From Gasps to Gratitude

When Ahlam gave birth to her daughter Habeeba, the doctor gasped and told her he’d never seen a baby like this before. Ahlam recalled those first moments with her daughter, “Seeing Habeeba for the first time was very difficult because I didn’t know what was happening. I couldn’t understand it.”

The doctor told Ahlam that Habeeba was born with a cleft lip and palate and the family would need to go to Cairo to find someone else who knew more about the conditions.

The next day, Ahlam and her husband, Yassin, went to Cairo, but it was a holiday and the doctor wouldn’t return for a week.

Back at home, people were lining up to congratulate the new addition to the family, but Yassin told them Ahlam wasn’t up for receiving guests. According to Yassin, this was actually only part of the reason. “Because we live in a village, people aren’t used to these sorts of things, so we kept her at home.”

The next week the family was referred to Smile Train partner Kids Hospital in Giza, where surgeon Dr. Mamdouh Aboulhassan answered every question the family had about clefts and told them Habeeba could have a cleft lip surgery in a few short months at no cost to them.

Yassin and Ahlam were finally out of the dark and agreed to return to Kids Hospital when the time was right.

As promised, Habeeba’s cleft lip surgery was transformational. “I couldn’t believe she was my daughter,” said Ahlam. “I kept looking back at what she used to look like, and what she looks like now and I couldn’t believe it,” added Yassin.

After Habeeba’s stitches were removed, Yassin and Ahlam finally took her out of the house and introduced her to their community.

Habeeba returned to Kids Hospital later that year for her Smile Train-sponsored cleft palate surgery, which made it much easier for her to eat.

Ahlam and Yassin are forever grateful for the people who changed their lives forever. “May God reward all Smile Train donors with goodness,” said Ahlam.

Images and portions of text provided by HUMAN™.