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Good news from around the world

Published:Saturday | July 3, 2021 | 12:06 AM
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AP
Kieran Moïse, 17, before and after having his 19-inch hair cut and donated to the non-profit Children With Hair Loss, which provides human hair replacements to children and teenagers facing medically-related hair loss.
AP
Kelly Moïse (left), watches her husband, Patrick Moïse, cut their son Kieran’s hair during a live donation fundraiser, ‘Kieran’s Curls for Cancer’ for the non-profit Children with Hair Loss and St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
AP
Dr David Vallejo and his fiancée Dr Mavelin Bonilla hold photos of themselves working, as they kiss at their home in Quito, Ecuador.
AP
Trekking guide Ang Phurba Sherpa speaks during an interview in Kathmandu, Nepal. Most Sherpa guides in Nepal famed for the climbing skills have had little or no work guiding foreign trekkers on Nepal’s mountains because of the pandemic but the trekking is spending his savings to help fellow guides and workers who are struggling for their livelihood.
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Alabama teenager donates his hair for children with cancer

 

Kieran Moïse’s afro was a splendid 19 inches, a huge part of his personality. But after six years of growth, the 17-year-old Alabamian knew that he and his hair would soon be parted: He was bound for the US Air Force Academy.

So, in memory of a friend who died from cancer, he cut it off and donated it to the non-profit Children With Hair Loss, which provides human hair replacements to children and teenagers facing medically related hair loss due to cancer treatments, alopecia and burns.

“I knew I didn’t want it to just get cut off and thrown on the floor, so I wanted to give back,” he said. “I knew I wanted to send a message.”

He did — and many responded. Moïse printed out flyers and spread the word on social media for an event held by the non-profit at a brewery in Huntsville, Alabama. There, family, friends and even some of his elementary and middle-school teachers took turns cutting his hair in braids. His story was widely shared online.

Moïse also launched a fundraiser through St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which had helped his late classmate, Josh Quist. He died when they were in middle school.

‘Kieran’s Curls for Cancer’ has exceeded expectations and has already raised nearly US$35,000 for St Jude.

 

COVID-hit Ecuador doctors delay wedding to treat sick

 

QUITO, Ecuador (AP):

They were a pair of young doctors in love who put off marriage to save lives.

As the pandemic raged in Ecuador last year, they posted a social-media photo of themselves dressed in biohazard suits kissing and holding a sign saying: “Today was to be our wedding day, but instead…”

David Vallejo and Mavelin Bonilla’s decision to postpone their May 23, 2020 wedding to treat COVID-19 patients at a large public hospital in southern Quito moved many people in Ecuador and beyond.

But within months, both would come down with what appeared to be COVID-19.

Vallejo would be fighting for his life in intensive care. Bonilla, who experienced only mild symptoms, would be shattered after being told her fiancé had a less than 10 per cent chance of survival.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the couple said they were waiting for the Civil Registry date for their long-delayed wedding and hope it will be at the end of this June. They planned a small wedding, due to pandemic restrictions, with only their closest family members. This month, they plan to travel to Spain to study a medical speciality.

 

Sherpa guide uses savings to help colleagues during pandemic

 

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP):

The scenic Himalayan mountain trails that normally draw throngs of foreign trekkers to Nepal have been empty for more than a year, with most of the country’s tourism industry still shut down by the pandemic.

That means tens of thousands of Sherpa guides have been left without the work they depend on to feed their families. Ang Phurba Sherpa has been trying to help those struggling the most and hoping to inspire others to do the same.

Sherpa has been loading his truck with sacks of rice, lentils, cooking oil and other staples he has bought with his own money and delivering the goods to dozens of families in Kathmandu.

“I am trying to help in any way I can because I thought I should give to our community so that guides who are staying idle are getting some help,” Sherpa said, adding that he hopes others will join him.

While Nepal reopened to tourists in March, only a few hundred foreigners have come and that’s not to trek but to climb the country’s famed peaks, such as Mount Everest.

That has been made worse by a fresh lockdown that started in April amid a new surge in virus cases.

As well as helping his fellow guides, for the past three months Sherpa has been taking rations to a shelter caring for 57 disabled children.

Shelter operator Dendi Sherpa said the main source of income for the facility had been his own income from guide work and without it he had been struggling to run the shelter.

“But with help like this we are able to feed the children,” he said.