This is Eugenie. She looks like a ten year-old, but she is 14. Stunted and malnourished as a result of extreme poverty and a cleft lip. But that's not all. Eugenie is an orphan who until two years ago was wandering the streets begging for food and shelter. That is until a kind-hearted woman saw her and took her in as her own.
They traveled by foot and bus for hours to reach Kagali where they had heard that doctors were coming to perform surgeries for free. Realizing that this might be the only chance for Eugenie to get her lip fixed they anxiously awaited to see if she would be picked. And she was, but with hesitation because her red blood count was low and she had a cold. She needs to be monitored this week to make sure she is well enough for surgery. But if she is (and I hope she is) she will get her life-changing surgery on Friday. What a day that will be.
Yesterday afternoon when I visited the post-op area of the hospital I saw a boy we have dubbed Harry Potter because of the sweatshirt he was wearing. Jean, his real name, had just come from the recovery room with a new smile. Walking at his side was his father, carrying an IV. I asked the father what he would say to the people on the other side of the world who had helped make this surgery possible. He thought for a moment and then said, "I don't know what to say. I don't have any words to express my feelings." Then he turned to his son and told me, "Everything I want to say is written on his face." Enough said.
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