Chumi* is among 19 children in Bangladesh to receive medical treatment funded in part by the Kids Reaching Kids missions offerings. Before the treatment, she was unable to move her right arm properly after she accidentally burned her arm in a mud oven when she was seven years old.

“I couldn’t move my hand normally,” Chumi said. “I couldn’t do any work with my burnt hand.”

She could not play with her friends, and her community rejected her. They were repelled by the sight of her poorly healed injury.

“People didn’t want to meet my daughter,” Chumi’s mother said. “We also didn’t bring her with us when we went to our relatives’ houses to attend any social program or family event, like a religious festival or wedding. But now we can take her to any program.”

Her parents initially tried get her the medical attention she needed, but they could not afford it; they nearly lost hope of ever seeing their daughter healed.

That’s when the district Sunday School and Discipleship Ministries team listed Chumi as a potential recipient in the Kids Reaching Kids program. Eventually, Chumi was selected, and a specialist surgeon performed the procedure she needed.

Now, thanks to kids around the world who raised money for the program, Chumi and 18 other sick or disabled children in Bangladesh were chosen to receive critical medical treatment that they could not otherwise afford. 

Though her recovery will take some time, Chumi can now move her hand, and the doctor taught her some exercises and gave her some medicine to help the healing process.

Chumi said that people are no longer afraid of her, and she has been accepted in her community and by her extended family.

Currently, she is in the 11th grade, and her dream is to finish her studies and get a good job. She wants to be the light in the darkness of her impoverished family. She expressed gratitude to the Church of the Nazarene and SDMI for their generosity and support for her treatment.

Besides Chumi, six other children received surgeries, including heart and cleft lip surgeries. All of the 19 chosen children have visited doctors and many are receiving medicine for diseases, with follow-up doctor visits or treatments included.

*Name changed to protect security

--Church of the Nazarene Eurasia