Sunshine and New Smiles in Hue

While the rains continue in Hue for the fourth day, the flood waters have receded a great deal and normal traffic seems to have returned to the streets. Surgeries resumed on Tuesday, November 13. The entire mission team was able to travel to the hospital today. If the flood waters had reached a certain level, the city would shut power down, but luckily, this did not happen. So the Operation Smile medical team looked forward to a busy day at the hospital with surgeries as scheduled, and with a temporary generator in place that was not needed. The 22 children treated today were originally scheduled for surgery on Monday, November 12.

The team awoke on Wednesday, November 14 to blue skies and drying streets. With the nice weather, recovered patients and their families began leaving the hospital for their homes, grateful for the shelter and the help from Operation Smile Vietnam. Twenty-six more children received surgeries today, and started new chapters in their lives with new smiles. This brings the total number of patients with cleft lips and cleft palates treated on this medical mission to 101. Tomorrow is the final day of surgeries, which will conclude the Hue, Vietnam, mission during the World Journey of Smiles. The thank you party for the medical team will take place on Friday, November 16 to celebrate a successful mission.

- Amy Kelly and Lisa Jones, Operation Smile, Inc. staff