We recently caught up with five patients who previously had their life-changing surgery in 2015, in Ho, Ghana.
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Inspiring stories
Parents Rakhi and Milton were shocked when their son Shyam was born with a cleft lip.
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Siblings Lanto and Rindra were both born with a cleft lip in rural Madagascar. Their loving parents Rolland and Adeline worried what the future held for their youngest children if they couldn’t get surgery.
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Valery turned to the internet to find out more about cleft conditions and finding help in Peru.
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For Brandon’s parents, Emma and Victor, excitement turned to overwhelming surprise and sadness when doctors informed them of their son’s…
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When Magret was born, her parents received no explanation about her cleft condition or where to seek help. Severe bullying…
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Nine-year-old Isaac takes a two hour walk to school every day. He loves mathematics and is keen to learn, but…
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Today Mercy’s a bright and energetic five year old, and a ray of sunshine to all who meet her. When…
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“She was born on a Friday morning, and the nurse immediately placed her high up on my chest so I…
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Meet Ake On a day that is intended to bring a family joy, the birth of Akekapop “Ake” was met…
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Love for their daughter But she was also born with an inner strength and courage that would guide her as…
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Changing a child’s life While it has been over a decade since her first surgery with the organization, Laura’s family…
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Meet some of our patients who received care during our first surgical programme in Mzuzu, Malawi.
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Facing starvation – a life in the balance Afia was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Her condition…
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After loving and raising three daughters together, Nioti and her husband, Monbula, remained hopeful that they would finally welcome a son into their family.
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A deeper feeling of significance emerged as volunteers arrived in Cebu City, Philippines. Not only was the devoted medical team…
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The lives of Yaniris and Jonathan turned upside down after their son, Jose Luis, was born.
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In the three years after receiving surgery to repair his cleft lip, Samuel’s life has changed in unimaginable ways.
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Nora received three prenatal ultrasounds before her son, Damian, was born.
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Before Rania’s birth, no one in her family had seen another person with a cleft condition.
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Something Iddrisah never anticipated after living his entire life with an untreated cleft lip was finding love.
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A once exciting ultrasound appointment quickly became memorable in a way that Naira never imagined.
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A decade of worry and uncertainty leads to a lifetime of happiness and healing for Mina and her family.
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Find out how Operation Smile India continues to strengthen its community outreach programmes and bring cleft care closer to the homes of more families like Dilfa.
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Inspiring stories of adversity and resilience of three families in Guatemala whose lives were changed by Operation Smile.
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Thailand’s beauty is not only seen woven within its towering forests and cascading waterfalls, but also in the smiles of its people.
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For 38 years, Andrea lived with an unrepaired cleft lip. But as she waited during patient screening at Operation Smile Peru’s medica programme in Lima, Peru – surrounded by her family and hundreds of people who were also in need of care – Andrea wasn’t thinking about herself.
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Holding their newborn baby for the first time is often one of the most joyous moments a parent can experience. But for Ani and her husband, Roberto, seeing their son, Alex, brought feelings of fear and despair.
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As soon as Iris gets off the bus and, together with her mother, moves through the crowds of people at a bus station in Managua, Nicaragua, she hides.
Walking behind her mother, she holds one hand on her mother’s shoulder and the other covers her mouth. Her eyes are locked on her mother’s back, as if she doesn’t want to meet the eyes of any of the strangers staring at her.
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Domingos has an indomitable spirit with a physique to match: calloused hands, muscled arms and shoulders that look like they could carry the weight of the world.
In a sense, they have. Domingos carried the weight of living with an untreated cleft lip for 48 years.
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Inspiring stories of adversity and resilience of four families in Jordan whose lives were changed by Operation Smile.
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Cintia didn’t understand what was wrong with her daughter, Britany, when she was born.
Her daughter was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate, conditions she had never seen or heard of before.
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At four-years-old, Nazifa hadn’t spent much time outside of the clay and straw hut where she lived.
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Along a dusty roadside in the state of Ceará in northern Brazil, Antonia sips a cold drink on a hot day at the local coconut stand with her father and sister.
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Joseph walks in his flip-flops behind his father and stepmother through their neighbourhood in San Remigio on the Philippine island of Cebu.
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At 31 years old, Ephraim is proud of the life he has built for his family. He and his girlfriend, Ldaudzine, are raising their two young sons, Nkhosama and Tawananyasha, in Centurion, South Africa, where he works at a natural gas company.
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Claudina knew that her 16-year-old daughter, Wara, had a high-risk pregnancy. But she never imagined the series of challenges that would ultimately unfold after Wara went into labour.
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Despite the love of her husband and family, Rong Zhen’s cleft condition prevented her from being truly happy for 57 years.
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The lives of Yaniris and Jonathan turned upside down after their son, Jose Luis, was born, with a cleft lip.
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The International Family Study is pioneering research into the causes of cleft working in partnership with the University of Southern California.
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Ethan had a tough start in life. Born two months earlier with a cleft lip, he had to fight for his life.
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Janat’s story Remembering back to the day when she saw her daughter’s smile for the first time, Fatima recalled the…
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Clara’s story In their tiny village in the highlands of Madagascar, their neighbours would quietly gossip about Clara and her…
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Shijun’s story Although the harassment he received made him angry, Shijun chose to walk away instead of fighting with those…
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Operation Smile Ghana Aba brought Moses to Operation Smile Ghana, hoping he would be treated, but at three-months-old and suffering…
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Pedro’s story Across a dry ravine, a sun-parched clay road bends toward an array of small lots lined with fences…
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Faustina’s story The condition of the road stands in stark contrast to the lush natural beauty that surrounds it as…
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Lilia’s story Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, health systems in developed countries were pushed to their limits while the healthcare inequities…
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In Vietnamese, Ngan’s name means “star,” but she wasn’t able to smile brightly when she was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate.
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Programme updates
Find out how our surgical programmes are strengthening local health systems and training the next generation of medical leaders.
Training anaesthetists in Rwanda
Anaesthesia is vital to the delivery of safe surgery, but there is a dramatic shortage of trained anaesthetists in Rwanda. In this densely populated country, 11.9 million people are served by just 15 anaesthetists and anaesthesiologists.
Dr Paulin Banguti is working to fill this void – he’s director of the post-graduate anaesthesia programme at the University of Rwanda. During the March 2016 Operation Smile surgical training rotation at Rwinkwavu District Hospital, he led a group of anaesthesia residents to observe and learn from volunteer anaesthesiologists from around the world.
Strengthening health systems in Malawi
To enable Operation Smile to serve and treat more people living with cleft conditions, we focus on increasing the surgical capacity of low-and middle-income countries like Malawi so that cleft care for local people can continue, even after a surgical programme ends.
Operation Smile Malawi has worked to encourage and educate local surgeons, doctors and nurses, and now has nearly 50 percent of its medical volunteers from Malawi. Surgical training rotations train and empower local surgeons to help their own communities and strengthen health systems for the future.
