A Blessing for a Baby

The morning Raquel went into labor with her 4th child, her husband Benildo frantically ran to get the midwife. By the time he returned, Rachel had given birth to a baby girl. That’s when he saw the cleft lip.  

“I was very sad to see my daughter like this,” recalled the loving Father. “None of my children had been born with this condition, I had never seen a person born like this”. 
  
As Elizabeth grew, Benildo and Raquel decided to introduce her to the relatives. “My mother welcomed us with joy, but my sister said she didn’t like my baby because she wasn’t pretty like her other nieces,” Benildo told us.  
 
Raquel went home crying that day. She blamed herself for Elizabeth’s condition. “People said it happened because I didn’t take care of myself during pregnancy, especially during the full moon. They all say it was my fault. For that reason, I decided not go outside with her. I even had to stop attending church.”

The family had already been struggling to provide for their 3 other children. Benildo earns about six dollars a day when he can find work in construction. “I barely had enough to feed my family, much less pay for surgery,” he said. “I went out and hid behind the house and started crying.” 
    
“Sometimes I thought that God was punishing us by making it so hard for our daughter,” added Raquel. “And we didn’t want our baby to suffer as she got older.” 
  
When Operation Blessing met the family, we gave them some good news. “They said they wanted to help my daughter!” exclaimed Benildo. “I was very happy because God heard our prayers!”  “I thank God because He did not abandon us. Now our daughter will have a normal mouth,” said Raquel.  

Operation Blessing provided free surgery to repair Elizabeth’s cleft lip and palate. “I thank God for my daughter´s surgery,” said the grateful father.
 
A few weeks after the operation, Elizabeth was able to begin eating solid food. And her mouth looks great. “I thank the people who help Operation Blessing and I ask God to bless them so they can continue helping more people,” said Raquel.