OBI’s Life Changing Surgery: Transforming the Lives of 23 Children 

Throughout 2024, OBI’s Life Changing Surgery program has successfully transformed the lives of 23 children with cleft lips and palates through your kindness. These children come from three regions in Indonesia: Nias, North Sumatra, and East Nusa Tenggara. 

Each child you have helped comes from a family in urgent need. They not only face financial hardships but also struggle with limited access to healthcare due to the remote locations where they live. 

But because of you, their hope has become a reality! Now, each child is stepping into a new chapter of life. The insecurity they once felt has been replaced with confidence. 

Here’s what parents of the children who received free surgery through OBI had to say: 

“As a parent of a child with a cleft lip, my biggest fear was that my child would have no future. But OBI’s Life-Changing Surgery program gave us the chance to see Ervaldo live a normal life and have a brighter future. We are deeply grateful to the donors who funded our child’s surgery and to OBI for dedicating their time to help Valdo.” —Ernius Laoli, father of Ervaldo (9 months) from Gunungsitoli, Nias. 

“We are incredibly thankful to the healthcare workers at the Puskesmas who introduced us to OBI Indonesia’s Life-Changing Surgery program. For so long, we had resigned ourselves to our circumstances and never dared to dream that our son, Nibe, would receive surgery. The money we earn from harvesting rubber barely covers our daily needs, but now we can dream of a better life for Nibe.” 

—Malati Lombu, mother of Nibe Gulo (10 years) from Nias Regency. 

In 2025, OBI remains committed to providing free surgeries — not only for children with cleft lips and palates but also for those with cataracts, pterygium, and hernias. And currently, we are opening the opportunity for the neediest children to undergo free surgery for hernia, cataract and cleft lip in Bali and Lampung. If you have close family or relatives in need, please help spread this information. 

Let’s continue to support this mission through prayer and contributions so that this life-changing surgery program can bless even more people.