Operation Hope team (Photos courtesy CURE International)
Malawi (CURE/MNN) ― Cleft lip is associated with poor pre-natal nutrition. It's also slightly genetic and is known to run in families.
A cleft is an opening in the lip, the roof of the mouth, or the soft tissue in the back of the mouth. Patients are usually normal in every other way--development, growth, and everything else, but they sometimes face isolation.
Surgery can change that, but as CURE International would say, "the biggest change comes from Christ."
The Beit CURE International Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi is a 66-bed teaching hospital that specializes in treating the orthopedic needs of children and adults. There, as with all of CURE hospitals, the team puts everything they do into the hands of God.
Prayer starts the surgeries, and the staff lives the name of Christ with patients. In this way, people begin to experience the life-changing message of God's love for them, receiving surgical treatment, and at the same time, the love of Christ.
Earlier this month, CURE Malawi had the opportunity to host Operation Hope, an organization that specializes in organizing plastic teams to provide surgeries to children around the world with cleft lips and cleft palates.
The team successfully completed 21 surgeries during their week and was a huge blessing to the hospital staff and the patients. The team worked side by side with the dedicated CURE staff to help.
The facility was opened in 2002 and serves children with physical disabilities. Annually, Beit CURE Malawi sees about 8,000 patients and performs 1,500 surgeries.
Please pray that CURE Malawi's medical and evangelistic ministries would only expand and that more people would receive the physical and spiritual healing they need.
Changing hearts, changing lives, one tomorrow at a time.
