Dollies and Colorful Teddys to Israel

Many thanks go to Carol Pfannkuche, director of the Pacific Palisades CA YMCA, for suggesting that Dollies Making A Difference contact her good friend  Pam Douglas who would be visiting Israel.  We contacted Pam and she was excited about taking our dollies and colorful teddy bears to a hospital in Tel Aviv and a home in Jerusalem.   Here is a what Pam had to say upon her return:

Hi Cindy,

We are back from an amazing trip to Israel.  I am so thankful you and I
connected and George and I were able to take these dollies to the children.
Our first stop was to the hospital outside of Tel Aviv where we saw children
from Ethiopia, China, Gaza, West Bank, and Syria  in ICU recovering from
heart surgery that is donated by Israeli doctors, nurses, and staff.
Without Save a Child’s Heart (SACH)  these children would not survive.
After they leave the hospital they go to the organization’s near-by home to
recover until they are released to go back to their country.  This is where
these pictures were taken.  There was one little girl from Romania who left
for home a couple of days after we were there.  Most of these children are
from Tanzania and Zanzibar.  If you look closely, you can see their chest
scars underneath their big smiles.  We had a blast giving out the dollies
and playing with the children. They loved the gifts!

Hi again, Here is the second home we visited.  These three little girls (BELOW) and
one baby boy are all from Iraq.  This organization, Shevet Achim, works with
Save A Child’s Heart to prepare the paper work, legal documents, and get
government approval to bring the children in from other countries to have
the surgeries.  They have a small home in Jerusalem where they house
primarily the Iraqi children and mothers before and after surgery.  The
little girl in red was the only pre-op patient.  As it turns out she had
surgery this past Sunday and is recovering in ICU now.  The little baby
almost died before they were able to get the paperwork completed and had to
rush him into surgery because his feet and legs were already blue.    He is
6 months old and is now 9 pounds and growing.  He will need another surgery
but will go home to recover and gain more weight before returning.  

These little girls were more shy and, of course, language was a barrier.
But by the time we left they were laughing and playing with their dollies.
The blankets are a BIG hit!!!

Thanks again for letting us be a part of this wonderful experience.  We will
never forget sharing such joy with these beautiful children.