News

We are overjoyed and grateful to receive a donation of USD 10,000 from China! The donation was initiated by our volunteer board member Thomas Schneider. Tom is the founder of ISA TanTec, an international group of tanneries. Since a major yearly business event had to be cancelled this year due to Covid-19, Tom and CEO Uwe Hutzler decided to reinvest the funds that had been set aside for the event. A great boon for our cleft children!

Sifa has lived with her cleft palate for 16 years. When she was little, only her cleft lip was treated. Sifa unfortunately is no exception. Again and again we meet patients who have not received their palatal surgery. The suffering they experience is unimaginable. For babies, the open palate can even be life-threatening. Read here what the diagnosis of "cleft palate" means and why its closure is so important.

This film, made for our Pakistani partner organization, the Al-Mustafa Welfare Societey, by the father of one of our patients, provides authentic insights into our work in Karachi, the capital of the province of Sindh. From here, our senior surgeon Prof. Ashraf Ganatra treats cleft children from poorest families. He operates the children from Karachi at the Al Mustafa Medical Center. In order to reach the many needy families living outside the city, he regularly carries out operations in local provincial hospitals.

The little ray of sunshine in the picture is Matias. At the age of six months, Dr. Adolfo Mamani in La Paz, who heads one of our three Bolivian aid projects, gave him his first surgery and closes Matias' cleft lip. Matias' parents have great confidence in Dr. Mamani and his team and make an appointment for the palate surgery. But then Corona comes, with lockdown and a surgery freeze. Read here how Matia's story continues.

After long weeks under lockdown, our surgeons in Bangladesh can now finally work again. Little Abir is one of the first patients. Prof. Ahmed, one of our four surgeons in Bangladesh, closed his cleft lip last year. Abir's cleft palate operation was still pending. Abir's parents are happy that the operation could now take place, despite the Corona epidemic.

Hussain lives with his parents and three siblings in a slum in Mysuru, southern India. He was born with a double-sided cleft lip and cleft palate. When the team at our treatment center in Mysuru first saw him at an awareness camp in April 2019, he was already three years old. A sweet but wild boy who cannot sit still.

We are happy to announce the addition of a new partner in our South American project country Bolivia, the well-respected aid organization Ayninakuna. Ayninakuna's treatment concept was developed over the course of many years by the experienced surgeon Dr. Roberto Edmundo Rosa Ressini. Ayninakuna is committed to delivering sustainable and comprehensive help, as we are. In addition to the necessary surgical interventions, Ayninakuna also offers dentistry, orthodontics, NAM therapy and psychosocial care for the families.

In late February, shortly before the global lockdown, our Pakistani team under the direction of Prof. Ganatra carried out a major mission in the Pakistani province of Sindh. In Naushahro Feroze, 340 kilometers northeast of Karachi, our team treated 64 cleft patients, 60 of whom were children aged three months to 10 years. The families all come from the poorest of backgrounds and could never have afforded treatment for their children.

From February 2nd to 10th, our two volunteer project managers, the experienced oral and maxillofacial surgeons Dr. Dr. Oliver Blume and Gunther Au-Balbach, again worked in East Africa. This year's mission was in Rwanda. Our German-African team treated 30 children aged from two months to 16 years. Particularly touching: the story of sixteen-year-old Sifa. For all her sixteen years, the girl had to live with an open palate. Thanks to our doctors - and donors - she was now able to have it repaired.

This film, made for our Pakistani partner organization, the Al-Mustafa Welfare Societey, by the father of one of our patients, provides authentic insights into our work in Karachi, the capital of the province of Sindh. From here, our senior surgeon Prof. Ashraf Ganatra treats cleft children from poorest families. He operates the children from Karachi at the Al Mustafa Medical Center. In order to reach the many needy families living outside the city, he regularly carries out operations in local provincial hospitals.

As a baby, Dat fell victim to an unqualified surgery. Probably inexperienced doctors severed important arteries during his palate surgery in Vietnam. The result: a large hole in the palate that massively affects the boy's life. We brought him to Germany to get reconstructive surgery. An individual case that due to the financial and human cost must remain an exception. In this video, we want to draw attention to the risks of "safari surgery" as opposed to sustainable development aid.

It doesn't cost much to make a child smile. Using the example of little Ha from Vietnam, our TV spot shows how easy it is to help a child with cleft lip and palate. The life-changing operation costs only 250 euros. It is the first step to change the life of a cleft child who would have a much harder time in life without treatment.