Benin building project
Building a new temporary housing facility would help cleft lip and palate candidates gain strength before surgeries.
Everyone at the Luke Society was a little surprised when Dr. Martin Luther Osse said he wanted to do a surgical residency.
He already had a busy medical practice in N’Dali, Benin, and it seemed he had enough to do without adding additional surgical procedures to his responsibilities. Cotonou, the city where he would be doing his training, was a day’s drive away, and it would be necessary for him to spend countless hours away from his family and ministry in N’Dali.
In addition, it had been quite a few years since he had been in medical school and to do a residency this late in his career would be challenging.
Dr. Osse was undeterred by all of this. There was not a surgeon in N’Dali, and instead of waiting for one to appear he was convinced he needed to get the training himself. The surgical residency took four years. He then he went on to get additional training in cleft lip and palate repair. What is remarkable, is that through all of this his ministry continued to thrive, and now he is one of the only doctors in Benin who offers surgery on cleft lips and palates.
One of the challenges with this type of surgery is that many children are malnourished when they present for evaluation. They are unable to swallow and eat normally, and their parents often don’t know how to care for them at home. This can make it impossible for them to get the surgery they need. Some of them don’t even survive.
Many times, Dr. Osse has these patients stay at his hospital to ensure they will get proper treatment. Often, it takes weeks and even months, but under his watchful eye they gain enough weight for these life changing surgeries. Afterwards, they return to their communities transformed, with the dignity they had always deserved.
There is currently a need for more space for these patients. The overcrowding and the possibility of exposure to other diseases makes the hospital less than ideal for them. Dr. Osse is planning to build a small apartment complex on the property of the ministry. This will be a safe place, separate from the rest of the hospital, specifically for mothers to stay with their children that need additional care. It will enable patients who live far from N’Dali to get the nourishment they need and gain the weight they need prior to their cleft lip and palate repair.
Our goal is to raise $25,000 to assist Dr. Osse with this project. Thank you for your generous support of this important work.
If you would like to give to this project, click on the link to help Benin.