4 Ways We Bring Hope
4 ways Morning Star Foundation helps when Surgery isn’t an option
At Morning Star Foundation we get a lot of requests to help children with all kinds of heart conditions. Although we wish we could help all of them, sadly we can only help with certain cases due to a variety of reasons such as funding, availability of surgeons, and the condition of the child’s heart. In many of the cases where we can’t choose hope for a child with a heart surgery, we find another way to move forward, even when hope does not look the way we expected. Here are 4 ways we chose hope for inoperable children and their families this past year:
- Small pay it forward programs
Mama Bruno holds a special place in our hearts. She and her son Bruno came to us years ago seeking healing for Bruno’s heart. Sadly, Bruno is not a candidate for surgery. Despite our inability to help his heart, our team in Uganda has kept up a relationship with the family and formed a special bond. We recently found out Mama Bruno was interested in pig farming. Our team began to have conversations with Mama Bruno about what that might look like and how we could help. It was decided that we would help Mama Bruno purchase some pigs, and she would pay it forward by helping another Morning Star Family by giving them some of the pig’s offspring. Mama Bruno is overjoyed to now be making a living to support her family and we are overjoyed that we get to be a part of it.
- Large pay it forward programs
Do you remember Angela? She went to Egypt at the beginning of 2021 hoping to receive heart surgery. It was found that she is not a candidate for surgery now, but there are some ways to manage her condition that we are still helping with. Shortly after Angela and her mama returned to Uganda, we found out that Angela’s father has aspirations to become a boda boda driver. boda bodas are the motorcycles in Uganda that are used as one of the main forms of public transportation. We were able to help purchase a boda boda for the family, and as his business earns a profit, he will pay back a part of the cost of the boda boda and those funds will be used to help another family.
- Education
Masa was one of the first children we met in Jordan. Her sweet smile and kind demeanor captured our hearts immediately. In this case, it was a relief to find out that Masa does not need heart surgery right now. With doctors care and medications, her heart condition can be managed. Although her heart condition is now under control, the schools were not familiar with children with heart disease and were not able to re-enroll Masa in classes. After some time and advocacy on Masa’s behalf, we were able to secure a private education for Masa and she is doing great. You can read more about Masa here
.
- Food Boxes
It’s no secret that when Covid hit, places around that world were shut down and businesses suffered. These shut downs had a particularly devastating impact on families in Uganda and Jordan who make their living day to day. For a large portion of 2020, our teams in Uganda and Jordan delivered food boxes to families struggling to make ends meet due to the lockdowns.
Although we are generally known for providing heart surgeries to children, hope has always been the goal. We are excited about the new opportunities that have been given to us to bring hope into this world and we look forward to sharing more with you as our pay if forward program grows!
