Born Without Hope or a Future

Mr. and Mrs. Du were crushed when their baby was born with a cleft lip and palate. And the problem only got worse as Renqui got older. Renqui’s mother explains, “There was a deep gash in the middle of her upper lip, so it was two pieces.”

People weren’t very nice when they saw Renqui. Mrs. Du elaborates, “One acquaintance pointed to her lips and said, ‘She's not going to have any friends.’ And when Renqui tried to say ‘mother,’ it was like a little frog saying, ‘wah wah.’”

The Du’s worried about their daughter’s future, while Renqui became self-conscious about the way she looked.

Mr. Du recalls, “It seemed like she envied her sister for her beautiful lips and wanted her own to look better. Renqui always touched her sister's lips and then touched her own.”

Mr. Du told Renqui that one day, he’d get her surgery so that she could be beautiful, too. But on his low income, he didn’t know how that would happen until a neighbor told him about Operation Blessing.

“He told me that a boy in the village next to ours also had a cleft lip and palate. And Operation Blessing funded his surgery,” Mr. Du reports. “The news gave me hope.”

The Du’s reached out to us, and you made sure Renqui got surgery.

“Now that her mouth is mended, she’s lovely,” Mrs. Du exclaims. She’s confident and brave. She always walks with her head held high, and she loves to smile!”

“She speaks very clearly. We don’t worry about her going to school anymore,” concludes Mr. Du. “Thank you to the Operation Blessing donors. Because of you, my daughter has a bright future.”