Regarding America

Tsunami Disaster of December 26th, 2004: How Americans Responded

By Daniel Hamon

Four years ago today, "the most powerful earthquake in forty years struck the floor of the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Within minutes, a series of tidal waves radiated from the epicenter...Entire villages were wiped out... Three months after the tragedy, more than 300,000 people in eleven countries were dead or missing. Hundreds of thousands lost their livelihoods and millions were made homeless." The account of this tragedy and the commitments of charitable aid from around the globe is detailed by Arthur C. Brooks in Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism.

From Scars to Smiles: Reconstructive Surgery for the World's Poorest

By Daniel and Melanie Hamon

While playing in a field near his village in Zimbabwe, 10-year old Beloved Jefeti picked up what he thought was a radio and held it up near his face to get a better look. The radio turned out to be a land mine which exploded, destroying most of his lower face. Miraculously, Beloved survived, but was left with devastating facial deformities. For most children left scarred by land mines, and also children born with cleft palate and other severe birth defects, this would be the end of the story.

However, five years later, enter Jennifer Trubenbach, Executive Director of Operation of Hope, who after meeting Beloved, made it her personal mission to bring him to the United States for reconstructive surgery and borrowed $180,000 against her house to make it happen.