We first met Junadi when he was 5 years old. He was very sick and not strong enough to undergo surgery. He lived with us for more than a month while we restored him to good health. Junadi’s family are extremely poor and at this time Junadi’s father insisted on taking him home, withdrawing him from his chance of having cleft surgery, despite our ability to fund such surgery for him. We tried and tried to get Junadi back for surgery but his family always found a reason not to allow him to go, perhaps out of fear. We went to their village many times, revisiting every year to offer our help but with no success. When Junadi was 12 years-old, 7 years after we first met him, we went back to his village once more. This time we were able to leave with both Junadi and his father, taking them to the centre where we work. There was nothing to stop him this time: Junadi was old enough to make up his own mind and this lovely young boy was now desperate for surgery. As you can see from the photos he had an amazing operation. His lip and palate were able to be closed in a single operation. We were so overjoyed, after so many years to see him so happily accept our help.
