By Heather
Today at the hospital, I saw a 17-year-old who has an
unrepaired cleft lip. Can you even imagine
going to school with an open cleft lip? In a place where many people believe that
genetic malformations like this are the result of a curse? I did not have the heart to ask whether I
could take his picture, but you can imagine that an open hole from his nose through his lip makes him look like a sure target for a whole lot of teasing in any
school in the world. This young man is
here at the hospital today, because tomorrow, his lip can be repaired.
Our friend Drew, a craniofacial plastic surgeon, is here for
the week, and we are so glad for his visit.
Most of our team met Drew several years
ago when we were all working in Kenya. Drew
and his wife, Kim, have traveled the world, working in hospitals on three
continents. They came to us this time with
quite a bit of luggage for a 10-day visit.
They brought precious gifts like chocolate, and they also brought lots
of instruments needed for cleft lip and palate operations.
Our sending organization’s name has recently changed from
World Harvest Mission to Serge. I was thinking about this today, because the word serge means to stitch together two rough edges of
material to make a strong seam. I wonder whether repairing cleft lips would almost
qualify as serging.
Please pray for the operations this week and for the
patients as they heal. May they grow to be people who praise the God that loves to heal brokenness, to create beauty, to stitch together rough edges.
2 comments:
Thank you for this window into your world there, Heather. One more evidence of the difference your presence is making there, by the Grace of God. We rejoice with you and pray all goes well with these patients as they recover and enjoy this dramatic change.
Beautiful.
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