We Lose Rama

Rama


I received sad news this morning from Hank Dannecker of One New Heart in Jerusalem. As my readers know, Hank is a Christian missionary who heads the above organization, which provides free heart surgery to children in the Palestinian territories who suffer from congenital heart defects. One such child was Rama, a newborn baby girl who spent her few short months on this earth undergoing several operations in an Israeli hospital trying to save her life. That struggle has now ended as Rama has died.

I confess, I sort of adopted Rama's story by taking a particular interest in her struggle to survive. She touched me, and I am saddened to learn that she has lost her battle. It is the second such loss that One New Heart has suffered in the past couple of weeks. Yet they have saved several others thanks to donations that enable Israeli hospitals to provide free surgery and Israeli doctors who provide their work pro bono.

It is hard to argue that the loss of a newborn infant is not in vain. Yet, in Rama's case, there is one more Palestinian family who has learned that Christians and Jews, Americans and Israelis are not evil people.