Dalis is a four-year-old kindergarten student from Cambodia. She lives with her parents and her 19-year-old older brother in Kandal province. Her father is a tuk-tuk motorcycle taxi driver and her mother stays home to manage the household. At school, she enjoys studying Khmer and is learning addition and subtraction. When she grows up, she dreams of working in a salon because she loves putting on makeup and dancing with her mother to popular songs. Her favorite meal is soup with rice and milk.
Dalis was born with polydactyly of her left hand. This means that she has an extra thumb. This makes it difficult for her to grasp some objects. Her father is worried about how her hand looks and fears that she might be teased by other children in the future.
Fortunately, on March 4th, surgeons will perform a polydactyly repair procedure to remove the extra finger. Our medical partner, Children’s Surgical Centre, is requesting $299 to fund this procedure. After surgery, she will have a more natural hand appearance, which should decrease her anxiety when she starts primary school.
Dalis’s father said: “We hope Dalis will have a hand that looks like other children’s hands, so I will not worry about her being teased by her friends.”

