Meet one of the children that has been saved, 10-year-old Dixon who lives in El Pavón, Rio Blanco, Nicaragua. He hated going to school, where the other children made fun of his severe cleft lip.
Knowing that education was Dixon’s best hope for a better future, and wanting the best of everything for her son, his mother had sought help to repair his cleft when he was younger. The local doctors told her that she would need to travel a great distance from home to reach the doctors that had the skill to provide the surgery and that it would be very costly for the surgery itself. She knew that she could not afford even the trip, let alone the expensive surgery.
Out of options, Dixon and his family resigned themselves to a lifetime of teasing and prejudice. This was when hope arrived over the radio in the form of Esperanҫa. His mother heard an announcement that Esperança was sending a plastic surgeon from the United States to Jinotega to operate for free on children with problems like Dixon’s.
Although Dixon and his mother live only 65 miles from Jinotega in the Department of Matagalpa, it was still a long and costly journey for them. They had to travel on foot much of the way, and they had to spend precious money to buy food as well. However, Dixon’s mother knew it was a good investment of time and money since she so wanted to transform her son’s life. At the completion of Dixon’s surgery, the entire family was very happy with the outcome. This will allow him to live a life free from the prejudice a cleft lip brings.
