Naw Lel is a one and a half year old girl from Burma. She is from a population that is ethnically Karen. She lives with her parents and her grandmother, who are subsistence farmers.The family does not have a regular income, but Naw Lel’s father and grandmother sometimes make homemade noodles and traditional beverages and sell them to bring in an income for the family.
When Naw Lel was five months old, her mother noticed that a small lump appeared in the upper left side of her daughter’s groin. Naw Lel had femoral hernia. Naw Lel can neither play actively nor run, because if she does so, the lump in her groin will appear, causing her pain. She also cannot eat and sleep well. Sometimes, she vomits and catches a fever at night. Whenever she cries, she would touch her groin. Her parents are very sad to see her in pain, but they could not do anything for her. Fortunately, on January 16th, she will undergo hernia repair surgery at Mae Sot General Hospital, our medical partner’s care center.
Our medical partner, Burma Children Medical Fund, is requesting $1,500 to fund Naw Lel’s hernia repair surgery. The procedure is scheduled to take place on January 16th and, once completed, will hopefully allow her to live more comfortably.
Naw Lel’s mother said, “I want her to grow up healthy and I want her to become a teacher.”