The little girl from Honduras was scared to go to school because classmates bullied her over the tumor growing on her nose. That changed after Dr. Lesley Hawley, a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, removed the growth in a 20-minute surgery earlier this year.
Hawley was in Honduras as part of a three-month U.S. humanitarian mission called Continuing Promise that took U.S. military and embassy staff also to Guatemala and Colombia. “After the surgery, we pulled out a phone and set it on selfie-mode so she could see herself,” Hawley said. “That smile was worth the whole trip.”
In each of the three countries, U.S. officials joined forces with their military and medical counterparts and countless volunteers from local and international organizations. Together they provided medical, dental and optometry services. Nearly 24,000 patients were treated in the three countries. Here’s a look at some of the help given as part of Continuing Promise:
