Product: Three Hearts
Rating: 5.0
Amazing story of a lfie changing project
For years my family has participated in Operation Christmas Child, gathering candy and toys in shoeboxes that are sent to many countries around the world at Christmastime. Operation Christmas Child is an outreach ministry of Samaritan's Purse, whose CEO is Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham. To be honest, it was only recently that I learned that Samaritan's Purse does much more than deliver some goodies once a year. While Christmas shoeboxes are a lot of fun and a great way to reach out to children all around the world, Samaritan's Purse is also involved in several very tangible life-saving efforts, including one called the Children's Heart Project.Children's Heart Project gives children born in other countries a chance at life, literally. By connecting very medically fragile children needing heart surgery with specialized cardiologists in America, Children's Heart Project is touching lives in very special ways. The surgeons and hospitals volunteer their time while Samaritan's Purse handles the extremely complicated logistics of getting the children to America. Most of the expenses are covered by donations and the results are extremely impressive.Following through one Children's Heart Project process from start to finish, the movie Three Hearts is a moving documentary that tells the story of three kids who never had a chance, just because of where they were born. This is a movie that just might change your life forever as you see how people can work together to save lives.The three children profiled in Three Hearts all live in Mongolia. While one child lives in the capital of Ulaanbaator, the other two children live in very rural areas of the Gobi desert. Seeing Mongolia in this movie was very insightful. It was so interesting to see how one family survives as camel farmers. It was heartbreaking to see how rudimentary the best hospital in the country really actually is.With no chance of having their heart defects repaired in their homeland, Samaritan's Purse arranges for each child and their mother to travel to Texas. Volunteers are sent to Mongolia to escort the families to the USA. Interpreters and doctors are also along on the journey. Once in America, the Mongolians are greeted by host families who have opened their homes and lives to these strangers for up to 7 weeks. Just from a logistics standpoint, it's very impressive to see how this whole process happens.For the most part, this movie is all about unsung heroes. From the Mongolian children themselves to the loving nurses who tend to their medical needs, this movie is the story of strangers coming together to accomplish something really big and wonderful. One exception to this is the occasional appearance of Billy Graham's granddaughter, Cissie Graham Lynch. Her appearances in this film are brief and fleeting. In fact, the oddest moment of the film occurs when the scenes shift quickly from the mothers waiting in Mongolia to hear if their children will be chosen for surgery while at the same time Cissie and her husband are waiting around on a fishing boat and near a swimming pool to see if Cissie's husband will be picked up in the NFL draft. The contrast between Mongolia and the NFL draft was confusing and quite frankly made Cissie and her family appear very petty. Cissie does appear later in the film in the hospital and returning with the families to Mongolia, however she is never the star of the film as much as the three Mongolian kids.Christianity is a large central part of this movie. While in America to repair the physical heart problems these children face, the host families also focus on bringing the gospel message to these families. Towards the end of this journey, all three mothers and the two older children accept Jesus and are baptized before returning home to Mongolia. This film would be great film for a church group's film night.If you are very squeamish, be warned that a small portion of this film occurs inside the operating room. The video shows the heart being stopped and being started again. It is not overly graphic, but it is true surgery footage.Children's Heart Project currently has 200+ children on a waiting list. Without life-saving heart surgery, these children will all die early deaths. It's a heartbreaking statistic and one that we can change. By volunteering, donating money and praying for this ministry, all of us can change the lives of medically fragile children, one child at a time.My source: I received this video complimentary from Thomas Nelson's BookSneeze program in exchange for an honest review. The opinion in this review is all mine, but it's a pleasure to share with you a wonderful film about an amazing project to save children throughout the world.