Welcome to The S.H.A.Y Foundation

Life for any child with a facial or body disfigurement can be very difficult. In Africa, however, when a child is born with a disfigurement, they are often not only shunned by their peers but, many times, their very own families. Parents of a disfigured child will wonder if they did something wrong, if the gods are cursing them, or if they're being punished. Such thoughts lead many to leave their baby to die.

Our goal at The S.H.A.Y. Foundation is to change the course of these children's lives by bringing in teams of medical professionals, and working with local medical staff, in areas where access to these types of procedures is not readily available or is too expensive. The Surgical Healing of Africa's Youth (S.H.A.Y) Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to offering these children a chance at a normal life by providing volunteer reconstructive surgery to children needing treatment for congenital anomalies, such as cleft lip and palate, traumatic injuries, burns and other surgical problems.