I was at Fajina visiting with the ladies when a few white people walked in. I started talking to them about what they were doing in PG. It turned out they were with a group of doctors, surgeons and nurses with Healing the Children here in PG to do cleft lip and palate and burn surgeries for free. The problem was that they had NO PATIENTS! The PG Hospital had dropped the ball and did not recruit or find anyone to perform these surgeries on. There are 15-20 medical professionals right here in PG and no patients to operate on. I was shocked. I immediately sent text messages out to the other PCVs in Belize. Tracy composed an email to also send out to everyone. Slowly our network on PCVs in Belize began sending individuals with clef lips and palates and burns. It was amazing. Emily a fellow PCV escorted this boy, Peter all the way down from the northern part of Belize. He had a cleft lip and palate. Her and I escorted him to the doctors and they were able to do the surgery that day. It was such an awesome feeling to be a part of something bigger than myself. Peter walked around always covering his mouth, this defect had inhibited him from many things in life and it was great to maybe play a tiny role in him having a new outlook on life. I got to know the doctors very well. The first day I met them they were very negative about Belize and coming here. By the end I think all of us together changed their outlook. We are keeping in contact with the director of the program and they will be returning in February with a team of dentists. They also are willing to put together other teams if we see the need for certain types of procedures. The people here in Belize are in desperate need of many medical procedures and to know we now have this contact is great. I finally had my "ah-ha" moment of feeling instrumental in changing someones life, even if it was only a few.
