Carolyn Davis, a member of the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer who long has championed the cause, today provides an update on the donated surgical treatment being provided to Jennifer Anyango, the Ugandan girl viciously disfigured six years ago during an attack by rebels on her family’s village and home (about which I blogged briefly here last year: “About Uganda: A Sewing Machine is All,” May 11, 2005; and “Getting Back to Jennifer Anyango: She’s Not Forgotton,” May 22, 2005).

Anyango is being treated at Fairfax Hospital, Fairfax, Va.:

About four hours after they began, the doctors are finished. Much of what they have done is preparation for a more dramatic operation after there is enough new skin to move down Jennifer’s hairline and reconstruct parts of her face. But even the immediate result pleases [her guardian Abitimo] Odongkara and should make Jennifer smile after she awakens, despite the postsurgery pain. [Dr. Craig] Dufresne has been able to pull down some skin near Jennifer’s eyes by making small incisions and tightening ligaments. In what seems like only a few moments, he has enabled Jennifer’s eyelids to close over most of her eyes -- for the first time in six years.

There’s a long way yet to go, but this sounds like a promising start.

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