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Child Stories from the San Juan Mission in July 2011 |
Author 
Edgar won the hearts of many during the Faces of Hope mission in San Juan (July 2011). Although he spoke Q'eqchi' (an indigenous dialect from Alta Verapaz) he communicated through hugs and smiles. He had lots of energy and a mischievous demeanor. By day two of the mission all of the nurses and doctors knew exactly who Edgar was. He waited patiently until the last day to finally undergo his first reconstructive cleft lip surgery after living with it for 7 years. During the operation, I got the chance to sit and chat with his mother, Manuala. She was an older tired looking Indigenous woman who you could tell loved her son dearly. She told me that they came from Tuila, Alta Verapaz, a village that is home for 200 families. She is a widow with 7 children. Edgar is the second youngest, and the only one born with a cleft lip and palate. 
She gave birth to him in the home and told me that it was frustrating and sad when he was born. They didn’t know what they had done to deserve this. The community told her to leave him, he was not worth it. Other families had done so when a child was born with a cleft. Manuala said she felt sad about that and couldn’t leave him. He was her son no matter what defect he had. He could not breastfeed and as a result was not growing. Two different plastic surgery missions passed through when he was 1 and 2 years old. However, each time he was rejected due to his low weight, which put him at risk for surgery. Unfortunately at that time PfS’s Targeted Infant Nutrition Program had not yet started and wasn’t able to prevent Edgar’s malnutrition. The goal of this project is to make sure that children do not miss the opportunity for a life changing surgery or suffer the consequences of delaying the surgery due to malnutrition. Manuala gave up hope. She did not send Edgar to school for fear of how the other children would treat him. His mother told me that this mission was a second chance for her son. She was excited to enroll him in school with a normal lip. She felt for the first time since her husband passed away there was hope for Edgar. A couple hours later Manuala cried as she saw her little boy transformed and hopeful for the future. |