A deadly infection took her eyesight and threatened to kill her.
Hannah’s terrified shrieks echoed across the crowded compound. She was frightened, badly frightened – and in intense, excruciating pain. Her swollen right eye bulged grotesquely from its socket. It was bloody, brown with rot and crusted over with ugly scabs. For months, perhaps years, this little girl and her family had suffered. Hannah’s eyesight had slowly been stolen from her. Her family’s dignity had been stripped away by some within a community who believe having a child with an illness or disability is a curse.
Even the others waiting to be seen at the Clinic turned away from little Hannah in horror and disgust. But because of you and others who partner with Jewish Voice, Hannah and her family found compassion and the care she needed.
Hannah’s mother fought to save her
A kind nurse named Emily removed the covering that Hannah’s mother had used to conceal her daughter’s hideous affliction. “I could tell she was fighting for her daughter’s life,” Emily recalls. Only that kind of desperation would have compelled her to come to the Clinic, and to wait all day long in the humid, dusty heat. The situation was every bit as desperate as Hannah’s mother feared. “Without intervention, the little girl would have become septic from infection and possibly died,” Emily says. Surgically removing the eye was the only option if her life was to be saved. You gave Hannah’s family a reason to hope.
The surgery she needed was more complex than what can be done in one of our Clinics. But, enabled by your support, Jewish Voice arranged to have Hannah transported to a hospital in Addis Ababa, where doctors successfully removed her diseased eye. Your generosity also made it possible to cover the full cost of Hannah’s operation. But the best news of all is that Hannah was just one of 16,576 men, women and children you helped reach during the recent Jewish Voice Medical Outreaches in Alamata and Jijiga, Ethiopia. You provided many with life-changing – and even life-saving – care. That’s very important. But, even more important, you helped point many to Yeshua (Jesus), the Author of eternal life. He is the reason we serve. Our heart’s desire is to see all Israel saved. Thank you for doing your part to help reach Jewish people around the world in His name.
