A beautiful smile, a loving heart and girl in need of help: Her name is Luz Ricardina Cabrera Sumari. We had the amazing opportunity to learn this little girl’s story on MMFC’s 2017 medical mission to Cuzco, Peru. The little girl came in for a dental cleaning done by our dental team, however what made her so special was the story she carried.
Only six days before she came to us, Luz Ricardina was left at at the local police station. Not only was she abandoned but she was also left with a broken arm. Luckily, Luz Ricardina found her way into the loving hands at Kusi Wasi – Hogar de las Bienaventuranzas, a disability foster home in Cuzco; she was an exception as she was the only foster child of the home with a normal mental status.
Priscilla Heinemann, the caretaker who brought her from the foster home to the mission, explained that her broken arm was most likely caused by abuse from her parents gone way too far. What was truly remarkable about this little girl was that even though she was faced with so much adversity and so recently, her smile and joy could not held back. On a screening day before the mission started Luz Ricardina was seen running around and posing for pictures with the nurses and doctors. We, the MMFC team, were so happy to have given her a reason to smile!
-Daniel Kelly