Six-Year-Old Gets Wish to be Handsome

This is Abdul. He is six years old. Do you know what Abdul wants? He wants to be handsome. Thats all. To look in a mirror and see a handsome face. But what chance would a poor Muslim boy from the Philippines have to fix this cleft lip and palate so he could one day be handsome? Probably little.

"Abdul was born with that deformity," says Abdul's mother, Pinambai. "They say it happened because of certain medicines I took when I was pregnant with him, but I didnt take any medicine. I believe this is what Allah wanted."

Abduls mother pities her son because her family cant afford the surgery to have his lip and cleft palate repaired. On top of this, Abdul also has a speech impediment.

"Other kids would tease him, make fun of the way he talked," she says. "He would get mad and hit them."

The heartache of a little boys life: hiding from other children so they wont make fun of him. And because of his familys poverty, there seemed to be no chance for a better life for Abdul. Then Pinambai heard wonderful news.

"I met sister Mely, and she told me, 'I will help you,'" Pinambai explains. "She said, 'Operation Blessing will help you.'"

Those words, Operation Blessing, were Abduls mothers first glimmer of hope! The community where they live is one of Operation Blessing's many outreaches to the Muslim people in the Philippines. First, Abdul was put in a feeding program because he was malnourished. Next, he was scheduled for surgery.

"He was very happy. He shouted, 'Yeah! Now I can be handsome!' After that, he looked at himself in the mirror several times," Abdul's mother states.

In September Dr. Hector Santos performed the first stage of the operation, which repaired Abduls cleft palate.

"Hell definitely be looking much better," Dr. Santos says. "And he wont be too shy anymore to face his peers."

Then in October Pat Robertson visited the Philippines, and whom did he meet but Pinambai and Abdul!

Today, as a little boy with a handsome face, Abdul no longer wants to hide.

Says a grateful Pinambai, "I would like to thank Operation Blessing. Thank you very much to all those who helped my son."

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