Please Pray!

Dear Friends,

We have welcomed six South Sudanese patients, generously flown to Kapsowar by the Christian international relief organization Samaritan's Purse, who have major reconstructive surgical needs. Our hospital team will carefully and prayerfully operate on them in the next month.

Please print this email and put it on your refrigerator; pray with us as we proceed!

Adau*: Gentle 5 year old girl born with a rare Tessier craniofacial cleft.

Surgeries Ahead: Cleft palate repair to improve her speech, cleft lip revision, nose reconstruction, and left eyelid reconstruction.

Gatluak*: Suffered a severe oral Noma infection as a young boy, after his mother was kidnapped and his father left home to fight for South Sudan. He is a kind and hard working young man.

Surgeries Ahead: Reconstruction of his lower lip and chin tissue, as well as surgery to expand his jaw by moving bone from other areas of his body.

Bol*: A kindly farmer who also endured a crippling Noma infection as a child, which left him with an underdeveloped jaw bone and inability to open his jaw beyond 1cm.

Surgeries Ahead: Mobilization of his right jaw in order to allow for oral intake and improved speech.

Ayen*: A quiet motherly figure amongst the group, she tragically had her nose and cheek bitten off by an angry woman in her community.

Surgeries Ahead: She will require major nasal reconstruction and revision of her lip and cheek scars.

Deng*: Despite his ready smiles, Deng was brutally attacked by his neighbor who slashed his lower lip and ears in revenge of a crime committed by another man.

Surgeries Ahead: He needs major lower lip reconstruction to prevent ongoing drooling and allow for improvement of his speech.

Garang*: A joyful, curious, and readily communicative man who also had a devastating Noma infection as a child resulting in loss of part of his upper lip and parts of his lower nose.

Surgeries Ahead: He will several surgeries to restore his upper lip and nose by moving tissue from another area of his body to fill in the defects.

Friends, these are difficult cases anywhere in the world let alone undertaking them in Sub-Saharan Africa. We need your prayers. Please pray for our surgical team including Dr. Rhodes and I as we begin operations this week, for each patient's much hoped for final outcomes, and for our every interaction in between. May the beacon of Jesus' love be evident in their time and experience here in Kapsowar.

Grateful for your prayers,

Niles, Rachel, Marit, Sonja, Haakon, Gunnar, Kier, and Aelin Batdorf

*All Patient names changed for privacy. All patient photographs and stories used with permission of each patient and/or their families.

Praise for:

• The safe arrival of the patients from South Sudan who require major reconstructive facial surgery.
• The joy and smiles of these patients despite being far from home and in a strange place.
• The enthusiasm of the patients as they converse with the chaplains.

Prayer for:

• The South Sudanese patients to feel loved and cared for while here.
• Pray for spiritual fruit in their lives.
• For wisdom and surgical skill for Niles and Dr. Rhodes as they operate on the extremely complex problems of these visiting South Sudanese patients in the next couple weeks.