Alejandra Montalvan
Alejandra is a one of three children whose parents have left them in the care of their grandparents with whom they live in the city of Santa Cruz. She is a lively and precious 6 year old who has had her heart problem since birth. The pictures above are of her with her 2 brothers. The picture below is the bunk on which the 3 children sleep in the same room as their grandparents. The grandparents live on a property not their own. The children are well dressed because the mountains of clothes that are donated to the various charitable institutions in the U.S. are sent to Bolivia in containers and sold at very low cost.
Alejandra’s condition deteriorated to the point that she needed emergency surgery in order to save her life. Her grandfather,Dionicio, tells our social worker: "My sweet child suffers from this from the time of her birth. She would get very cranky, would cry and would choke when we gave her milk." She was successfully operated on the 5th of October, 2008 by Dr. Arturo Barrientos and his open heart team.This surgery was made possible through the financial support of Dharma Trading Co.