The children who come to Israel for the life-saving heart surgery, have a lot to contend with. They are ill, often very ill, this can make them tired and scared. They don’t speak English or Hebrew, this can make communication difficult. They are far from home, and not all of them can be accompanied by a family member, this can make them homesick.

Most children adjust quickly, they often arrive in groups and soon make friends. There are medical staff who can sometimes communicate in the child’s mother tongue and there are plenty of volunteers to occupy the children. The house is a happy and loving place to be.

Once in a while, however, there is a child who needs additional help.

Kazungu is 13 years old, he is the youngest of seven siblings, sadly his father has died. He comes from a village called Ng‘wambola which doesn’t have access to medical service,tap-water or electricity.

A sick child, Kazungu and was kept indoors. He never attended school, he doesn’t have friends or know anyone beyond his close family. He doesn’t understand Swahili, the language most children from Tanzania who come to us speak. Nobody in the house speaks his language, Sakumu.

After being at the SACH home for a week, we were aware that unlike the other children who were settling in and making friends, Kazungu was withdrawn and uncommunicative. Our volunteers tried to interact with him, but with little success. We were worried. The thought of sending this boy to surgery without knowing whether he understood what was happening to him was heartbreaking.

We reached out to Chirich Kasbian the Tanzanian Embassy in Israel. He contacted a delegation travelling Israel from Tanzania on a business relations visit. Their response was phenomenal. Last week Ibrahim Kaduma, head of the organization “Kingdom Leadership Network Tanzania”, Smuts Botami, an economist and Elisha Edson a psychologist who grew up close to where Kazungu comes from, came to the SACH home to visit Kazungu. During the visit Kazungu seemed happier than he has since arriving, he spoke in his own language and smiled, a lot. We know that he does understand that he is soon going to have surgery and he feels prepared. He is beginning to smile a bit more, but we know that it will take time for this boy, who has never had friends, nor felt healthy to adjust to the massive changes happening in his life.

From the bottom of our hearts we thank Chirich Kasbian, Ibrahim Kaduma, Smuts Botami and Elisha Edson for taking time out to help this very special boy.