarrhea, and feeling weak. Her mother has been taking her to Nkhoma Hospital where she was advised to come back to meet a surgeon for assessment. Wishes was diagnosed with a periumbilical hernia, and she was scheduled to undergo hernia repair surgery at Nkhoma Hospital. However, her parents cannot afford the surgery although they hope to have their daughter undergo surgery. This condition has had a negative impact on Wishes’s life as she feels abdominal pain and cannot go to school when this happens, therefore, affecting her school performance. If the condition is left untreated, it may lead to strangulation which can be life-threatening. Wishes is scheduled for hernia repair surgery on February 13th. Our medical partner African Mission Healthcare is requesting $421 to fund surgery. After surgery, Wishes will be relived of pain and she will be able to attend school without any hindrances from the condition. Wishes’ mother says, “Thank you for this opportunity that has brought new hope to my daughter.”