Jowena’s Time
It certainly was not Jowena’s time in January, 2009. Jowena’s mother had brought her to ICSF’s annual Kabankalan, Philippines, cleft palate mission, hoping to have her daughter’s bilateral cleft lip corrected. The one-year-old little girl had come to the mission healthy, but when her scheduled day for surgery arrived, she had a high fever and a deep cough, necessitating the cancellation of her surgery. Jowena’s beautiful mother received the bad news politely. Her quiet reply, however, “OK, Doc, I understand,” could not hide her disappointment. Although her daughter was only one year old she could not be comforted with the news “You’ll be taken care of next year.”