| Chinese Children Receive Transforming
Surgeries
Dang Fang is one of many orphans living in the Shunyi District
of Beijing, China. As a newborn, this little one was dropped off at the
orphanage because his impoverished parents couldn’t afford to care
for a child suffering from both a cleft lip and palate. Dang is one of
26,000 Chinese orphans needing cleft lip and/or palate surgery. Without
the operation, they will spend the rest of their lives without the hope
of ever being adopted by a loving family. But hope has come through Operation
Blessing’s Set a Child Free program!
Operation Blessing staff went to find the poorest children living with
cleft lips and/or palates. They scoured rural areas in China and found
orphans needing help. One was Dang Fang. In March of 2003, the 2-month-old
and several others received free corrective surgery in a Beijing hospital!
Now there is more hope than ever that this precious little boy will be
adopted and live a normal life.
A Farmer’s Daughter
A normal life -- that’s all Zhu Tiantian’s parents desired
for their 3-month-old daughter. Born with a cleft lip and palate, Zhu’s
future looked bleak. The baby couldn’t nurse because she didn’t
have the capacity to suck. Buying milk powder, bottles and other necessities
were too expensive. Her family worked as farmers in Beijing’s Daxing
county; one of the poorest areas in China. They scrapped by on an annual
income of less than $400. When the family experienced a poor harvest,
Zhu’s father had to go to the city looking for extra work.
Desperate to help his daughter, Zhu’s father sought out a doctor.
He was told the surgery would cost over $1,250. This was more than three
years’ salary! Searching out every possibility, he found out about
our Set a Child Free program. Much to her parent’s amazement, Zhu
was soon accepted into the program and received her surgery on March 12,
2003!
“Your help gave us great hope,” commented her father. “We
are very thankful!”
To date, our partners have helped 48 Chinese boys and girls receive cleft
lip and/or palate surgery! There are hundreds of thousands of children
around the world still waiting. Please help us set them free from a life
of pain and suffering their birth defect brings with it. Your gift of
just $34 a month for 12 months -- or a special gift of $400 – will
sponsor corrective surgery for one boy or girl suffering from a cleft
lip or palate.
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Set a Child Free!
Become a Smile Partner and join us in setting children like
Dang and Zhu free! By the end of this year we want to be doing
100 cleft lip or palate surgeries every week. But we can’t
meet this goal without your help! Your gift of just $34 a
month for 12 months -- or a special gift of $400 – will
sponsor corrective surgery for a precious child.
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