MEDICAL MISSION

African Vision of Hope

Zambia, South Africa

President and CEO of African Vision of Hope, Judi Bertels, is working with several clinics and a hospital in Zambia. It was difficult Judi to explain how challenging it is to be a doctor in Zambia. One of her clinic doctors does not have an autoclave or even a chest x-ray machine but simply a microscope. AVOH sends many of their school children to his clinic. African Vision of Hope also works with University Teaching Hospital in Zambia. It is the large government hospital that serves the country. She describes the hospital as "beyond explanation, bed after bed after bed with 2 or more children per bed." One doctor has over 400 children on his waiting list that need heart surgery. AVOH is sending many children to India for surgery, but they find it frustrating to see so many children dying without any options. She was able to share an uplifting story with us as well.

One child, named Hope, is 12 years old and has serious cleft palette, food spills through his nose and he can't close his eyes. Last week Judi emailed Smile Train and got an email back from a surgical team that will be in Zambia in the next week. Hope's picture was sent to the surgical team and they think it is possible to fix everything as they also do reconstructive surgery. Hope has a bright future ahead! AVOH's also has it's own small clinic that is run by a nurse and helps keep over 700 children healthy each day.

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