Providing the blink of an eye!

Zhou Ma was only five when she came to our Huangnan Children's Home.  The burns to her face and left hand were a testimony to yet another accident by fire.  When I first saw Zhou Ma I was reminded of a baby boy who had sustained third degree burns over 60% of his body in a fire. He would have died had it not been for the timely intervention of Christian Action and our partner medical agency in 1999.

Zhou Ma’s situation is not life-threatening, but we too must intervene to surgically help her overcome the challenge of a disfigured face.

This will not simply be cosmetic surgery so that an almost teenage girl can feel better about the way she looks.  The skin on Zhou Ma’s face has been pulling one of her eyelids down and the tension on her eyelid restricts blinking.  If this tension continues, too much of Zhou Ma's eye will be exposed, and when the surface of an eye is not regularly lubricated, the cornea dries out and causes blindness.

Last year, when a group of doctors from Hong Kong spent some of their precious holiday time to visit Huangnan Children’s Home, they noticed Zhou Ma, and told us that they could repair some of the damage done to her face and hand.

On Thursday, Zhou Ma and her social worker will be boarding a plane from Xining to Hong Kong and it will be the adventure of her 12-year-old life!  She is being very courageous and is trying to overcome her fear as she faces surgery, but she believes it will be life changing.  Over the last few years, we have been able to build up Zhou Ma’s health with nutritious food, so that the rest of her body would also be strengthened to face life’s challenges.

When she first came to Huangnan Children’s Home, Zhou Ma and the other children only had two-minute noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner, every day of the week.

CA began to co-manage the orphanage in 2008, and we immediately began to provide some of the things that people like you and I know that our own children must have for growing bones, muscles and brains.

Please pray for a good outcome from Zhou Ma’s surgery.