Daily News (Los Angeles, California, USA)
The first thing you notice about the photo of Davik Teng is the bright smile that belies the dark days nearly four years ago, when her energy was sapped and she had difficulty breathing.
Davik lives in a tiny village in Cambodia, where there is no electricity or running water. Surgery to repair a hole in her heart at Los Angeles Children's Hospital changed her life and provided hope that she will live past her 30th birthday. Most people who don't have the surgery usually die by that age.
That gift comes from the generosity of many people, and the work of Long Beach-based Hearts Without Boundaries. They deserve recognition for doing work that few people hear about.
The surgery improved Davik's life span, but also the quality of her life. Now, at age 12 she is tall and energetic. She is catching up with her education at a private school.
Benefactors in the U.S. pick up the tab for her school tuition. Most of Cambodia's rural schools meet sporadically, since teachers often fail to show up. In a private school, she has a chance to rise above the poverty of her village, where those who even have jobs eke out $2 a day or less.
Davik's story has been chronicled since 2008 by Greg Mellen, a reporter for the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Recently, he returned to Cambodia, along with photographer Jeff Gritchen, to visit Davik and catch up with her progress.
Davik's odyssey began when Hearts Without Boundaries found her, by chance, thanks to a waiter in Long Beach, as she suffered from her birth defect. The nonprofit group arranged for her trip. Before she underwent heart surgery, she had extensive dental work, which was financed by Children's Hospital. Each heart surgery costs about $15,000, excluding the actual surgery, which is donated.
Since Davik's surgery, Hearts Without Boundaries' executive director, Peter Chhun, has arranged for other Cambodian children to have open heart surgery. Mellen reported on two who were being treated at Cambodian hospitals when they were discovered and brought out of the impoverished country for surgery.
In Davik's case it was Chantha Bob, the Long Beach waiter, who discovered Davik and helped arrange for her surgery in L.A.
Chantha Bob endured the brutal upheaval in Cambodia in the 1970s. Both of his parents disappeared.
Now he and Chhun are on a mission to mend their broken hearts -- and the hearts of Cambodian children in tiny villages who, without the help of caring people like them, would be consigned to suffering and early death.
It's a mission that all of us should consider sharing.
There are 21 children on the waiting list, awaiting donations, which can be sent to Hearts Without Boundaries, 750 Redondo Ave., Long Beach, CA 90804. For more information, their website is www.HeartsWithoutBoundaries.org.
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