Mission trip to Zimbabwe

I have been invited to be a member of a medical team sponsored by Operation of Hope. This is a family run foundation started by a plastic surgeon from Longview, WA. I depart from Portland, OR Oct 6, 2010. The first leg of my journey takes me to NY. My friends Philip and Periuza Wegner will meet me and send me onto Johannesburg, South Africa. A 15 + hour flight UGH...compression hose here I come. I have a short layover then a final flight to Harare.
Once in Harare we will be setting up at Harare Central a large government hospital. We hope to complete 70 cleft lip and palate surgeries over a 2-week span. Children will travel from all over Zimbabwe to have these surgeries performed for free by an American medical team. Apparently there are no plastic surgeons trained to perform these surgeries in Zimbabwe
My last week in Zimbabwe will be spent 60 miles away in Makumbi a Jesuit run orphanage and school. I get to do my favorite thing hug babies and children! My travels home bound take me to Ethiopia, Amsterdam, and then finally back in the Pacific N.W.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Name change

Today is a new day we hope to be given permission to proceed and do what we came to do take care of children with cleft lips and palates. 
In the meantime we have changed our name from Operation of Hope to HOPE to OPERATE!
If all goes well we will unload the 50 duffels into the OR theaters and begin screening on Monday and operate on Tuesday.
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownOctober 10, 2010 at 7:29 AM

    Good luck Sandy, thanks for the posts. Keep kissing those babies, then get to work! Thinking of you!-Berklee

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