Gift of Life’s newest global initiative is our involvement in Uganda, where so many children are in need of our help. Uganda is home to the first child we ever helped – Grace Agwaru – more than 33 years ago. The country and many of its citizens share a special relationship with Gift of Life.

After months of preparation, we were able to send  30 Ugandan children to 25 separate Gift of Life affiliated hospitals in 13 countries in early May 2009.

This is the beginning of our efforts to help Uganda develop a sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery program of its own. Once the children have received their lifesaving surgeries they will become examples of the possibilities of Rotary. After we have healed the child’s heart, we need to make sure they have clean water, are fed, are taught to read, are protected from disease and become self-sufficient. This will be a call to action for those Rotarians who are in a position to help.

We’ll devote part of our blog to the stories of these children, crafted through testimonials, notes of thanks, photos and videos. We hope you’ll check back to learn about the progress of these wonderful children and how we at Gift of Life are privileged to be able to offer them a life-saving surgery. 

The above photos represent the experience we had when many of our children arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, and were greeted with smiles and warm welcomes. They met our teams, our volunteers, hosts, and many other individuals involved at Gift of Life. It’s a day they won’t soon forget. 

The Beat Goes On is published by the Gift of Life,  a program that addresses the medical needs of children who suffer from congenital heart defects and other similar conditions. The program is largely run through the efforts of Rotary Clubs throughout the world. The organization has been providing life-saving surgery for more than 33 years. For complete details on our program, visit our web site at http://www.giftoflifeinternational.com. 

We welcome your comments and hope that as a visitor to our blog, you are as moved by our work as we ourselves are. Our young patients inspire us, our medical teams amaze us, and our supporters and volunteers motivate us through their enthusiasm. 

Our current global initiative, Our Hearts Are in Uganda, is a project dedicated to saving the lives of 30 children through heart surgery. Please review this blog entry and its comments to learn more about our patients and their journeys.

Enjoy our blog, and check back for details on how you can get involved!