Repairing Broken Hearts, Sharing the Savior's Love
Our Children's Heart Project arranges surgery for children with congenital heart defects who live in countries where the required medical expertise and equipment are not available. Since 1997, more than 1,400 boys and girls have received life-saving operations through this project. Samaritan's Purse provides airfare for each child, a parent, and a translator, and we recruit evangelical Christian churches and host families who offer loving care while the child recovers.
But the journey doesn’t end there. When children return home, their physical transformation is a testimony to their families and communities of God’s goodness. Many parents and children have received Jesus Christ as Savior while staying in North America, and are now ambassadors for Him.
In addition, boys and girls have the opportunity to attend Heart Camps, a weeklong camp in their home country where they can meet other children who were part of Children's Heart Project, and learn more about following the Lord. Many of these children, who likely would not have lived to be adults without heart surgery, are now reaching others with the Gospel.
Below are the photos and stories of children who recieved surgery through our Children’s Heart Project.
At 11 years old, Aminah weighed less than 50 pounds and couldn’t walk. In 2004, Aminah was brought to North Carolina for heart surgery. She had grown up Muslim, but as her interpreter shared the Gospel with her, she realized what she must do. “I thought, ‘This is the time I need to give my life to Jesus,’” she said. Aminah has now graduated from college and has grown in her faith. She regularly attends Heart Camps where she enjoys discipleship and fellowship with former Children’s Heart Project patients.
Please join us in prayer for the children who are currently awaiting or recovering from heart surgery. Read more about them here.
Click here to find out how you can get involved in the Children’s Heart Project.
LEARN MORE ABOUT
CHILDREN'S HEART PROJECT
A Timeline of Children’s Heart Project
1997
After the end of the war in Bosnia, surgery was no longer available. As Samaritan’s Purse began to rebuild the hospital, we found out about a little boy with a heart defect who would die without surgery. On August 5, the Children’s Heart Project brought its first two patients to North America for surgery. Majo and Nasiha received surgery at MUSC Children’s Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, and the project began.
1999
The Children’s Heart Project expanded into Kosovo. After the genocide in the country, there was no access to cardiovascular surgery. In November, Etnik became our first patient from a country other than Bosnia. At the time, there were no known Christian believers in the country. By the time the project closed in 2010, there were Christians in almost every village where the Children’s Heart Project had worked.
2000
On July 4, the project expanded into Mongolia. After the fall of communism in the country, surgery was no longer available and the country was ripe for evangelism. In the 1990s, a church planting movement spread in Mongolia. By the time the Children’s Heart Project entered the country, an amazing revival was happening. Between 2006 and 2013, former Children’s Heart Project patients started four churches in regions that were intensely Shamanistic. Today, the project is ongoing in Mongolia.
2003
The Children’s Heart Project expanded into Uzbekistan, a Muslim-majority country, and Uganda, where no open-heart surgery was available. The project saw four patients from Uzbekistan and is still operating in Uganda.
2004
Samaritan’s Purse had been working in Honduras since Hurricane Mitch destroyed parts of the country in 1998. The Children’s Heart Project made the decision to begin bringing children to North America for heart surgery because there was little medical care available in the country. The project continued to operate in Honduras until 2015.
2005
The Children’s Heart Project partnered with a visiting team of cardiothoracic surgeons in Mongolia to do in-country surgeries for the first time. These surgeries provided an opportunity for children who were too sick to fly.
2007
The Children’s Heart Project partnered with visiting teams from Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., to do surgeries in Kampala, Uganda. This team was the second to do surgeries in country.
2008
The Children’s Heart Project partnered with a church in Nepal to begin doing surgeries in country. The church coordinates logistics to get children from remote Hindu areas in the Himalayas to the donor hospital. The church hosts the families, and more than 50 percent of the participants have been baptized in this ongoing outreach. Mayo Clinic doctors visit the hospital to teach.
2009
The Children’s Heart Project began working in Bolivia. People in the La Paz area had no access to cardio care, and no other groups were working in the region. The project is ongoing in Bolivia.
2010
A team of visiting cardiologists partnered with the Children’s Heart Project to do surgeries in northern Iraq. The team continued to do surgeries in the country until 2011.
2011
Heart Camps began in Mongolia. The camps provided a place for former Children’s Heart Project patients to come together for a week of fellowship and discipleship. Some of the older children who were already Christians became mentors and counselors for the younger children. The camps will begin their sixth year this summer.
2012
Heart Camps began in Uganda, following the model in Mongolia.
2013
Heart Camps began in Honduras with five salvations during the first year.
2015
Sheena Basemera, who had heart surgery through the Children’s Heart Project in 2004, began working with Samaritan’s Purse in Uganda as the Children’s Heart Project officer. She used her firsthand experience to guide families through the process. The next year, she moved to Samaritan’s Purse international headquarters in Boone, North Carolina, to become the project spokeswoman.
2016
The Children’s Heart Project partnered with Health City Cayman Islands and Have a Heart Foundation to begin sending children to the Cayman Islands for heart surgery. In the first year of the partnership, 12 children received surgery in Grand Cayman.
2017
Children’s Heart Project celebrated 20 years of mending hearts. Since 1997, the project has arranged lifesaving heart surgery for more than 1,100 boys and girls from countries around the world, including Honduras, Kosovo, Uganda, Bolivia, and Nepal.
