By Project Manager | Pueblo a Pueblo
Concepcion is not your normal 9 year old girl. As a baby, her parents found a small lump on top of her head. When they brought her to the doctor, they were told the lump was not dangerous and would pass with time.
For the next few years, Concepcion lived with the small lump on her head. When she turned 6 years old, her parents took her back to the doctor. They got the same response: surgery wasn’t necessary, and she would have to live with the uncomfortable lump.
In the past six months, however, Concepcion started to feel more and more discomfort. Her teacher began to notice that she was not feeling well, and saw that Concepcion kept leaving class to go to the bathroom and splash water on her face to relieve the pain.
Given her increasing discomfort, Concepcion’s parents decided to bring her back to the doctor this year. To their relief, the doctor said they could go through with the surgery to remove the lump, and referred them to a health center in Solola, the capital of the state. But there was one problem: how to cover the costs of the procedure.
This is the kind of situation in which your support is crucial. Although Concepcion’s older sister, Dolores, is sponsored through our Primary Education Scholarships Project, Concepcion was not. When their parents reached out to tell us about her illness, we moved her to the top of our waitlist for new sponsored students. Luckily, there was an existing sponsor interested in supporting another child, and who was able to sponsor Concepcion.
After she became sponsored through our project, Pueblo a Pueblo was able to help cover the family’s expenses with your support. Our Primary Education Scholarships Project is committed to helping students with any medical expenses by putting aside $5 of every $25 donated towards a medical savings fund. This means that we collect over $500 every month dedicated to medical expenses. In general, only about 10 students need to visit the doctor each month because of minor illnesses.The rest of the money is dedicated to group medical campaigns and unique cases like Concepcion’s.
Because of your support, Concepcion was able to get the medical attention she needed. It has been one month since her surgery, and she is now pain free and happier than ever. Her family is relieved to see their daughter feeling better, and we at Pueblo a Pueblo are grateful for your support that helped to make this happen.
Bonus: Concepcion starred in our "Learn Tz'utujil" video this month! Check out the link below.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
