Sotheara lives with her parents, two sisters, and one brother. Her parents are rice farmers, and she attends the local school with her siblings. Her favorite subject at school is Khmer and English language and she would like to be a nurse when she grows up. At home, she likes to play with her sister, exercise, and eat fried eggs and soup with rice. For the past several years, Sotheara's mom has noticed she occasionally has discharge from a small hole in the front of her left ear. Regularly she suffers from, pain, swelling, itching, headache, and fever, which prevents her from attending school. Her parents are unable to pay for medication from the pharmacy to provide temporary relief. ENT specialists at our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre, have diagnosed her with a chronic pre-auricular pit sinus infection. This is a small hole or cyst just above the ear canal that some children are born with. The hole marks a sinus tract under the skin that’s in the wrong place. Most people don’t realize they have a sinus pit until they have an infection. On February 20th, Sotheara will have surgery to remove the sinus tract, and her parents need $297 to cover the cost of the procedure. After surgery, Sotheara will no longer have frequent infections or drainage from her left ear. Sotheara said, "I hope I will have no more pain, and the hole in my ear will be closed. I do not want to miss school."

Nyi is a 22-year-old man from Thailand. He lives in the monastery with two other monks. He helps the monk with cooking, cleaning, and looking after the monks. He receives free food and free accommodation. He has no income but has enough food. Originally from Burma, his aim of coming to Thailand was to look for better job opportunities and also to seek treatment but because of his condition, he does not have job and ended up living in the monastery. In December 2022, Nyi started experiencing some headaches and blurred vision. He went to the local eye clinic and his eyes were tested and he received a pair of eyeglasses. However, the eyeglasses did not help him see better so the doctor suggested him to have further investigation and possibly a computerized scan (CT). Nyi had no money so he did not pursue further investigation of his symptoms. He was looking for a way to get treatment and finally arrived in Thailand and visited Mae Tao Clinic (MTC) in November 2023. After meeting with the doctor at MTC, the doctor told him to go to Mae Sot Hospital (MSH) for further investigation and explained to him that his eyes looked normal but there might be a tumor that is causing his blurred vision, the doctor then recommended he undergo a CT scan to confirm his diagnosis and make the best plan for his care. Doctors want Nyi 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 Nyi's CT scan and care, scheduled for January 30th. Nyi said, "I want to recover and get a job so that I can earn money for my living."

Ruhama is a beautiful two month old baby girl, who lives with her parents in Ethiopia. Both of her parents are quite young, and due to their having left school early, both work as day laborers, earning limited wages. Ruhama was born with an anorectal malformation, which is a congenital abnormality that leads to a complete or partial intestinal blockage. She needs to undergo a series of procedures to eliminate her bowel dysfunction and help her grow up healthy. Ruhama is scheduled to undergo surgery to correct her condition on February 1st, at BethanyKids Myungsung Christian Medical Centre. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation, is requesting $1,500 to cover the total cost of Ruhama's procedure and care. After her recovery, Ruhama will no longer experience bowel dysfunction, or be at risk of developing health complications in the future. Ruhama's mother said: “I will leave her at the hands of God. I can’t say she will heal or not, but it’s all God’s will."