A mother accepts Jesus Christ after a Samaritan’s Purse cleft lip and palate surgical team shares the Gospel and heals her son in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
On the day of Adeni’s birth, his mother, Ropani, was shocked to see the splayed lip on her newborn son. The technology for detecting such malformations before birth was not available in the maternal child clinic in her small village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ropani and her son, Adeni, endured a months-long travail before arriving at the hospital in Bunia.
In many rural Congolese communities, a child born with cleft lip or palate can be seen as a curse and Ropani knew this. She remembers thinking of what others would say: Oh, God! What sin did she commit to bring forth a child like that?
“When I got married, I didn’t know I was going to have a child with a cleft lip. Seeing the child with the cleft lip, I was shocked,” she said.
Such treatable malformations can cause shame, even suspicion, for mother and child, and this is exactly what Ropani experienced.
The specialty team provided scores of procedures correcting the devastating condition they were born with.
It wasn’t only cosmetic appearance and her reputation that troubled her. The situation had become life-threatening for 9-month-old Adeni, and she traveled many hours to see if our surgeons could help.
“He was born healthy but started to lose weight because he could not breastfeed,” she said. “I could not afford powdered milk and my husband would not give me the money to buy it. The child was getting so thin that he almost died.”
To her relief, Samaritan’s Purse cleft lip and palate team welcomed the mother and child with open arms.
A member of the surgical team gently carries Adeni, still groggy from anesthesia, to recover in his mother’s arms.
“We have come from very far away to arrive here,” she said. “We were very well received by everyone. They joyfully gave us water to wash ourselves and everything else.”
From the moment Ropani stepped onto hospital grounds following her long journey, she experienced kindness she’d not received since giving birth. She was welcomed without judgment and assured that the surgery would easily correct what had threatened Adeni’s life.
Grateful, she rested in the shade of the hospital roof in Bunia, with 9-month-old Adeni in her arms, and recounted the months-long journey of rejection, fear, and anger.
Sharing the Hope of the Gospel
Ropani was nervous and uncertain about what to expect as she watched Adeni go into surgery. But during the procedure, our staff encouraged her by listening to her talk about the struggles of previous months.
Surgical teams serve in Jesus’ Name repairing cleft lips and palates in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
She’d been demoralized by many people in her life at the time.
“You’re confusing the child,” people told her when she sought funds to buy food for her child.
“Why did you give birth to a child like that? Maybe you did something wrong, they said, but I said nothing at all. That was my answer. In the village people were saying a lot of things. There were a lot of insults that made my heart ache.”
She’d returned to her family’s home in the months leading up to the surgery and her father encouraged her to care for the child as God’s creation.
She fed the boy tea with sugar. Then graduated him to a meal called fufu, which improved his health enough to undergo the surgery.
Ropani smiles in gratitude for the care she and her son received from the team.
“My father used to say, ‘This is God’s creation. We must leave that to God,’” Ropani said. “My life is in God’s hands.”
She is grateful that God never let her go. Even as He was providing for Adeni through the care of the surgical team, He was also caring for Ropani. Through the kindness of team members telling her of Jesus Christ and the hope He offers, God was reminding Ropani that she was not alone. He was with her.
Made Beautiful by God
During the first year of Adeni’s life, Ropani had foreseen a lifetime of suffering without dignity. But when she saw her son in recovery, his upper lip joined together, she rejoiced.
As they leave the hospital, Ropani carries Adeni with gratitude. His wounds are healing and her heart is learning forgiveness and to trust in God.
“God has made my child beautiful and all I can say is thank God, because He has kept us, we have come from very far away,” she said. “We are filled with joy. They have repaired my child’s mouth. Our hearts were heavy, but the preaching brought us relief.”
Ropani said God has also started healing her own heart, placing forgiveness where bitterness once lived.
“I’m not going to be angry with them,” she said, referring to those who had rejected her and her son. “Today I made the decision to follow God.”
She plans to return home not in shame, but with gratitude.
“When they see the restored child, they will be amazed,” she said. “And all I can say is thank you, God.”
Ropani also plans to rejoin the church she once left and raise her son knowing he is loved by God.
“A voice told me to return to church,” she said. “I made a decision to follow God and many things are happening.”
We praise God that the cleft lip and palate team completed 89 corrective surgeries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and for more than 60 people who responded to the Gospel message by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
The Samaritan’s Purse surgical team gathers after several days of procedures. We are praising God for lives restored and hearts opened to the Gospel.
