HARARE, Zimbabwe — Tubes snaked across 3-year-old Gracious Chikova’s bandaged chest in the intensive care unit of a government hospital in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. Just a day earlier, surgeons had opened her tiny heart to repair a defect that threatened her life. Now she sipped a drink from a syringe, her mother anxiously watching her every breath.

“I had given up. Those with money have been taking their children to India for surgery, but I simply couldn’t afford it,” said Vimbainashe Chakanungwa as she helped her daughter sip her meal. Chakanungwa’s monthly salary as a teacher is about $300, barely enough for household basics, let alone surgery.

Gracious is one of 10 children who received free open-heart surgery in July at Parirenyatwa Hospital from a visiting team of Egyptian surgeo

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