While they were there, the team also unveiled a new $200,000 (NIS 608,000) LivaNova S-5 heart-lung machine, which temporarily takes over the work of a child\u2019s heart and lungs during surgery.<\/p>\n
\t Donated by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Bergman Family Charitable Foundation, it is the second machine in the country of 22.5 million people, which once lacked a single pediatric cardiac surgeon.<\/p>\n Strengthening the doctors \u2018on the ground\u2019<\/p>\n The machine and other specialized tools are part of a $3 million cooperative and infrastructure development program between SACH and Zambia that began in 2007.<\/p>\n The mission deepens relations between Zambia and Israel, which opened<\/a> an embassy in Zambia in August 2025, almost 35 years after Jerusalem and Lusaka renewed relations.<\/p>\n Joining the mission were Wolfson pediatric intensive care specialist Dr. Oren Zipper and pediatric cardiac surgeon Dr. Hagi Dekel, who supervised Dr. Zakias Moonde Muulu, a Zambian pediatric heart surgeon currently completing the fifth year of his six-year SACH fellowship at Wolfson Medical Center.<\/p>\n \u201cZambia has many, many children who are suffering from heart conditions, and this brings a lot of hope to our children,\u201d Muulu said.<\/p>\n \t Muulu will be the second pediatric heart surgeon in Zambia when he permanently returns to his homeland next year following his fellowship. The first pediatric cardiac surgeon, Dr. Mudaniso Ziwa, who works at Lusaka\u2019s National Heart Hospital, completed a SACH fellowship in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cI trained Dr. Ziwa for six years in Israel, and then he went back home,\u201d Dekel said. \u201cNow I\u2019m training the second generation, Dr. Muulu.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe focus of the missions to Zambia is not to go there and operate,\u201d said Dekel, who had been to the Lusaka hospital once before and will go again in the fall. \u201cIt is to train the personnel, to strengthen the doctors on the ground, and to build their self-esteem and confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe understood early on that we cannot save the whole world by ourselves,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we are training personnel and staff from other countries to repair broken hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n Trained in Israel to provide medical services worldwide<\/p>\n SACH, an Israeli humanitarian organization founded in 1995, has treated almost 8,500 children from 75 countries with limited or nonexistent access to pediatric cardiac care.<\/p>\n The nonprofit also provides fellowship training programs for medical professionals, primarily from Africa, who then return to their home countries to provide advanced medical services.<\/p>\n \t The organization\u2019s $8 million annual budget is provided by private donors, including the late SACH honorary international chairman Morris Kahn, Israeli-Canadian businessman and philanthropist Sylvan Adams, the Azrieli Canada-Israel Foundation, the Ted Arison Family Foundation, and others.<\/p>\n The organization also encourages Israeli-trained doctors from Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia, and Rwanda to forge partnerships with one another.<\/p>\n More than 160 doctors and nurses have participated in the SACH program over the years. Currently, there are eight participating doctors, including Muulu.<\/p>\n \t He arrived in Israel in 2022. He was in the country during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, and remained during the 12-day war<\/a> with Iran in June 2025, when Iran fired 550 missiles and 1,000 drones, killing 32 people and wounding over 3,000. He has also weathered the latest cycle of violence with Iran, which began with renewed US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic regime in February.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first, it was scary to be in a place of active war, but with time, I\u00a0 learned to live with it as Israelis do,\u201d Muulu said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a privilege to live among the Jewish people, and to see for myself their good times and challenging moments.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe were never able to treat children with heart problems until Save A Child\u2019s Heart came on board,\u201d Muulu said. \u201cMany children still come to Israel for treatment, but not everyone can manage to go. The organization started training doctors to be able to offer this service in Zambia.\u201d<\/p>\n \t \u201cIsrael remains committed to strengthening health collaboration with Zambia,\u201d said Israel\u2019s ambassador to Zambia, Ofra Farhi, in a statement. \u201cThis combination of the surgical mission and the unveiling of the new heart-lung machine demonstrates our long-term commitment to strengthening Zambia\u2019s healthcare system through training, technology, and partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n Muulu said that the fellowship program has encouraged him to \u201ckeep going.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just saving one child,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just one family. It\u2019s the whole country. I\u2019m doing this for the sake of those little innocent children who need a chance to live happily.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n \t\t\t
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/after.surgery-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tDr. Hagi Dekel, senior pediatric cardiac surgeon, left, and Dr. Oren Zipper, pediatric intensive care specialist, both at the Sylvan Adams Children\u2019s Hospital at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, visit nine-year-old Richard Mbimbi in the National Heart Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia, in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit following his successful open-heart surgery that they helped perform on July 14, 2026. (Courtesy\/Save a Child\u2019s Heart)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/22-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tDr. Mudaniso Kunani Ziwa, Zambia\u2019s first pediatric cardiac surgeon, left, with Dr. Zakias Moonde Muulu, who is currently completing his fellowship at Wolfson Medical Center in Israel through Save a Child\u2019s Heart (SACH) before he returns to become Zambia\u2019s second pediatric cardiac surgeon. (Courtesy\/SACH)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/heartmachine-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tAnesthesiologist Dr. Alex Loth from the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) in Tanzania, center, walks with Wolfson Medical Center nurses Chaya Museri, left, and Jenny Siklier, behind the new heart-lung machine donated by Save a Child\u2019s Heart (SACH), the American Jewish Committee (AJC), and the Bergman Family Charity Foundation, during a mission to Zambia on July 12, 2026. (Courtesy\/SACH)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3-6-640x400.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\t\tDr. Zakias Moonde Muulu, of Zambia, left, performs heart surgery under the supervision of Dr. Hagi Dekel of Wolfson Medical Center at the National Heart Institute in Lusaka, Zambia, during a Save a Child\u2019s Heart (SACH) mission in July 2026. (Courtesy\/SACH)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/group.pic_-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tFrom left to right: Dr. Geoffrey Joseph Changwe, cardiothoracic surgeon at the National Heart Hospital-Lusaka, Dr. Hagi Dekel of Save a Child\u2019s Heart; Dr. Chabwela Shumba, senior medical superintendent at the National Heart Hospital, Simon Fisher, executive director of Save a Child\u2019s Heart, Wayne Sussman, director of the Africa Institute at the American Jewish Committee (AJC), Ofra Farhi, Israel\u2019s Ambassador to Zambia, and Dr. Mutema Chileshe, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the National Heart Hospital-Lusaka, during the inauguration of the hospital\u2019s new heart-lung machine. (Courtesy\/Save a Child\u2019s Heart)<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tWe can’t do this work alone.\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-4-200x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"\/")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n