Because No Child Should Wait for Surgery: Help Us Reach Arua, Uganda
Amigos Internacionales • November 14, 2025
In West Nile, Uganda, there are children who have never known a single day without pain.
Some live with hernias that keep them from running and playing. Others were born with anorectal malformations or hypospadias, conditions that make something as simple as using the bathroom or going to school deeply shameful and physically painful. Many have treatable masses, cysts, or congenital conditions that slowly steal their childhood.
Their parents know something is wrong. They’ve walked for miles, waited in crowded clinics, and prayed for a solution. But surgery is expensive, specialists are rare, and for families living in poverty, the cost is simply impossible.
This is where you and Amigos Internacionales step in.
From January 5–11, 2025, Amigos Internacionales, together with our partners at Doctors on Mission International, will be hosting a free Arua Pediatric Surgical Camp at Arua Regional Referral Hospital in West Nile, Uganda.
We’ve already raised $25,000 toward this life-changing week.
To fully fund the camp and ensure that every child is treated free of charge, we still need $15,000.
👉 Give now at amigosii.org/donate
Why Arua? Why Now?
Uganda is a young nation—its child population is estimated at around 20 million children, and pediatric surgical need is enormous. Many surgical conditions in children—like hernias, congenital anomalies, and trauma—are treatable, yet go unaddressed due to lack of access to surgical care, scarce specialists, and financial barriers.
Most surgeons are concentrated in urban centers, while about 80% of the population lives in rural areas, leaving children in places like West Nile unseen and untreated.
The Arua Pediatric Surgical Camp is designed to go directly into this gap—to bring specialized pediatric surgery to children who would otherwise never receive it.
What the Arua Pediatric Surgical Camp Will Provide
From January 5–11, 2025, at Arua Regional Referral Hospital, we will run an intensive children’s surgical camp focused on both healing and hope.
Services will include:
- Masses (removal of tumors and growths)
- Hypospadias repairs
- Ano-rectal malformations (restoring normal function and dignity)
- Hernias & hydroceles
- Cyst removal
- Pediatric urology cases
- Pediatric general surgery cases
- Pediatric neurosurgery cases
- Pediatric E.N.T. cases (ear, nose, and throat)
- Pediatric dental cases
All of these services will be completely free to the children and families we serve.
New Title
This camp is part of a growing, proven model. In previous missions with Doctors on Mission International and Amigos, we’ve seen:
- Over 1,500 patients treated in 3 days in Ogul Village, including children’s clinics, dental, eye care, cancer screening, and more.
- Eye surgical camps where hundreds of sight-restoring surgeries were performed in a single week for patients who could never have afforded them.
- Large-scale outreach in rural Northern Uganda, reaching thousands with medical, surgical, dental, and eye care—entirely volunteer-led and fueled by donor generosity.
The Arua Pediatric Surgical Camp builds on this track record with a special focus on children and pediatric surgery.
Where Medicine Meets the Gospel
Amigos Internacionales and Doctors on Mission International are unapologetically Christ-centered.
We believe that healing is ministry, and that a doctor’s presence at a bedside is one of the most powerful expressions of the love of Jesus. As our partners often say, a ministry of healing does not happen from a distance—we must be physically present with those who are suffering.
During the Arua Pediatric Surgical Camp, families will receive:
- Compassionate, high-quality medical and surgical care
- Prayer and spiritual support for those who desire it
- Words of hope from Scripture, including the call of Isaiah 6:8:
“Here am I. Send me.”
We are not only treating bodies—we are
listening to stories, restoring dignity, and pointing to the God who sees and loves every child.
The Financial Gap: $15,000 to Change Hundreds of Children’s Stories
The total budget for the Arua Pediatric Surgical Camp is $40,000.
This covers:
- Surgical supplies and consumables
- Anesthesia and essential medications
- Pre-operative and post-operative care
- Imaging, lab tests, and diagnostics
- Volunteer support and basic logistics (transport, meals, on-ground coordination)
- Evangelism and counseling support for patients and families
What’s already covered:
✅ $25,000 raised through generous donors and partners
What’s still needed:
$15,000 remaining to fully fund the camp
Here’s what your gift can help make possible:
- $50 can help cover basic medications and dressings for one child’s surgery.
- $150 can support pre-op labs, imaging, and anesthesia for a child.
- $500 can help underwrite a major pediatric surgery for a child with a complex condition.
- $1,000+ can help sponsor an entire day of surgeries, including multiple children and their families.
Every dollar you give moves a real child from waiting and worsening to treated and restored.
👉 Donate now: amigosii.org/donate
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East Texas journalist Jennifer Scott traveled to East Africa to cover Amigos Internacionales. Read the full Tyler Morning Telegraph feature from April 2026.
Learn how church missions in Africa, through partnerships with Amigos Internacionales, can bring lasting change to communities in need. Get involved in education, healthcare, and development projects.
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