OPERATION FJIR

Meet Fjir, Arabic for sunrise. She’s a 6-year-old with a sunny disposition, despite her painful condition. Fjir suffers from a cleft palate at birth, a gaping hole in the roof of her mouth that continued to deteriorate because her family could not afford the cost of the surgery, like so many others in war-torn Mosul, Iraq.

Not only did the condition impact Fjir speech and hearing, it also lead to a dysfunction of the Velopharyngeal, a valve which functions to separate the nasal and oral cavities during speech, swallowing, even a function as simple as blowing out birthday candles. Fjir’s speech, social and mental wellbeing were impacted, and now she was at-risk of losing her hearing.

Veterans Rebuilding Life, Without Borders, and the Iraqi Institution for Development collaborated to raise the total cost of her surgery. Fjir recovered quickly after the life-changing procedure which cost less than a thousand dollars. We look forward to seeing you blow out your birthday candles Fjir!