Eva is a 37-year-old mother from Uganda. Her husband works in a Sacco and she owns a small hairdressing business in her local village. However, due to limited capital for expansion, her business has not been able to compete with similar businesses in the area and her husband's job does not provide financial stability for their family. 15 years ago, Eva began to experience troubling symptoms, including a painful swelling on the front of her neck, shortness of breath, and disfigurement of her neck. She was diagnosed with a goiter, an abnormal enlargement of the thyroid gland. She needs surgery to prevent her symptoms from getting worse. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation, is helping Eva receive treatment. She is scheduled to undergo a thyroidectomy on February 14th at our medical partner's care center. Surgeons will remove all or part of her thyroid gland. This procedure will cost $252, and she and her family need help to raise the funds. Eva says “I know that my condition has limited my progress, but I hope that now I will have the surgery done under your support, I will live a happy and improved lifestyle as I resume with my work.”

Kaptuya is a widow and a happy mother of three sons and a daughter from the semi-arid area of Baringo County in Kenya. Her husband passed away some years back after a short illness. Kaptuya and her children live in a semi-permanent three room house on her late husband's piece of land in an area well known for insecurity and cattle rustling. During the rainy season, they plant maize and millet that sometimes yields enough for both her school-aged children, and for her to sell. Currently, the area is faced with drought and famine, so they depend on relief food from the government and from well-wishers due to the lack of rain experienced this year. Six months ago, Kaptuya applied for a job as a housekeeper at a nearby health center. She was happy knowing that she would earn some money, and that the facility would pay for her medical coverage, but unfortunately that did not happen. The salary was also inconsistent and, thus, unreliable. In 2013, when Kaptuya was expecting her last born, she developed a growth at her neck which gradually increased in size. Kaptuya began to experience troubling symptoms, including neck swelling, which is most visible on the right side. She currently experiences shortness of breath, especially at night, and she sleeps with difficulty. She also has a fast heart rate, and easily gets tired, which affects her daily duties. She was diagnosed with non-toxic goiter, or an irregular growth of the thyroid. She needs surgery to prevent her symptoms from getting worse. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare, is helping Kaptuya receive treatment. She is scheduled to undergo a thyroidectomy on November 22nd. Surgeons will remove all or part of her thyroid gland. This procedure will cost $936, and she and her family need help raising money. Kaptuya says, “I am the only hope for my dear children. I live because of them, and my well-being keeps them going. I would like to get well so that I may continue working in order to support them to pursue their dreams. Please assist me.”

Hing is a 30-year-old rice farmer from Cambodia. He and his wife have two daughters, including a nine-year-old in first grade and a four-year-old who is not yet in school. He shares the work on the farm with his four older siblings who live nearby. In his free time, he likes to sing. In October 2022, Hing was riding a motorcycle and collided head-on with another motorcycle on a dark road, fracturing his left femur. His family took him to a provincial government hospital, where he had surgery and metal hardware inserted to help heal the fracture in his leg. His pain remained severe, and, 13 days later, he underwent surgery for a fractured hip as well. Now, the bone has healed and Hing would like the hardware to be removed. Fortunately, surgeons at our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre (CSC), can help. On March 10th, Hing will undergo a hardware removal procedure, where surgeons will remove all the metal hardware which has continued to cause him a chronic pain. Now, he needs help raising $304 to fund his procedure and care. Hing shared, "after the operation, I hope that I will not have any more pain and will be able to take over some of my wife's work."