s w e N e l i Sm
Issue 8
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Welcome to your latest edition of Smile News
We recently went on a mission to Madagascar and met two sisters, Vaviroa and Nambina. When we first met them, the two little girls shyly hid behind their parents and barely said a word. Years of bullying had taught these girls that the world didn’t want to see their smiles. The girls’ parents knew that because both of their daughters were born with cleft lip, they would suffer deeply throughout their entire lives, experiencing social ostracism, bullying and even, physical pain. Surgery was out of the question. They had never been able to take their daughters to see a doctor, let alone afford two surgeries. But that all changed when Vaviroa and Nambina both received surgeries to fix their clefts. With the help of people just like you, Vaviroa and Nambina now have bright, beautiful new smiles. I can’t wait until we accomplish the same thing for even more children, in Madagascar and around the world. Hope you enjoy this edition of Smile News and thank you so much for your support of Operation Smile and for giving hope to children and families who had none. Dr. Bill Magee Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Operation Smile
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MADAGASCAR Sean McGuire, our Corporate Partnerships Manager was on our recent medical mission to Madagascar and made some new friends. We arrived on the first day of the mission at Hospital Joseph Ravoahangy in Antananarivo, Madagascar and were greeted by a sea of more than 500 people. Due to sheer lack of capacity, the team would only be able to perform about 140 surgeries during the week. This news would be devastating to many families who had travelled for days, often on foot, with little or no food and money. During the week, I made new friends. Fitahiana, a 9 year old boy with a cleft lip and his father, Adolphe come from a very poor family. Adolphe earns just 42p a day and Fitahiana’s mother had to stay at home to care for the rest of the family. Along with many other families they had saved for months for this chance of changing Fitahiana’s world. Often, children born with deformities are believed to be
cursed because of the sins of their parents. Their community fears and shuns them as they believe that they may become cursed by association. Adolphe told us that “Fitahiana doesn’t want to go to school and cries often because of the bullying”. Fortunately for Fitahiana and his family, he was scheduled to receive surgery and on the day of surgery, I stayed with him every step of the way, even helping him up onto the operating table. I could only imagine how scared he must have been surrounded by foreigners speaking jibberish, wearing strange hospital clothes, but he did everything we asked without hesitation. After surgery, I met Adolphe, and walked him up the five flights of stairs to where his son was recovering. His eyes were wide and I could tell he was eager to see his child. Fitahiana was sitting on the bed playing with a Spider Man
MADAGASCAR action figure when we arrived. He looked up and smiled with his puffy stitched lip and his father knelt by the bed and embraced him. He was holding his hands and chatting away excitedly while checking out his son’s new lip. Afterwards, he took my hands, eyes welling up with tears and spoke the only two English words he knew “thank you… thank you”. This is why we are so passionate about our work and these thanks really should go to you our supporters and the incredible volunteers who give up their time to help us make a difference not only to children like Fitahiana but also, to their families. Fitahiana’s name translates to “blessing” and this experience has certainly left me feeling blessed.
NEWS FROM THE FIELD Prince’s story Felista did everything she thought she should do during her pregnancy. She and her husband, Steve, already had a healthy child, so they didn’t think anything could possibly go wrong with the birth of their second son, Prince. So when Prince was born with a cleft lip, Felista and Steve felt helpless. They were heartbroken when they saw their son for the first time. Thankfully, as soon as Prince was born, the hospital staff reassured the family that their son’s cleft lip was a treatable birth defect, and an organisation called Operation Smile comes to Malawi each year to help babies like Prince. The hospital staff helped the family register
Me et the Volunte er
As part of a commitment to enhancing psychosocial as well as surgical care, Operation Smile has created a role called Child & Family Advocate (CFA). Amongst other things, CFAs are responsible for announcing which patients are scheduled for surgery. One of our volunteers, Kelly Raymond (pictured) travelled to Honduras in February to mentor and credential three local volunteers to become CFAs. I was lucky enough to accompany Iris Velasquez, lead Operation Smile CFA in Tegucigalpa, Honduras as she made those announcements one Saturday morning to an expectant crowd of over 200. Those selected for surgery were of course delighted but for some there was
their newborn son with Operation Smile on the day of his birth. The nurses taught Felista how to properly nurse Prince to keep him nourished and healthy until the next Operation Smile medical mission. Prince had his surgery on the very first day of the next mission. Felista could not stop gazing at her son’s now completely repaired mouth. She said she was looking forward to a new life for Prince and her family. You can read many more uplifting stories like this that demonstrate so vividly the tremendous transformation you help us achieve through our work by visiting http://www.operationsmile.org.uk/howwework/from-the-field
disappointment. Iris met each family, hugging the crying mothers and explaining to them why their child wasn’t chosen for surgery. Their tears and questions were met by comfort, reassurance, and even hope that one day their child would receive surgery. Operation Smile Honduras is a glowing example of exemplary psychosocial support for the children and families, and the patient announcement is a testament to that. I’m grateful for having the opportunity to participate in the Operation Smile Honduras medical mission. I learned more than I could have imagined, and feel inspired for future missions. Kelly Raymond, Operation Smile Volunteer
If you’re medically qualified and you’d like to be a volunteer with Operation Smile, or you know someone else who might want to get involved as a volunteer, please email us at volunteer.uk@operationsmile.org with the details.
Day 3:
The medical teams contact the families to let them know whether their child is eligible for the free surgery. Those who could not be scheduled for surgery on this medical mission are offered any support available for living with a cleft through Operation Smile Foundations and medical teams at the local level.
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Every child receives a full medical examination by our multidisciplinary team from all specialties involved in cleft care – including a paediatrician, an anaesthetist, a dentist, a speech therapist, and a surgeon – often for the first time in their life. These medical professionals determine which children can safely undergo surgery. If any other medical complications are found, or if they can’t have surgery right away, they are referred to local doctors for further treatment.
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It’s a complicated process making a smile, it involves many people doing many things at the right times and in the right way. Let us take you along a typical journey following the footsteps of the children whose lives are to be changed forever.
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THE JOURNEY OF A SMILE
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On the day of the surgery, the children wait in the pre-op paediatric area, where young patients can relax and play while they prepare for surgery. Generous supporters help equip these areas with toys, art supplies, and even role-playing materials such as surgical caps and oxygen masks to help ease anxious emotions. Operation Smile’s caring medical volunteers carry the babies and walk hand-in-hand with the young patients into the operating theatre, reassuring them every step of the way. A cleft surgery can take as little as 45 minutes. Operation Smile ensures every patient cared for benefits from the same state-of the-art equipment, procedures and highly-trained, credentialed medical volunteers.
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THE JOURNEY OF A SMILE
For every patient, Operation Smile offers a post-operative examination at a minimum of one week, six months and one year after surgery. The children’s beautiful new smiles are evaluated by medical volunteers to ensure they are healing properly.
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A surgical team provides instructions for follow-up care. For the families, this is the start of a new beginning and many are eager to return to their communities to share their joy.
p Planned Mission Schedule for 2015 Sept 4-11 Madagascar Tamatave Sept 5-11 Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City Sept 7-11 Thailand Sisaket Sept 7-18 Vietnam Hanoi Sept 10-20 Haiti Port au Prince Sept 14-20 Colombia Monteria Sept 14-18 Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City Sept 21-29 Brazil Fortaleza Sept 23-27 Peru Piura Sept 26-Oct 3 Paraguay Asunción Sept 26-Oct 4 South Africa Mbombela Sept 26-Oct 3 Panama David Oct 2-3 Ecuador Macara Oct 3-9 Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City
Oct 5-9 Vietnam Hanoi Oct 7-17 Guatemala Guatemala City Oct 8-16 Bolivia Santa Cruz Oct 7-19 Ethiopia Mekelle Oct 11-17 Dom. Rep. Santa Domingo Oct 14-17 Ecuador Loja Oct 16-17 Venezuela Caracas Oct 22-30 Mexico Monterrey Oct 22-26 Peru Lima Oct 28-Nov 2 Brazil Natal Nov 1-7 Thailand Maesot Nov 2-6 Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City Nov 7-13 Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City Nov 9-20 Vietnam Hanoi
Nov 11-11 Colombia Sogamoso Nov 16-27 Ethiopia Jimma Nov 18-22 Peru Puno Nov 18-23 China Yingjiang Nov 27-28 Colombia Cali Dec 1-4 Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City Dec 5-7 Peru Lima Dec 5-11 Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City Dec 7-11 Vietnam Hanoi Dec 8-13 Brazil Porto Velho Dec 11-13 Morocco Sabet Gzoula
MISSION SPOTLIGHT: MADAGASCAR Operation Smile conducted a medical mission at the Joseph Ravoahangy Andrianavalona Hospital in Antananarivo, Madagascar. A team of volunteer healthcare professionals provided healthcare assessments to 289 patients over two days and reconstructive surgery to 146 patients with cleft lip, cleft palate and other craniofacial health conditions. This was Operation Smile’s 11th mission in Madagascar. About 92 percent of the patients scheduled for surgery were less than three years old, which is a testament to Operation Smile’s commitment to providing safe and effective early surgical care.
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Donate a photo! Donate a Photo is the free app (available on Android and iOS devices) from Johnson & Johnson that takes your photos and makes them a way to do something good. Select Operation Smile and for every photo uploaded through the Donate a Photo app, Johnson & Johnson donates £0.64 (or equivalent of $1) to help heal smiles! You can help make a difference every day in 3 easy steps. 1. Download the app (available on Android and iOS devices) and choose the cause you want to support. 2. Upload a picture (either from your camera roll or take one on the spot) 3. Share your photo to the Donate a Photo gallery. You can also share to Facebook, Twitter
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SOCIAL MEDIA Let’s Super Mario Operation Smile has recently developed a partnership with Nintendo in America to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Super Mario. As part of Mario’s birthday celebrations, Nintendo are inviting fans from all over the world to submit video tributes to a dedicated website. The videos can be in the form of song or dance or any other way of reliving a favourite moment from the legendary franchise to show how fans have enjoyed the game over the last 30 years.
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We’d like you to take part too. Nintendo will give the advertising revenue from the tribute website to Operation Smile as part of a donation they have pledged to help heal smiles worldwide. So why not visit www.LetsSuperMario.com and join in? It’ll be fun and a great way to help Operation Smile. You can follow the progress of the 30th anniversary tribute at #LetsSuperMario. I hope you’ll join in to make the celebration a great success. Happy Birthday Mario!
and Instagram to help spread the word and get your friends and family to donate as well! Use hashtags #JNJSmiles and #Healingsmiles! It takes about 5 minutes to download the app and create an account and you can donate your photo in under a minute a day. Let’s see those photos!
Follow the Smiles and get real-time updates online! Experience the joy of a child’s transformation by watching our YouTube videos. Get real-time updates on our Twitter feed @OpSmileUK Then share the smiles and spread the word on Facebook.
Plea our wese see the late bsite for and fo st news, on Facllow us and Twebook itter
020 3475 5126 • operationsmile.org.uk Charity Reg No.1091316
OUT OF THE SADDLE
£30,000 worth of pedalling! For the last 10 years Paul Clutterbuck has been fundraising for Operation Smile. In this time he has raised over £30,000, taking on amazing (mostly cycling) challenges despite only having one lung! The inspiration for his fundraising is his grandson Josh who was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate. He is pictured here with Paul in their Miles for Smiles cycling jerseys. In recognition of Paul’s incredible fundraising efforts he was given the Fundraiser
of the Year Award at this year’s Smile Awards. This year, after 10 years of fundraising, Paul is hanging up his cycling shoes and we just want to say thank you for all the children whose lives he has helped change over the years.
2006 Paris to Hayling Bike Ride raised £2,770.38 2007 Cycling from Paris/Climbing Kilimanjaro raised £3,663.13 2009 “Inside Amsterdam” insight to city life raised £512.82 2010 Paul’s Marathon Bike Ride raised £4,878.89 2011 One more idiotic adventure raised £1,178.75 2012 Around Holland in 5 days raised £3,291.00 2013 Paul’s Miles for Smiles 350 miles in 5 days raised £3,876.96 Paul’s daughter Gemma collecting his award on his behalf at the Smile Awards
2014 Paris and back (and/or bust) raised £3,722.18 2015 The Long and Winding Road raised £5,352.79
UPCOMING EVENTS 3rd & 4th October Bear Grylls Survival Race Take on Bear’s 5k or 10k Survival Races inspired by Bear’s deep rooted experience that overcoming adversity in the wild can build a man or woman’s physical and mental strength in a totally unique way. “So many people seek adventure and challenge through computer games, when in truth we can all develop our own wilderness warrior spirit and physicality, for real.” www.operationsmile.org.uk/beargrylls
9th & 15th December Carols by candlelight Mayfair/City Our charity Christmas carol concerts are the highlight of the festive season. These two wonderful evenings of carols in London will truly put you, your friends and family in the Christmas Spirit – there is no better way to celebrate Christmas than at our London carols! www.operationsmile.org.uk/carols
18th & 19th November Operation Smile’s Best of British Christmas Fair Our inaugural Christmas Fair offers a truly fantastic festive shopping experience. Join us at the historic Fulham Palace for an evening of shopping with bubbles and canapés on the 18th or spend the day with us on the 19th perusing the best that Britain has to offer. www.operationsmile.org.uk/xmasfair This newsletter costs just 10p to print. Please share with friends or family, or leave at your doctor’s surgery for others to read.
Updates from Ride London In only in its third year this amazing cycling event attracted thousands of entrants.
51 Operation Smile Cyclists
Oldest rider on a tricycle, 73 year old Paul Oaks, finished in 06:22:23 Fastest Time: George Brown aged 18 in 4:37:07 Teams from Johnson & Johnson and Interactive Data 3 father and son teams: George & John Brown, Rupert & Ben Taylor and Andy & David Hawkes If you’re interested in riding next year, contact: events@operationsmile.org.uk