By Cathy McNamara, Mending Faces Advisory Board Member/ Dominican Republic Mission ‘24 Outreach Manager

The Mending Faces team has hit the ground running! We arrived first thing this morning at the hospital, to a waiting room teaming with families, eagerly waiting for the chance to have their children’s lives impacted forever by transformative surgery. One by one, we brought patients back to be screened by the surgeons, anesthesia, pediatricians and then scheduled for surgery during the week ahead. It strikes me how each child is so uniquely affected, and each with a story of their own. The common theme, is how hopeful and grateful the parents are, and how truly beautiful each child is, in their own special way. So many families have so little, some have fled Haiti and left horrific circumstances. But here there is an island of hope, and alongside the challenges and difficulties, we witness immense love and joy!