Naw Kwee Moo is a 54-year-old woman from the Karen region in Burma, who lives with her husband and their family in a refugee camp. Of her children, three daughters and three sons still live in the refugee camp along with them near the Thai-Burma border. Naw Kwee is a homemaker and her husband is currently too ill to work. Five of their children go to school in the camp, four other children have moved away, and her second oldest son graduated from a post-secondary program in May 2020. He worked as an agricultural day laborer at a nearby Thai village until mid-December 2020. Due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, he was no longer allowed to leave the camp. Naw Kwe’s household receives a monthly cash card to purchase basic rations. Although they receive free education and basic health care in the camp, they shared how hard it is to make ends meet. Starting four years ago, Naw Kwee often went to the camp’s hospital run by Malteser International (MI) Thailand to receive treatment for urinary tract infections (UTI). Most of the time, she would feel better after taking medication, but she was no longer able to work as an agricultural day laborer because of her pain. Over the next few years, she was diagnosed with chronic UTI. “I think my condition was caused from consuming dirty water,” she said. “When I worked as a day laborer, we had no access to clean water.” Naw Kwee received antibiotics through an intravenous (IV) line at the camp’s hospital. When her condition did not improve, a doctor at the camp’s hospital referred her again to Mae Sariang Hospital in March 2020. There she received a urine test and an x-ray of her kidneys, ureters and bladder. She was finally diagnosed with a right kidney stone. After multiple visits, the doctor at Mae Sariang Hospital referred her to Chiang Mai Hospital (CMH) for further treatment. However, Naw Kwee could not travel to CMH for a while due to travel restrictions after the outbreak of Covid-19. Finally, last June medical staff from her camp were able to bring Naw Kwee to Chiang Mai. During her appointment, the doctor scheduled her to undergo an intravenous pyelogram on July 16th, 2020. After she received a diagnostic test, she returned to CMH for her follow-up appointment on November 19th, 2020. During her appointment, she received more tests and it was at her next appointment Naw Kwee was told she needed to undergo multiple rounds of laser treatment to break up the stone in her kidney. She received her first round of laser treatment on February 11th, 2021. Two days later, she developed a fever and could only pass a bit of urine. She also started to experience severe back pain and other troubling symptoms. MI staff took her back to the hospital where she received an ultrasound. The nurse shared with her that after her laser treatment, the stones had broken up and many of them where now stuck in her ureter, creating a blockage. She now needs emergency surgery to remove the stones. Our Medical Partner Burma Children Medical Fund is seeking $1,500 to support her surgery and finally relieve her of her painful condition.

Tibeihaho is a 56-year-old farmer and a widow with five children. One of her daughters is married, and the other daughter has just finished university. Of her three sons, two are still studying, and the other one operates a hair-cutting salon. Currently, Tibeihaho earns a living from her small scale banana and coffee plantation, which her late husband left for her. She recalls that starting in 1986, Tibeihaho began to experience troubling symptoms, including persistent headache and shortness of breath. She was since been diagnosed with a goiter, which is an abnormal enlargement of the thyroid gland. She needs surgery to prevent her symptoms from getting worse and finally treat her condition. Our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare Foundation, is helping Tibeihaho receive treatment. She is scheduled to undergo a thyroidectomy on February 9th 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 raising money. Tibeihaho shared, “I like farming but it has now been three years since I last did farming in a good health condition. This condition has caused me a hard time, but I hope that once I have your support and receive my treatment, I will regain my health once again and continue with farming.”

Saran is a mother of seven with three sons, four daughters, and seven grandchildren. Saran and her husband are both rice farmers. They also raise cows and pigs, and she enjoys feeding them every day. After each harvest season ends, she and her husband like to plant vegetables to earn extra money. In her free time, Saran likes to watch TV and listen news on the radio. Ten years ago, Saran developed a pterygium in her right eye, causing her irritation, itchiness, and a pinkish tissue growth over her eye. Pterygiums are non-cancerous growths of the conjunctiva, a mucous layer that lubricates the eye. The growths occur when the conjunctiva is exposed to excessive sun damage and the cells grow abnormally over the pupil. She has difficulty seeing things clearly, recognizing faces, working, and going anywhere outside. When Saran learned about our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre, she traveled for three and a half hours with her husband seeking treatment. Saran needs a surgical procedure to remove the abnormal conjunctiva from the cornea surface and replace it with a conjunctival graft to prevent recurrence. The total cost of her procedure is $216. This covers medications, supplies, and inpatient care for two days. The procedure is scheduled for February 1st. Saran shared, "I hope that after surgery my eye will look better, and that I will be able to go anywhere without being ashamed about my eye. I look forward to returning to taking care of grandchildren and helping my husband with the farm."