The lone air conditioner hummed in the corner as anxious parents’ sat with their sick children. Wide curious young eyes looked out at all the strange people crowded into the small conference room as they clung to their parents.
Why were they there? Who were these people and what were they all waiting for?
What the little ones did not really understand was that all of the people in the room were there to witness the payment for the heart surgery they so desperately needed. The Children’s Heart Foundation Ghana was going to pay the whole amount that was needed. No more going to family, friends, strangers begging for financial help to meet the huge amount they had to pay. Could this be real?
As the parents sat and waited for their receipt showing ‘Payment in Full ‘a father talked about what he and his wife had gone through as they tried to get treatment for their son. He explained to the donors that were present with passion, fervor and raw emotion what his family had endured before getting a call from The Children’s Heart Foundation Ghana.
As he finished, and the speaker started to say something, a quiet, shaky voice whispered, “I have to say something”. The voice was coming from a mother with a small child in her lap. Her young face was etched with deep worry lines and her wide eyes revealed a mother’s fear for her sick child and what the future holds.
In a clear but shaky voice she said:
“I have been through so much. I have no family, my baby’s father left when my daughter was diagnosed with the sickness and has given no support. He does not pick my calls. My parents are dead. I have been through so much. I have no family except one sister and she is very sick in the hospital in another region and can’t help. With no hope or help I was about to mix poison [sic] to kill myself and my daughter. Even with the thought at the back of my mind that, there would be no one to claim our bodies. That same day, I got the call that The Children’s Heart Foundation Ghana would pay for my baby’s operation. Thank you, Thank you.”
To our generous donors, CHF Ghana thanks you for making it possible for us to have made that call and nine (9) other calls letting families know that their child’s surgery would be paid. On July 8, 2014, approximately GHC180,000.00 was paid for a total of 10 children to allow them to be scheduled for surgery.
