Five year old Betty was born in a poor neighborhood in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At a very young age Betty was diagnosed to be suffering from a serious congenital heart defect which severely limited her most basic physical activities. Betty was facing a gloomy, short future as her physical condition would deteriorate unless treated. Heart surgery, widely available in Western countries, could save Betty's life but is not available in Ethiopia due to lack of facilities and knowledge. Betty is the...
more »Five year old Betty was born in a poor neighborhood in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At a very young age Betty was diagnosed to be suffering from a serious congenital heart defect which severely limited her most basic physical activities. Betty was facing a gloomy, short future as her physical condition would deteriorate unless treated. Heart surgery, widely available in Western countries, could save Betty's life but is not available in Ethiopia due to lack of facilities and knowledge. Betty is the only child of Yeshi, a house-keeper and Galana, a policeman. All Yeshi and Galana could do was to hope and dream that one day a miracle will happen and Betty will get the treatment that will save her life.
Their prayers were answered by the Israeli based humanitarian organization, Save a Childs Heart ("SACH"). SACH funded the flights to Israel for Betty and her mother Yeshi together with five other Ethiopian children. SACH doctors, surgeons, nurses and volunteers performed the surgeries and cared for rehabilitation accommodation throughout the long months of their stay in Israel and cared for all their needs.
There are estimated to be millions of children like Betty, in third world countries, who have no access to the life-saving treatment either because it is not locally available or because it is beyond their parents? financial means. They are all sharing the same dream, asking for the same miracle to happen. Since its establishment in 1995, SACH has saved the lives of nearly two thousand children from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Sri-Lanka, China, Jordan, Iraq, Palestinian Authority and other countries. They were all suffering from severe heart defects and had no other hope. For all of them SACH was the last and only hope.
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