Heart surgery is heroic.
It is a wild, loud, attractive method of saving someone’s life. Heart surgeries require big risks and result in big changes: they can’t be ignored; they can’t be overlooked.
But what about saving someone’s life through something a little less…obvious? Something a little more ordinary, a little less loud?
Nadwa Qaragholi and our partners at Living Light International (LLI) have taught us a lot about this concept. They have helped provide lifesaving heart surgeries since 2010, but they don’t stop there.
They work to care for the child both before and after an operation; to create a generation of holistically healthy children in Iraq.
For them, these children can have not only healthy hearts, but healthy minds, hands, homes, imaginations, and futures.
Since 2007, LLI has been dreaming up projects to remake the worlds of Iraqi children. They focus on children who work in dump yards; children who need medical or social intervention; children burdened by poverty.
During the past two years, LLI has implemented local programs that empowered these kids to draw, sew, play soccer, and express themselves through photography and media broadcasting. They’ve provided workshops on good posture, news reporting, self-confidence, and personal hygiene.
Although this other work may not be as widely acknowledged as the lifesaving heart surgeries they have helped provide, we believe teaching children to roll back their shoulders and confront the challenges of life with chins up is just as heroic as heart surgery.
Join us today in celebrating our partners at LLI. To read more about their work, click here.
