World Vision child sponsor serves as a frontliner

“It is scary to be a health worker during this pandemic.”These were the words of Dr. Dang Flores, a medical practitioner and a World Vision child sponsor, when asked what it is like to be a frontliner amid a pandemic.

Doc Dang dreamed of becoming a nun, a teacher, or a doctor like her mother when she was younger. She had a happy childhood with her parents, three siblings, and maternal grandparents. But things began to change when she reached college. They fell into a difficult season and lost her mother to an illness.

“It was with God’s grace that I finished medicine while caring for my first born. My father, grandparents, and aunts all helped to tide me over. After all the hardships, I became an anesthesiologist,” she shared. Anesthesiologists are responsible for administering anesthesia and maintaining the life of patients undergoing surgeries or operations.

Despite having reached her dream to become a doctor, her heart would break every time she sees families and children going without food for days, sleeping in the streets, and surviving day to day without much hope. This burden made her decide to support two World Vision children in September of 2000, when she was only starting her career as doctor and a mother of two. Now, she is a proud sponsor of four children. It has been almost twenty years since she made her choice to help children in need and she has never faltered in her commitment even now when we are hit by a pandemic.

“I fear getting the disease—afraid to feel the suffering of someone who cannot breathe, afraid of the long days and weeks of waiting to recover, afraid of dying alone, afraid of leaving loved ones behind or worse, getting them infected too. But I have to report for duty because those who went on duty before me are waiting to be relieved so they can rest too. Surrendering everything to God is what keeps me going,” Doc Dang confesses.

As a doctor and child sponsor, she is fervently praying that her sponsored children—Jonalyn, Zyrah, Diane May, and Rocky—with their families, and all children, are kept healthy and safe in this time of crisis. She also extends her gratitude to the World Vision staff who are risking their lives to bring help to communities in need and to her fellow sponsors who continue to give their support despite limited resources.

“Our Lord provides. Continue to be the instrument of hope to others who may be praying for small mercies,” she encourages.