Children's Surgery International

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Children’s Surgery International is a MN-based, nonprofit organization that provides free pediatric medical and surgical services, along with professional education and training, to communities in need around the world.

With patients coming from across Ethiopia and surrounding regions, we need to communicate with families who speak one or...
10/21/2026

With patients coming from across Ethiopia and surrounding regions, we need to communicate with families who speak one or more languages or dialects. We rely on our interpreter partners to bridge that gap.

Interpreters are often the voices and ears for our patients and their families. For more than 10 years, Taitu Tour and Travel Ethiopia has been an essential partner in Ethiopia, providing travel and logistical support and placing interpreters alongside CSI teams. They help us connect with families, hear their stories, and understand their needs, communicating with clarity and compassion in fast-moving medical and social environments.

We are grateful for the passion they bring to this work. Thank you to the entire Taitu Tours team! 🙏

Ethiopia surgical day #3 - This is Dessalegn 💙 He and his father traveled to Bahir Dar from the northernmost part of Et...
10/21/2026

Ethiopia surgical day #3 - This is Dessalegn 💙 He and his father traveled to Bahir Dar from the northernmost part of Ethiopia — a two day bus ride — for his second urology surgery. Once he has healed, he will be able to urinate “normally” without worrying about infections.

So often, the results of our medical care go beyond physical health. For Dessalegn, this means both functional and social continence.

Our time with patients and their families also begins before the operating room, as we keep them calm and engaged in advance of surgery. With patients as sweet as Dessalegn, this rarely feels like work.

Theresa Philbin, RN, CSI Board of Directors member, and long-time clinical lead in Ethiopia, reflects on this trip and t...
10/20/2026

Theresa Philbin, RN, CSI Board of Directors member, and long-time clinical lead in Ethiopia, reflects on this trip and the team. At the end of the day today, she shared the following:

While there’s a consistent focus on patients across teams, each trip to Ethiopia is unique. Here are 3 key things we’re thinking about for this trip:

1. We have a full schedule
With our large team, we have been able to schedule 60 patients for the week. That is a larger number of patients compared to most of our Ethiopia trips. It is beautiful to watch the teams care for so many kids.

2. This requires more care that continues after surgery
More than half are urology patients and about 90% of them will stay in the hospital longer for post-operative care. By Tuesday we had 20 patients in the ward, and by Friday we are expecting around 35. While this volume puts a bigger burden on the nursing staff, they are handling it with grace, skill, and compassion.

3. We get to see more teaching and collaboration
We’re fortunate to work in a medical school teaching hospital where our local colleagues are deeply engaged. There has been a lot of teaching and collaboration with staff surgeons, residents, and students across many disciplines, including pediatric anesthesia, urology, and ENT.

This team is amazing, hardworking, and collaborative, and it’s great to able to have glowing things to say about absolutely everyone.

Meet Rahel, age 4, and her mom and big sister. 💛Rahel’s mom has spent this past week doing all the prep work required fo...
10/20/2026

Meet Rahel, age 4, and her mom and big sister. 💛

Rahel’s mom has spent this past week doing all the prep work required for her daughter’s surgery. Several of the tests Rahel needed aren’t available at Tibebe Ghion Hospital, so, like many families, her mom had to work with outside labs.

The CSI team, Ethiopian doctors, and interpreters helped her navigate this process and get the results needed for surgery. Today, Rahel was admitted overnight so she can receive some medications before her operation tomorrow.

In Ethiopia, families typically go to the pharmacy themselves to purchase and bring every medication and medical supply a patient will need for surgery to the hospital – including medications, IV fluids and even gloves. Getting a child ready for surgery takes patience, effort, and determination.

For CSI surgeries, we’re proud to cover the financial burden on families.Those 26 bags of medical supplies go a long way towards this. But there is still so much families undertake to give their children access to life-changing care and their advocacy is always moving.

Tomorrow is Rahel’s big day. We’ll share an update when we can.

And today, 13 more young patients received surgery, thanks to the work of our volunteers and local partners and the determination and efforts of their families.


Taitu Tour and Travel Ethiopia

Dr. Phil Chaffin and team got to see familiar faces return today! We first saw Liyunesh in February, when she was just 7...
10/20/2026

Dr. Phil Chaffin and team got to see familiar faces return today!

We first saw Liyunesh in February, when she was just 7 months old. Born with facial malformations, she and her family had been shunned by their village and told that her condition was caused by wrongdoing by her parents. At that time, her father wrote a letter to CSI, giving us a glimpse into all they had experienced and undertaken to get their daughter to care - including a 12-hour trip from their village.

Now just one-and-a-half years old, Liyunesh’s surgeries with CSI are complete. In a new letter, her father shared much in their life has not changed – they still had a challenging journey, traveling “through difficult circumstance, amid conflict, gunfire and check points, just to reach this place.”

But the change the surgeries will give Liyunesh in her life are evident. “No words can fully express how [grateful] we are [for] everything you have done [for] our daughter and our family.”

Day 1 of surgeries is always a busy one, with plenty of anticipation and activity. Surgical and support teams are quietl...
10/19/2026

Day 1 of surgeries is always a busy one, with plenty of anticipation and activity. Surgical and support teams are quietly focused, but highly engaged in their collaboration with one another. Parents show relief in finally getting their children to the day of critical care, but are also keenly aware and concerned for what their child is about to undergo.

And through it all, the children show remarkable patience and provide sweetness and energy, keeping everyone connected and uplifted throughout the day – an amazing affirmation of why we’re all here. Thirteen surgeries were completed today, thanks to the incredible teamwork of everyone involved.

What’s ahead this week? There are two primary categories of surgeries – Ear/Nose/Throat and Urological. Following patien...
10/17/2026

What’s ahead this week? There are two primary categories of surgeries – Ear/Nose/Throat and Urological. Following patient screening, CSI surgeons, local surgeons, and the clinical lead created their plan for the week.

Dr. Ebone Bady and Dr. Phillip Chaffin, along with our local colleagues, will perform 28–30 ENT surgeries for pediatric patients. These will include cleft lip repair, cleft palate repair and nasal stenosis repair.

For urological surgeries, Dr. Pankaj Dangle and Dr. Kara Saperston, along with our local colleagues, will see 27 patients, all returning for follow-up procedures.

As children grow, their changing bodies can require additional procedures. The ongoing partnership between CSI and College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, means these children can continue to receive the surgical care they need as they grow – and it’s always heartening to see these children and their sweet faces as they get older!

So much happens on screening days. CSI surgeons consulting with local surgeons on plans for the week. The flurry of unpa...
10/17/2026

So much happens on screening days. CSI surgeons consulting with local surgeons on plans for the week. The flurry of unpacking the 20+ suitcases of supplies and organizing them into a temporary storage space for the week. Setting up the ORs. And the actual screening of patients to clear them for surgery — more than 90 children were screened today!

Amid all this, CSI’s mission of education shines through.

It’s not unusual for a child to not pass screening for surgery due to low vitals or weight. But families aren’t turned away – they’re supported to help get the child to where they need to be for surgery.

In the first photo, nurse Amy Smith, working through an interpreter, is showing a family member how to use specialized Dr. Brown's feeding bottles. The family will be sent home with bottles and formula to ensure a cleft-palate infant can thrive, grow, and be healthy for a future surgery.

The local team in Bahir Dar will then work with the family to schedule the child for a future CSI trip. These ongoing relationships with families and patients are some of the inspiring moments that help fuel volunteers through a very busy day.

24 bags across 26 volunteers is how we get there! Agility and patience are never in short supply on a CSI team. Each tri...
10/16/2026

24 bags across 26 volunteers is how we get there!

Agility and patience are never in short supply on a CSI team. Each trip starts with ordering and packing all the medical supplies and equipment needed for each surgery — both planned and potential.

For Ethiopia trips, all supplies are physically carried by the team in bags that are moved, scanned, tracked, and re-tracked 20+ times from CSI offices to Tibebe Ghion Hospital in Bahir Dar.

That’s more than 500 logistical touchpoints just to get to the first surgery next week!

Shoutout to Jennifer Gill and Charlie Vanek who are leading this and core logistics efforts for this trip.

Safe travels, or Melkam guzo in Amharic — the majority of our Ethiopia volunteers departed for the rest of their long tr...
10/15/2026

Safe travels, or Melkam guzo in Amharic — the majority of our Ethiopia volunteers departed for the rest of their long trip to Bahir Dar to !

Address

99 5th Avenue NW, Suite 100
New Brighton, MN
55112

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 3pm
Wednesday 9am - 3pm
Thursday 9am - 3pm
Friday 9am - 3pm

Telephone

(612) 746-4082

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