Project Harar is a fantastic charity Meeting Needs has supported for many years. It provides life-changing operations for those with serious facial disfigurements in Ethiopia and this year will perform more than 1200 such operations. Meeting Needs Executive Committee member Martin Lewis (pictured centre) visited Project Harar this week in Addis Ababa to see the work at first hand and meet the doctors who fly in as volunteers to perform the operations – in many cases taking holiday to return each year.
Martin said: “It was an extremely emotional and humbling experience and I was in awe of all those who had gathered to help these people. The most impressive aspect of our visit was how desperate this people were for affection and love. They clearly found in each other kindred spirits, others who understood what it felt like to be lonely, hungry, humiliated, ostracized and unloved. They had only been there three days but cuddled each other easily and reached out to carers and us for affection. Not all patients can be treated – malignant tumours, for example. One particularly bad Noma case allowed us to be present for her examination by the doctor. She is just 13 and her features are hideously deformed. She is unable to feed herself and her eyes show the terror she feels about her prospects. Hopefully Project Harar can change her life for the better as they have so many others. I am so pleased Meeting Needs is able to support this fantastic charity’s work.”
To see how Project Harar changes lives, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYAH_vRLfKU&feature=youtu.be
[gdlr_video url=”https://youtu.be/VYAH_vRLfKU” ]
