Puttra, who is 17 years old, lives in Kampong Speu, a province just outside of the capital city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. His parents are pig and cow farmers, and he has three younger sisters. In his free time, Puttra plays soccer with his friends and feeds the cows near his house. In the future, Puttra would like to be a teacher of Cambodian studies. Puttra has nasal polyps in each nostril that result in discharge, poor sleep, and pain, including frequent headaches. He has been using medications that his mother regularly purchases at a pharmacy to manage these symptoms, but his condition has not improved. Our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre, is here to help. On March 8th, Puttra will undergo a bilateral polypectomy at Kien Khleang National Rehabilitation Centre, which should permanently alleviate all of his unpleasant symptoms. Puttra and his family need your help to raise $388 to fund the surgery. Puttra hopes that after surgery, this problem will be gone, and he can focus on school.

Oun is a 75-year-old retired rice farmer. She lives in Pursat province, revered as one of the holiest sites of Cambodian Buddhism. Her husband died of lung disease many years ago, so she lives with her son, his wife and her grandchildren, who are all rice farmers. When not helping out in the house, she likes visiting the local pagoda to listen to the monks pray. Four years ago, Oun developed a cataract in her left eye, causing her tearing, blurry vision, and photophobia. Oun has to spend her days inside the house due to light sensitivity from her cataract, and she cannot do what she normally likes to do. She has difficulty seeing things clearly, including colors and faces, and is worried about falling when walking, so is not able to go places on her own. When Oun learned about our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre, she traveled for six and a half hours seeking treatment. On January 3rd, doctors will perform phacoemulsification and place an intraocular lens implant in her left eye. After recovery, she will be able to see clearly. Now, she needs help to fund this $253 procedure. Oun said: "I hope my eye can be fixed, so I can continue to spend time with my family and recognize faces."

Ashin Mala is a 30-year-old monk who lives in a monastery in Karen State, Burma. He became a monk a year ago. As a monk, Ashin usually doesn’t have the right to save money and keep cash. But sometimes, worshippers donate some money, and he keeps it to use just in case. The monastery usually provides him two meals a day donated by the Buddhist followers. In October, one day, he visited a house of a member of ethnic armed group in the village. A kid was playing with a pistol and accidentally shot the gun in the wall. Unfortunately, the bullet ricocheted and hit his left eye. The villagers sent Ashin Mala to Myawaddy General Hospital immediately. At the hospital, an X-ray was done and showed that a piece of the bullet had entered below his right eyeball. The doctors stitched the gunshot wound and gave some medications. There was no ophthalmologist at hospital. Ashin visited the hospital regularly and got wound dressing as well as medication to relieve pain. But the pain didn’t go away. He has lost sight in his left eye. Pain and itchiness, and sometimes a burning sensation, is present in the right eye and surrounding area. Hot tears are coming out from both eyes during blinking occasionally whenever he reads book for a long time. Due to the lack of ophthalmologist, he was provided only with medications and eyedrops. Now doctors want Ashin Mala to undergo a CT scan, a procedure in which x-ray images taken from several angles are combined to produce cross-sectional images of the body. This scan will hopefully help doctors diagnose his condition and formulate an appropriate treatment plan. Our medical partner, Burma Children Medical Fund, is requesting $414 to cover the cost of Ashin Mala's CT scan and care, scheduled for December 9th. Ashin Mala said, "I don’t want to blame anyone. It is my destiny. I am not sure my condition can be treated or not. But I am so happy to be treated here because I think I can have better health care here than in Burma. I don’t expect complete recovery, but it will be great if I can see with both eyes. In the future, I want to learn more about Dhamma and hope to attend Buddha University in the future."