AUTUMN / WINTER 2014 Dear Friends, As we approach the holiday season and the close of another busy year we’ve taken time to reflect on all we’ve accomplished since we were last in touch. In 2014 we’ve sent volunteers to Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, and Rwanda, and we’re delighted to have a group of volunteers travelling to Vietnam this November to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Operation Smile Vietnam, where we hope to provide 1,000 free surgeries over the course of 10 days for Vietnamese children in need. We continue to align with Operation Smile Ethiopia, where we are helping surgical staff at Jimma University Specialised Hospital to create the second plastic surgery department and consultant training program in Ethiopia. Our goal is to enable Ethiopian plastic surgeons to take care of their own children born with clefts. We’ve had some exciting events over the past few months. In July we welcomed over 500 of our young leaders from more than 20 countries to the University of Limerick for the 24th Operation Smile International Student Leadership Conference. We were thrilled to have our Co-Founders Dr. Bill Magee and Kathy Magee in town for the event, which cultivates young minds to lead a socially responsible world for the next generation. In October, we celebrated World Smile Day with our first national collections campaign.
We’d like to thank Smile Ambassador, Ireland and Leinster Rugby’s Ian Madigan who took time from his busy schedule to help launch the campaign. We’d also like to thank the more than 200 volunteers who helped out at 8 locations around the country, and raised more than 50 smiles. We’re looking forward to an even bigger response next year, as we come closer and closer to becoming a household name in Ireland. As we continue to expand our awareness and fundraising initiatives here in Ireland, to ensure that all those who wish to support our work will have an opportunity to do so, please join us for a glass of mulled wine and some festive carols at our 3rd Annual Carols by Candlelight service at Monkstown Parish Church on Wednesday, December 10th. Let’s celebrate the close of a wonderful year together!
Caroblys t h g i l e l d n Ca When: 7:30PM, Wednesday 10th December
Where: Monkstown Parish Church, Monkstown, Co. Dublin Adults: €10 CHILDREN: FREE
As always, thank you for your continued support.
With The rs, h Singe e Ran lag elles, c The De ib der rea & guest nt u N Liz ge
Warmest of holiday wishes, Teri
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Teri Cosgrove CEO
TEXT OPSMILE TO 50300 100% of text cost goes to Operation Smile Ireland across most network providers. Some providers apply VAT which means a minimum of €1.63 will go to Operation Smile Ireland. Service Provider: LIKECHARITY 01 4433890
WORLD SMILE DAY
L-R: Operation Smile Ireland CEO, Teri Cosgrove, Anne McGillivary, Temple Street, Ian Madigan, Professor Triona Sweeney, Councillor Sean Haughey. Pictured at the launch of World Smile Day in September
To mark World Smile Day, on Friday October 3rd, we ran our first national collections campaign to raise smiles all over Ireland. Hundreds of buckets were shaken all over the country to raise more than 50 smiles! Well done and thank you to all our volunteers who helped out. Special thanks also to Smile Ambassador, Ireland and Leinster Rugby’s Ian Madigan who helped launch the campaign. We’re looking forward to an even bigger response next year!
Accenture employees helping out in Dublin
Rain, hail or shine we had more than 200 volunteers help out in 8 locations around the country
Balmoral A big thank you to the members of Balmoral Golf Club in Belfast who raised £3,000 for Operation Smile! Pictured below, Operation Smile volunteer Lucy Nugent accepting a cheque from the club captains.
Some of our young leaders pictured with our Co-Founders Dr. Bill Magee and Kathy Magee
ISLC We welcomed 550 students from over 20 countries to the University of Limerick last July for the 24th Operation Smile International Student Leadership Conference. Operation Smile values the contributions of young people, and encourages the cultivation of socially responsible young minds to lead the next generation.
Sarah’s Story A Feeling of Home This year I got to experience something very different and inspiring. In August, I had the chance to go on a mission with Operation Smile to Ecatepec, Mexico. For me, the charity is close to my heart, because I was born with a unilateral cleft lip and a cleft palate. There, in Mexico, I felt at home amongst those with cleft lips and palates. Many of the patients were having revision surgeries done, so it was even more familiar to see their scars, something I see every time I look in the mirror. I know that if my mother had been there, it would have been an emotional rollercoaster for her. I had expected to cry a lot more, but despite that, my mission experience was still very moving and important to me. If my mother had been there, I probably would have ended up crying a lot more! It really touched me when the mothers cried. The first time I saw them cry, I cried a little myself. Isn’t it funny how we worry as human beings, even though we know that things will all be alright in the end? All these mothers were so worried, so I tried to reassure them that everything would work out just fine, and that it’s normal to be emotional. I showed them a photograph of myself as a baby, which also seemed to help.
Being able to share my experience as someone who grew up going to hospitals and dental appointments my whole life, was great. Years ago, when I was a child, some other kids bullied me about my lip. Now, I am able to tell people about my cleft without being judged. More people listen, and it was especially nice to be able to speak about my life experience with so many people who are going through something similar. One of the most astonishing things that I saw on my mission, was the number of adults that came for surgeries. It’s horrible to think that they have lived with either a badly repaired cleft, or an unrepaired cleft, for their whole lives. I can’t imagine what sort of life that could have been, except that if anyone was as cruel as they were to me as a child, it must have been dreadful. All I can hope now is that they live the rest of their lives much happier than before. The children on my mission were so full of life and enthusiasm; it is hard
to believe that some of them could be rejected by other children. Just thinking about those kids makes me smile. They were kind, energetic, and above all, beautiful in their own way. I will never forget my Operation Smile adventure in Mexico, from all those smiles, to spending a great time with my team members. Each moment is precious, and the memories will certainly be carried throughout my life and beyond; through my stories, videos, and photographs. I will never forget that in that brief time, surrounded by all these people, I felt at home.
Marceline’S STORY When our volunteers first met elevenyear-old Marceline, she was a bright girl with beautiful eyes. But to others in her village, she was an outcast - cursed. She was born with a cleft lip that left her nose, mouth and teeth severely disfigured. Because of her facial deformity, Marceline was often forced to hide at home. When she did venture out, she was abused and tormented. People laughed at her, called her names and spit on her. They would say ‘Don’t come around here. You are making us sick to our stomachs’ and hit her. She would hide her face when out in public, and she wasn’t able to attend school, She was never allowed to eat or drink with other children. They were afraid she’d contaminate them. “I feel sad and angry, and I wish we could swap mouths so they would see how it feels,” Marceline said. When Marceline heard on the radio that Operation Smile was coming to Rwanda, she begged her mom to go. Friends from church lent them the money to make the long trip.“When I got the news that we could go, I was so happy, I was shaking,” she said.
@OpSmileIrl
Operation Smile’s medical volunteers screened 371 children along with Marceline, all of them hoping for surgery, but the team only had the time and resources to provide surgery for 248. Luckily, Marceline was one of them. Operation Smile’s skilled surgeons repaired her mouth and restored and reshaped her nose. In just an hour a lifetime of waiting was over. Today, Marceline is in school for the first time in her life. She says, “Other kids are telling me now that I look beautiful.” And she is. Your support allows us to keep going back and helping more and more children like Marceline. Thank you.
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