After volunteering for a couple months with Save a Child's Heart, I was given the opportunity to visit the hospital and see what happens behind the scenes. During this visit, I met a doctor from Tanzania who is in Israel for three years to learn how to be a heart surgeon. There are maybe four cardiologists and no heart surgeons in Tanzania so that is amazing that he will be the first one. He unfortunately lost his sister to a heart disease that could have gone away easily with proper care and that inspired him to become a surgeon. I also met an Israeli doctor who is one of the main surgeons. We asked him why he decided to get involved and he said that once he heard about it, he couldn't turn it down. Also, he completely donates his time. If he stopped performing these surgeries, he wouldn't lose any money he would just get a lot of time to be with his friends and family. Lastly, this was the first day I ever met any of the Arab children because none of them live in the house. Some of them can be driven back and forth to the West Bank/Gaza, and some live in a house in Jerusalem run by an Arab-Christian organization. I spoke to a Palestinian woman who helps SACH bring kids from Gaza and the West Bank. She speaks Hebrew, Arabic and English and is extremely sweet. There are currently Palestinian doctors who are now being trained by SACH so that they can perform surgeries independently. However, none of these doctors will ever talk about this on the news and say a positive word because they are afraid that the consequences will be dangerous.
One of the hardest parts of this visit was the ICU. One of my favorite little girls (Yamarium, 2 years old from Ethiopia) went through surgery and seeing her hooked up to all of these wires and not conscious was very difficult. I gave her mom (sweetest woman) the biggest hug. I hope she is awake and back to her adorable self soon.
I am so blessed to have been able to see this and it made me even more proud to be a part of this organization.
A link to an article about SACH:
a picture of the ICU:
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