Ashamed

This week we had a visiting plastic surgeon and his wife from the US (Drew and Kim Huang) to do a series of kids (and 2 adults) with cleft lips and palates.  We spent Monday morning in clinic screening the patients who came to Kibuye for this surgery and we asked each mother how she felt about her child.  They all said the same thing, they felt "ashamed".  They told us how the communities they lived in had rejected their children, and they were ashamed.

It was a great joy to be a part of this life-transforming surgery for these kids, which is otherwise unavailable in Burundi.  We operated on 5 kids and 2 adults with cleft lips and palates, as well as performing 2 other plastic surgeries (one for facial deformity due to Noma, the other for a little girl with a large burn injury).  It was also a joy to get to spend this week with Drew and Kim, who are both wonderful.  We hope they return to Kibuye soon.

This little girl did not meet the age requirement to have surgery this week (she will return in a few months) but I couldn't help but post her picture because she was so darn cute.  She was also the only child who did not burst into tears at the site of me and my iPad camera.

One of our satisfied (and maybe a little sore) customers.

Drew and Jason.