Photo updates from Linyi

Mission images from Linyi, China, taken during Operation Smile’s World Journey of Smiles in November, 2007.

View Album

Ode to Biotech

Mae Sot, Thailand

I have been on 16 missions so far and have enjoyed every one-the other volunteers, the in country nurses, and the patients so much. The most constant good memory is working with the Biotech guys. Where would the missions be without these guys? Nowhere - as in not happening. I am always amazed what they can make work in any hospital. I know as an OR nurse the Biotech is my best friend. I know not to plug anything in without their OK-it kills machines. I love the little autoclaves that we have but they get a lot of use and can be very temperamental. On some missions it was a daily job of the Biotech to get the autoclaves working. Anes would be nowhere without working anes machines ,oxygen,suction machines. Almost every surgery needs a bovie. If Biotech says it’s not safe then we’re not doing it. Some have cleaned and sterilized instruments and I thank them so much for that. I have seen them interact with patients, help lift and carry patients. 99 times out of a 100 there seems to be no task that they’re not willing to help with.

So thank you Biotech for making every mission safe and enjoyable.

- Nancy Chandler, Operation Smile volunteer OR Nurse

FROM A “BUFFALO BOY” TO OPERATION SMILE VOLUNTEER

I had the pleasure of working with Nguyen Vu, a special person, in Medical Records during the 25th Anniversary Mission of Operation Smile in China…

Vu grew up in Can Tho, a southern province of Viet Nam’s Mekong Delta… Because, his family was very poor, at the age of 5, Vu had to work in the rice fields and tended the buffalo for a small sum of money.

When he finished school at the age of 15, he qualified for a three year scholarship at the French College IT. . After graduation, he worked 1.5 years for the college, teaching business computer. In 1995, he was referred by one of his professors to the Gannon Company, which, incidentally, donated to Operation Smile. After working for them, he then participated in his first Operation Smile mission.

Joel Woodcock, Vu’s manager, left Gannon to start his own import company, Lantern Moon, in Oregon. Vu became the company supplier of handicrafts, purchased from Land Mine victims in Cambodia. Lantern Moon continues to support both the land mine victims as well as Operation Smile.

Vu has now been on 6 Op Smile missions in Vietnam as a specialist in Computerized Medical Records. He has been a pleasure to work with and to know.

He was honored to have been selected to participate in the opening of the first Operation Smile Hospital and 25th Anniversary Mission in Hangzhou, China.

Vu currently lives in Ho Chi Minh with his wife and their 2 children ages 3 and 7.

- Barbara J. Sokol, Operation Smile Medical Records Volunteer

Notes from Phnom Penh

Lay’s New Smile
Every mission has at least a few cases that seem to stand out in everyone’s mind- in Phnom Penh, it is the case of Lay Sree, a 16 year old teenage girl who traveled over 3 hours with her mother in a taxi to reach us. If you first saw Lay from the left , you would think, “What a beautiful young woman,” but when she turned around you would see the destruction of a condition called noma - a flesh eating infection that eats away at the mid-face. Lay basically had no right side of her face - no cheek, no jaw, no upper lip, and a dropped right eye. During screening our great and caring team of surgeon’s spent a long time with Lay - carefully considering if anything could be done in the short time that we’re in Cambodia for the mission. Drs. David Fisher and David Jewer (two out of four Dave’s on this mission!!) were determined to come up with a plan to help this young woman in some small way. The results were anything but small! In a four hour surgery, David x2 performed an extended estelander and cheek advancable flap - reconstructing her cheek and mouth. To Lay Sree and her mother - they gave her a face back. Dave Fisher and Dave Jewer humbly say that this is the reason we are all here and that it is very rewarding to come up with a plan and have it work. For Lay and her mother it is the miracle that they have prayed about for over three years. They both expressed great happiness and gratitude to Operation Smile.

Student Volunteers
As the student sponsor on this team - I am always proud and excited when other team members come up to me and tell me what a great job the students are doing on the mission. It has been a long and hot week in the Khmer Soviet Hospital - but Maddie and Katie have been real troopers - pitching in where needed and always with a smile on their faces. They have educated many children and their families on the importance of dental care, proper nutrition, burn prevention and oral re-hydration. In addition, they have shared smiles and gifts to many beautiful children in two orphanages. Probably the most profound experience, however, was our visit to the children who live and work in a city dump. These are the poorest of the poor - families who depend on the waste and trash of others to stay alive. We were overtaken by the sites and odor as we approached the huge mountain of trash, but to our amazement - the children were still happy children - laughing and smiling - as if their living conditions were ideal. In the midst of all of this garbage - we also saw teachers trying to teach children in makeshift classrooms - hoping to improve their chances of a life beyond picking through trash to survive. It taught us all a lesson about the resilience of the human spirit. Katie and Maddie say that they will never forget what they saw and learned from the children of the dump.

- Dottie Ryan, Operation Smile Youth Sponsor

Note of Thanks

With over 30 mission experiences, this mission to Kolkata might as well been my first. I stood in awe throughout the week of such an incredible team and their dedication to Operation Smile. Each individual came with their own professional talents and compassion to make this world a better place. Their gentle manner toward the children, the families and their medical and nursing counterparts gave me an unbelievable sense of pride. Just as a pebble in tossed into the water creates circles from the center so do our lives create the same impact in the World. As one, we touch another person, a family, a community, a country ……one smile, one life, one hope for love, for understanding………for world peace.

Thank you Operation Smile, thank you Team Kolkata for allowing me to be a part of such a wonderful endeavor. Because of you, I am a better person.

- Cindi Raglin, Operation Smile volunteer

Wonderful World

Hue, Vietnam
2 p.m.
Recovery room- We’ve extended the mission by one day, a result of the flooding which turned our mission city into a “Vietnam Venice”. Laura calls me into the recovery, and I enter, donning my World Journey of Smiles scrubs, pink reading glasses mangled in my hair, and exhaustion written all over my body. My flight home is in peril as I changed plans due to flooding in Hoi Ah and Danang… and it looks like I may not get home until after Thanksgiving. The nurses look at me, laugh, and start chanting “babababa”, “sing song” they prod, and despite my desire to break down in my own flood of tears I belt out, in my hoarse, raspy voice their favorites from the play room “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”…. and “5 little Ducks”, not to mention “Wheels on the bus” complete with hand signals. They hand me a beautiful silk scarf, two “non” or conical hats that the Vietnamese women wear, and a small hat souvenir. So sweet, so touching to have those gifts. I pull out my mini shuffle iPod (also pink) and place an ear piece in each of the two nurses ears, as I play Louis Armstrong ‘What a Wonderful World’… we all sing it together, they in broken English and Laura (the US nurse) and in I half-sing and half-sign the song as my voice has become a whisper. We end our rendition with a group hug, and as we end, the door opens, a child is brought in, and the nurses rush to take care of her, grabbing IV poles, checking pulses, hooking up the oximeter…. as I slowly back out the door. The last smiles are just starting for these children of Vietnam, spirits were not dampened. Yes, I think to myself, it’s a wonderful world!

Tam Biet!

- Cathy Snyders, Operation Smile volunteer

Video: Cambodia Screening

Operation Smile guest photographer Gina Rogers talks about her experience during the first day of screening in Cambodia.

A Smile in any Language

11 a.m.
There are nine toddlers and preschoolers with their moms and dads crowded into the pre-surgery playroom and little Vu, Tam and Long start to wail — which is contagious and the entire room joins in. In attempts to calm them, I start singing and clapping - but only know the words to American baby tunes. I then continue language play and demonstration, pointing out pictures such as “ca” for fish and “ga” chicken. I see all the quizzical looks on the children’s faces, and then the parent burst out laughing, breaking the tension of all the crying hungry babies. I was pointing to “ca”, but calling it a ship or an eggplant, depending on what tone of voice I used, and that when I said “ga” for chicken I was “giving the children permission to get married.” The children laugh and try to correct my speech, and for each attempt at “ga” or “ca” I am saying something else because there are 6 tones in Vietnamese, and each one means a totally different thing. I then ask one “ma” for help and she collapses in a fit of laughter as I had just pointed to her and said “ma”, which meant “ghost” by the way I said it. We have a babbling war: I speak, and then the entire room shouts out the correct sound and inflections. I fail miserably at each attempt, but that only adds to their amusement.

I abandoned all attempts to be a good language model!! We put on a baby concert, parents clapping and children laughing at me and my silly baby songs - which they start to sing using only my sounds “babab”…”dadad”…”gagag”. We switch to Vietnamese baby songs and do a parade around the room banging sticks and clapping hands. My voice is hoarse, and squeaks out my warped Vietnamese. I recruit Tam’s mother to be my speech assistant, and she models the rest while I gesture. They get the point, in any language!

6 pm.
I have given out the last smile bag, and blown the last bubble, uttered my last “baba”, for the day…given out my last therapy kit, and made sure the last patient’s family had their provisions of dried noodles and juice. The playroom/pre-surgery area is a disaster area, and the carnage of paper, crayons, puzzles pieces, and blocks are strewn across the room. A lone mother wanders in, and begs for the scraps of paper and few broken crayons for her children to keep them occupied until their ride arrives tomorrow, as the floods have all receded and she can go home. I smile and grab a brand new pack of crayons from my stash and two bright coloring books and hand them to her. Her eyes well with tears and she grabs my hands, bobs her head, and then hugs me. What could be so simple?

I don’t have time to finish this blog - we are headed for our last day of surgery… we will have completed at LEAST 120 surgeries and provided new smiles despite the floods and rain by the end of this day. I will rely on gesture language today since my voice is gone, but rest assured new voices and smiles will find their “Hue” in the hearts of all of us and in the children of Vietnam!

Tam Biet to all!

- Cathy Snyders, Operation Smile volunteer

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

Over 40 New Smiles in Nanjing

The Nanjing, China mission came to an end on Monday with the team screening a total of 102 children and completing 42 operations over the weekend. The local team will continue to treat children who were screened during the mission on a weekly basis as part of the medical center that was established by Operation Smile China Medical Mission within the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital in 2001. Over 1,800 children have been treated at the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital since it’s partnership with Operation Smile in 1996.

On Monday the educational spirit and initiatives of Operation Smile were the main focus. The international team met with Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital President, Dr. Ding Yitao, where he expressed his appreciation for their involvement in the medical mission. Qi Xiaomin of the foreign affairs office, showed the international team the museum of the hospital. Dr. Jeff Marcus and Dr. Detlev Erdmann of Duke University gave lectures at the plastic surgery department sharing their research with the local Nanjing team.

The international team and local team members celebrated the end to a successful mission with a banquet dinner where we were able to try many of Nanjing’s specialty dishes.

- Clara Love, Operation Smile volunteer

Reflections of a Smile

Phnom Pehn, Cambodia

Had another great day of surgeries and smiles in Cambodia. Kim Conrad and Mamta Shah are two of the post-op nurses who are working particularly hard in the hot, humid, crowded and very noisy post-op ward. They told me a story about a young 11 year old boy who had his lip repaired. In the middle of all the activity going on around this young boy’s bed, when his dad held up the small mirror provide in the post-op “smile bag” - he was mesmerized by his new reflection. He stared at himself for about one hour - never moving his gaze for more than a few seconds.

Kim says that every time his dad would lower the mirror - the young boy would reach for his hand to hold the mirror up again so that he could continue to see his new face and smile. It was as if he did not believe that the reflection in the mirror was really his own — maybe afraid that if he averted his gaze — the reflection would fade. These moments are what Operation Smile is all about … and knowing that each of us has played a small part in making it happen - is why we are all so grateful to be here!

- Dottie Ryan, Operation Smile Student Sponsor

Kolkata: Final Report

The last of the 81 babies, children, and teenagers whose lives were changed over the last 4 days are on their way home and most of the team have either left for home or a few days sightseeing in this fascinating country.

All that remains is to pack up, say goodbye, and start planning for the next mission.

Each member of the team will leave Kolkata with their own memories and the satisfaction of knowing that 81 children can now look to a brighter future.

Thank you to every single member of the team for an amazing experience. We will meet again somewhere in the world as we continue to change lives one smile at a time.

- Alison Smyth, Operation Smile volunteer

Surgery Day Two: Mae Sot, Thailand

Photo Journal from the second day of surgery in Mae Sot, Thailand.

View Album

Day One Surgery in Phnom Penh

As the sun and the heat and humid start to rise on a bright Monday morning in Phnom Penh - our team is anxious to get started. Princess Samdech Sisorath Pong Neary Mony Pong, sister of the King of Cambodia - King Preah Bat Norodom Sihamony - arrived early to welcome our team to Cambodia and thank us of the work that we are doing. You could feel the excitement in the pre/post op room as the Princess walked from bed to bed handing out gifts of clothing (a sarong), candy and money. After a brief ceremony, the Princess carried our first patient into the OR. It was the start to a great day.

We successfully operated on 25 children. Everything ran very smoothly. As is typical on Operation Smile missions, as word gets out in the community that Operation Smile is in town, more potential patients show up for screening. So in addition to the 25 patients and families that we cared for today, our terrific team screened an additional 25 patients!! Quite an undertaking during an already busy first day of surgery. We were able to add 7 of those new patients to the operating schedule during the week — that is a good feeling. Of course, we all feel the pain when we have to turn someone down because they are not a candidate for surgery or we simply cannot fit them into the OR schedule — and that is why we are so committed to continuing this incredible mission of hope and smiles.

- Dottie Ryan, Operation Smile Student Sponsor

Hue Mission Extended as Floods Recede

8a.m.
All is well! The waters have partially receded so that a bus can take us, albeit through flooded streets, to the Operation Smile Comprehensive Care Center. A generator for back-up is being wired to each room to ensure safety. 14 year old Duc, who will have lip revision surgery, watches expectantly from the pre-surgery area as he draws a picture of a building that he labels “Hanoi”- I later figure out just what that means.

6 pm, post-op area
Shelia and I have just finished disbursing the Operation Smile bags to all the kids who have had surgery today. The families smile and nod, bobbing their head as we pass, so grateful for the bags of goodies containing small toys, a toothbrush, comb, soap, and coloring books. Duc’s mother stops me and hands me a two page letter written in Vietnamese, and I thank her, although I do not know what it says. I immediately take the letter to VanAn who translates it. Duc’s mother is giving us heart-felt thanks, and she says that her son’s cleft lip was fixed 10 years ago in Hanoi, and although she was very happy with the results and thought he looked beautiful, Duc was distressed with the scarring.

She said that although he is very bright and does so well in school, the children call him “hare lip” and the girls tease him, as there is a noticeable scar. He has wanted to go back to Hanoi to have it fixed, but his mother did not have the money. Duc told her he would one day save the money himself and make the trip to Hanoi to have it fixed so he would not be ashamed. She thanks us for her and for all the children for not just the surgery, but for providing the transportation, food and shelter, as she could not have afforded any of this. She especially is thankful as we were able to make his dream come true despite the flood, and she wants to express her gratitude for not only her, but from all the children who have some to this mission. I return to Duc’s bedside later, and she smiles. Duc tries to signal through his pain and the lip bandage, but instead nods his head and I see the smile in his eyes.

8 pm An array of Vietnamese fare is spread before us, the entire Hue local mission members, family style. I am struggling with the chop sticks, and it takes about five minutes each for me stab the food onto my plate, and to down the stringy kale-like greens, piece of spicy calamari or the fish served whole, eyeballs and all. I try to attack the chicken, and fail miserably. Shelia, originally from China, feels my pain and serves the meat for me, spearing the cheek meat from the fish, and instructing me on proper stick etiquette. I drop the cheek meat on my lap and then fling rice across the table. No wonder they are so thin here… the physical act of eating is enough to work up a sweat!!!

Floods continue all around us, but we are now semi-dry have extended the mission by a day so that all the kids can be served. Since Hoi An and Danang are still underwater, I have decided not to go there (duh) as originally planned, but will head up to Hanoi when I finish for a few days, and then come home two days early. I’m disappointed, but relieved that we can even get out, that all is well, and that the mission did not have to be abandoned!!

Tam Biet

- Cathy Snyders, Operation Smile volunteer

New Smiles in Hanoi

Today, Nov 12th, saw the end of surgeries at Hanoi’s Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Hospital. The 130th Operation Smile patient was through by 2pm, a truly remarkable effort in only 2 and one half days by this team of Vietnamese surgeons and nurses. In a surprise turn-out, the lively and talkative nuns at the convent next door wheeled out to the gate a gigantic pot of hot soup and then called the families to come over and help themselves to lunch.

Most of the families were cleared to leave, and were shipped in large taxis to the bus station to begin their long journeys home. The remaining will be released over the next day or two.

A sense of sadness pervades the hospital and its mostly empty wards now for the team of volunteers. Most of the smiley faces and memorable personalities have departed to get back to their busy lives. But an even stronger sense of an excellent job completed leaves them all patting each other on the back. Now we’re all just talking about how soon we can meet up and do it all over again.

- Peter Stuckings, Operation Smile volunteer photographer

View Album

Rains & Flooding in Hue, Vietnam

10 a.m.
The rains are relentless, and a typhoon of this type only occurs once every five years in Hue and this has been designated the worst flood since 1989. We are in a state of emergency, and no one is allowed to leave or enter the city of Hue by vehicle… the floods have risen so high we cannot get to the hospital, plus there is no electricity. Since the hospital has no generator, we cannot operate but the point is moot because we cannot get there! Finally, after several hours, we board a large bus which agrees to negotiate the more easily navigated streets — and after several false starts we become a bus-boat, slowly cruising the cross avenues to get to the Hue Operation Smile Comprehensive Care Center. Our main goal is to ensure that proper follow-up care is provided to the children from yesterday’s surgery that are still there, and we also must bring food and provisions to the families who cannot leave due to the flooding- in some places chest deep. And they tell us this area is the HIGHEST level in Hue. I have on shorts and a pair of Vietnamese flip-flops I purchased for about 16000 Dong- one dollar. I am soaked from head to toe, my hair stringing down as I’ve waded as high as my thighs, and passing vehicles splash by, and I barely escape their rooster tail wakes.

We make it to the hospital for our primary goal of checking out the kids from surgery yesterday and making sure those who cannot leave have food and water. Children and parents line the stairs waiting for their basic provisions of pho and rice. With no electricity, the light will start to fade around five, and it will be a long night.

3 pm
We are set to leave for the day, but the boat that was supposed to get us to dry land is no where to be seen! Marcela and I set out to the street-turned-river, and hail a passing rickshaw/cycle that is half buried in the waters, but still able to function. We share a seat meant for one, and he alternates between cycling and pulling us through the currents. We are laughing because we cannot believe this incredulous situation! The rest of the team grab a boat which carries them to dry land, then walk the rest of the way through the canals.

We find out tomorrow what we will be our course. Primarily, Operation

Smile- Vietnam is concerned about safety and even though we may have to disappoint those waiting, we cannot compromise the well being of the children. The Pediatric Intensivist’s home is flooded and he cannot get to the mission. The roads are closed off and we may not be able to get the support we must have. Unless by some miracle we can secure generators and proper medical support, we must postpone the surgeries. Waters are rising, but we are safe, and so must be the children.

Don’t worry, we are REALLY fine and safe and we are sure this will be over in a day or so!!! Having a great time paddling through the streets and I will send pictures as soon as my battery recharges!!!

Tam Biet~!

- Cathy Synders, Operation Smile volunteer

Mission Update: Hue

Hue, Vietnam
The second day of surgeries on Sunday, November 11, brought new smiles to 28 children who received free reconstructive surgery at the Center by Operation Smile volunteers. This brings the total number of patients treated during this medical mission to 53 children. Howard Unger, Operation Smile Board of Directors Chairman, visited the hospital and met with patients and their families. Dr. Nguyen Dung, Director of the Health Service of Thua Thien Hue Province, also visited the mission. It is muggy in the Center and outside the heavy rain continues.

On Monday, November 12, the mission team awoke to downpours and many of the streets in Hue flooded. This is the third day of heavy rains, and the local river has flooded its banks. Surgeries were postponed, but the team went to the Center to care for those in the Post-Op Ward who received surgery yesterday. Other families are seeking shelter at the Center while they wait for their children to receive surgery. The parents of the children who have received surgery are grateful and happy that their children will now have normal lives. The streets have become almost impossible to travel by van or taxi. Patients that were to receive surgery today are expected to receive them tomorrow. Faced with challenges, the Operation Smile mission team is working together for a common goal.

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

View Album

Photo Journal: Surgery Day in Mae Sot

Surgeries started Nov. 12th in Mae Sot, Thailand. Follow along with these medical mission photos from Mae Sot General Hospital.

View Album

Changing Lives in Kolkata

Kokata, India

To date 65 children and their family’s lives are changed.

One story from yesterday illustrates the magnitude of this change.

Yesterday when little Abdous’ mother was called to the recovery room to be with him she informed the nurses that the patient was another child. It took some persuasion but she was finally convinced when Abdous himself nodded after being asked if it really was him.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, the final 16 patients of this 4 day - 4 surgical table mission are scheduled for surgery.

Day 4 in Hanoi, Vietnam

Hanoi, Nov. 11
It was the second day of surgery, and the target for today’s fresh team of surgeons was 62 operations, up from 48 the day before. And the miracle was that they made it successfully through all of them.

The morning was tense, as scores of parents and kids crowded into the corridor. Nurses reached for the megaphone to establish some order, and soon it was all running to plan. By the afternoon the wards were again filled with sleeping children sporting strips of white tape across their upper lips.

Operation Smile volunteers delivered more toys to the resting children, who wasted no time in testing how tightly attached the dolls’ arms and legs were, or how good they tasted.

One highlight today was a very rare case - a 48-year old man of the Hmong minority people, who spent the day going back and forth to the mirror, amazed by the change to his face.

Tomorrow the miracles continue.

- Peter Stuckings, Operation Smile volunteer photographer

View Album

Photo Slideshow: Vijayawada, India

Patients and volunteers during screening days in Vijayawada, India. Also includes images of British television star Wendi Peters as she visits the mission site.

View Album

Preparing for Surgery in Cambodia

November is a perfect time of year for Phnom Penh, Cambodia to take part in the WJoS. The weather is mild and there is a festive feel in the air as we approach the countries annual water festival.

The international medical and non-medical volunteers arrived excited to begin the mission and mix with the Cambodian team.

The 8-9 of November signified Operation Smile Cambodia’s first days of screening, which was by all reports smooth sailing. Many of the volunteers are true veterans of Operation Smile; some of them count this as their 31st mission! Over the two day period 269 Children and young adults were medically evaluated for surgery and more are expected to come throughout the week. Surgery begins on Monday morning.”

- Fleur Childs, Operation Smile Cambodia

Hung’s New Smile - Hue, Vietnam

8am
The floor on the third floor of the hospital has children spawled on woven mats spread across it and parents squatting dutifully, watching and worrying.. every hour I run upstairs to blow bubbles and provide some sort of entertainment but my bubble arsenal is running low and we have three more days to go! Hung squirms in his father’s arms when he sees the bubble lady, and flails to kill all the bubbles- “pop” “pop” I say… “mom” he imitates, laughing delightedly until a hunger pain grabs him and he starts to cry- he has not eaten since midnight of last night, as today he will have surgery!

11 a.m. Pre-surgery plan room
Hung is hungry. He now clings to his father, on the balcony just outside the play room staring at the relentless rain which come in torrents as the storms strengthens and the waters rise on the ground below. Tears well up in his eyes as he is hungry and angry, and his own body becomes a personal typhoon, flooding tears down his cheek and splashing on the deck. “I only have a week”, his father sighs and explains that he had to beg to get time off without pay, and he cannot afford to stay any longer or his family will suffer with no funds.

They must still suffer, as his mother will take off one or two months before she must return to earn less than $2 a day in dong. If the flooding continues, that could delay their return. But the skies do not look happy here, and the typhoon has just started.

6:30 pm
There is a black-out, and the entire hospital area goes dark. I feel like I’m drowning in my own skin, the moisture permeates every inch of breathing space, and the downpour is often deafening as if we were blindly stuck below a never-ending waterfall. I try to make my way out to the hall, then the lights come back on, and there are audible sighs of relief. Luckily, all 28 cases on the four operating tables are completed for the day, and there are no technical difficulties… I run over to the post op area and hand out smile bags, check to see if the kids are keeping hydrated and monitor a mother who is breastfeeding. Hung is there with his parents, but he is asleep and turned so I cannot see him. I know his new smile must be there, but the biggest smile comes from his mother and father, they both beam bright enough to dry up any typhoon.

“Com on..com on..” they nod and bow their thanks then turn their awe-filled gaze back to Hung.

tam biet!

- Cathy Snyders, Operation Smile volunteer

Video: Hangzhou, China

Asia Region Vice President Richard VanderBurg speaks from the Operation Smile Charity Care Hospital in Hangzhou, China during the World Journey of Smiles.

Mission Notes from Hue

Saturday, Surgery Day

6am
Shelia Wong, my roommate and I stare delightedly at our bountiful breakfast spread, unlike no other mission I’ve been on. A great start to first day of surgery! I have not slept since 1 a.m. a product of the 12 hour time change, and I am more wired than tired. There’s Pometo, super sized sweet citrus you not only peal the thick green rind, but each individual grapefruit like section in order to reach the inside…Dragon fruit, with its marvelous magenta colored coat, milky white inner flesh flecked with dark, tiny poppy-like seeds, Langoun or “dragon eyes”, a circular nut that you hand peel the corse outside to get to the inside- a consistency of peeled grape that you pop in your mouth but then discard the large, dark pea sized core or “iris” of the dragon’s eye, passion fruit… guava, tiny bananas, miniature pineapple, papaya….all served with little-bitty rice pancakes or full-cream yogurt. Next to that is an array of rice breads, rice cakes, and breakfast spring-rolls with dipping sauces, spicy and sweet. We also have choices of tofu stir fried veggies and tofu and Pho Soup bar….The coffee is strong and bold and must be tempered with the soy milk provided… Off to the hospital; about 28 kids are on the schedule after a full screening of 161 yesterday, and more kids have arrived to be screened.

8 a.m.
Hung sits tentatively on a metal cot, next to his mother who has just arrived the night before from HCMC, after a grueling 10 hour bus ride with Hung’s father, to be there for what might be one the most important events in their son’s life. There must be at least 100 others gathered on cots, squatting on the floors, pressing their faces against the bars of the stairs, or lining up and down the steps of the third floor, waiting for their turn to be called. Nuong and I stop briefly and squeeze next to him and his mother, and we are immediately surrounded by about 15-20 others. Hung’s mother tiny and thin, visibly worn. There are strangely symmetric patterns of crimson spots on her neck, three spotted rows, each spot about a 1/4 inch in diameter. I nudge Nuong and hope for an explanation. Hung’s mother notices my gaze, and says something shyly in Vietnamese. Nuong explains that in Vietnam, the way to rid oneself of any affliction is to dab a menthol-type oil on the ailing area and to “pick” at the area with your fingernails until blood reaches the surface in order to allow the body to get rid of the evil that is causing the ailment. If she had a headache, her head would be speckled… if she had a stomach ache, there would be red gouges in her abdomen. I try not to conspicuously wince at her words.

She hugs her son onto her lap, and then explains that she was so excited last night to see her son after over 10 months… almost one-fourth of his life. But their reunion was dampened by the fact that he really did not appear to recognize her at first due to the lost time and her guilt is so great that she could not be with him. She and her husband can make much more in MCMC- a combined $100 a month, and if they just eat one container of dried box needles (like our Ramon noodles) in the morning, have lunch on the company where they eat as much possible to sustain themselves, and do not eat dinner, they can afford to send back money to help their son and extended family. Their Hue home, destroyed in the flood, has been “rebuilt” with four trees and a grass covering, and that is where Hung’s mother will live with her son now as he recovers from his surgery.

She says he has grown so since she last saw him. “I am only able to understand when he points, and just some words… and food comes out through his nose.” She sighs and looks expectantly at us. Then she whispers, as if telling a secret too loud would cause it not to happen “He has been scheduled for surgery tomorrow!” We promise we will come tomorrow and show her ways to help communicate with her son. “Com on” (thank-you) she waves as we leave. Hung’s face lights up and he tries to imitate her. “Nom o-” he waves.

4:30 p.m.
Six children are squatting yoga-style on their haunches in the pre-surgery waiting area, as Marcel, the Brazilian pediatrician, is taking their vital signs. I have placed colored construction paper in front of them, as well as markers and pens and stickers, and they attack this makeshift art center with relish. They produce for hours, and are thrilled when their works are displayed on the walls. One little girl draws over and over the exact same theme… a stick figure lying in what looks like a square box, and there is a smiley face sun. After the fourth picture, I smile and tell her I love the pink color she used and asked what she made as I point to the box. She looks earnestly up and points to herself. “Is that you?” I ask. Yes, she nods. “Is that a bed?” I ask. Yes, she smiles, then points to the sun.

8:00 p.m.
Have finished up for today. I am playing the role of both speech pathologist and child life specialist, trying to prepare all the kids for what to expect in surgery and being sure they are entertained as most must wait all day with no food, and ensuring that each child had a “smile bag” when they left the recovery room. I saw about 15 kids for palate therapy with the help of my incredible secretary turned- translator- turned speech assistant, Nuong, and gave them each “kits” with written explanations. I am thrilled that the literacy rate is so high and reading is so coveted in this country. All the parents can read, and were able to follow the suggestions for language development and ways to help their children communicate. Am skipping dinner to get much needed sleep. It is pouring outside, and the rains have not let up. Tam Biet!

- Cathy Snyders, Operation Smile volunteer.

Images from Phnom Penh

Follow the medical mission team in Cambodia through this slideshow of images from screening on November 10th.

View Album

Photo Journal: Linyi, China

See Operation Smile medical volunteers and patients during Patient Screening at Linyi People’s Hospital in Linyi, China on November 10th, 2007.

View Album

New Smiles in Kolkata

At 9:00 a m on Saturday 8 month old Kaisab, the first World Journey patient in Kolkata, India, entered the Operating Theatre. One hour later he was back in his mother’s arms; his life forever changed. By the end of a long but very rewarding day 22 more children received their surgery and were reunited with their parents - always a very special moment as the parents look with wonder at their child’s “new” face.

As the team left the hospital late in the evening tiredness was mixed with the knowledge that each and every one of them had contributed to change many lives.

- Alison Smyth, Operation Smile Volunteer

Operation Smile Charity Care Hospital in Hangzhou Celebrates Opening

Operation Smile Co-founders Dr. Bill and Kathy Magee arrive in Hangzhou, China to celebrate the opening of the new Operation Smile Charity Care Hospital, the medical mission site for the World Journey of Smiles.

View Album

Day 3: Surgeries Begin in Hanoi

Eight-month old girl, Luc Sao Bang from Quang Long province, was the first into the surgery this morning. She was in and out by 9am, as the first of 48 children to receive operations today. The doctors, nurses and volunteers pushed on right through the day, keeping 5 beds in 3 operating theatres busy.

Parents sat expectantly in the waiting room, watching the OR door for the moment when the nurse would burst in, a little sleeping bundle in her arms and a piece of white tape across the child’s top lip. The visibly moved parents then drifted off to quiet corners to get accustomed to their waking baby’s new appearance.

For children operated on in the morning, the afternoon was spent napping, eating and exploring the gift packs from Operation Smile donors that included toiletry gear, colouring-in books, crayons, and toys. Some even managed some boisterous laughs and playful pushing and shoving with the volunteers.

- Peter Stuckings, Operation Smile volunteer photographer

View Album

All Smiles in Nanjing

The Operation Smile Nanjing Team gathered early this morning to begin the first day of providing life-changing surgeries to children. Everyone was all smiles as the day came to an end providing operations to 29 children and young adults. It was heart-warming to see the international volunteers, local volunteers, families of the children and children put aside the language barrier and all come together over the common bond of a smile.

- Clara Love, Operation Smile volunteer

Smiling in Hue

The morning of Wednesday, November 7, a ceremony for the opening of the Joint Comprehensive Care Center was held. The event was attended by Operation Smile volunteers and sponsors. Operation Smile Vietnam Chairman of the Board Ken Atkinson and Comprehensive Care Center Manager Kevin Tran addressed the crowd. The Operation Smile Comprehensive Care Center in Hue, Vietnam, is based in the Hue Odonto-Stomatological Hospital, and will treat children year-round who suffer from cleft lips and cleft palates, as well as provide education and training to medical professionals in the region. The Center is approved and supported by Thua Thien Hue People’s Committee and Health Service Department, the Center. The World Journey of Smiles medical mission in Hue marks the inaugural mission at the Center.

On Friday, November 9, a medical mission team of 38 volunteers, nearly all from Vietnam, worked together on the fourth floor of the Comprehensive Care Center and provided free medical evaluations for children and young adults. Other medical volunteers participating in the mission are from Brazil and the United States. Hue City and the surrounding area had endured a storm recently that caused flooding, but still 161 patients and their families arrived hoping for surgery. After a full day of medical evaluations, 126 surgeries were scheduled to be completed in the next five days. The mission is being led by Field Medical Director and Plastic Surgery Team Leader Dr. Dang Duy Hieu, Co-Team Leader Dr. Le Quy Thao, Anesthesia Team Leader Dr. Nguyen Nhu Dat, Clinical Coordinator Hua Minh Hanh, and Mission Coordinator Vu Thi Van Anh.

On Saturday, November 10, the team arrived at the Center early to prepare for the first day of surgeries. The third floor of the Center includes two operating rooms, a scrub room, a recovery room, and the Pre/Post-Op rooms. Nearly 30 children suffering with cleft lips and cleft palates received free life-changing surgery today. There were so many parents who expressed their appreciation for the help Operation Smile has given their family. They simply want their child to live a normal life…go to school, have friends, get a job and have a family of their own one day and Operation Smile is their only hope.

- Lisa Jones, Operation Smile, Inc. Staff

Mission Underway in Pakse, Laos

Follow patient screening day in Pakse, Loas through the eyes of Operation Smile volunteer photographer Pamela Jones.

View Album

Photo Updates: Naga, Philippines

The mission continues in Naga, Philippines. Images of the mission team and the children helped are a reminder of the great teamwork that makes Operation Smile’s medical missions a success and the great reward in the smile of a child’s face!

Screening day in Mae Sot, Thailand

Screening day finishes up in Mae Sot, Thailand.

Hung’s Story - Hue, Vietnam

Friday, Screening Day:

2 PM: The screening area is crowded tightly at each station, perhaps thirty or more pressing against my table in wait of their turn. The typhoon which hit this area within the past week has made the journey for many of these families difficult, if not near impossible, but fate was not going to interfere again with the dream of achieving a smile for their children. They came by bus, boat, cycle, foot…

Three-year-old Hung shies tightly against his grandmother’s shoulder as his name is called by Nuong, my interpreter, and his dark almond eyes find me, the light haired stranger, and he blinks brightly with interest. His mouth emerges from behind his grandmother’s arm, his countenance a crater and his nose melts into his mouth, his fremulum protruding forward. Hung laughs loudly as I spray my bubbles over him and he reaches up, his mouth gaping so I can see the split down his entire palate. He vocalizes a “nana” or “mama” sound, which are no doubt the only sounds he can make given his oral anatomy- all the other consonants fly out his mouth-nose crevice and his speech becomes a combination of vowels on m, n, add ngs.

Hung’s home was destroyed last year, which forced his parents to move to Ho Chi Mein City where they could get better work as tailors. They had to leave Hung with his grandmother who lives about an hour outside Hue, and she brought him to this evaluation. He has not seen his mother and father since they left last January as they could not afford the journey back. His grandmother explains to Nuong and me that when Hung was born, the family thought he was unlucky. Perhaps that could explain why his family home was destroyed, why they were being punished.

“Tam Biet”, bye bye- I say to Hung as he leaves my station. “Nam Nee” he waves, flashing his warped smile. I saw over 150 children at my screening table today- broken smiles with unintelligible utterances due to their clefts. Of them all, Hung captivated my heart.

Nam Nee…
– Cathy Snyders, Operation Smile Volunteer

Hanoi Day 2 Update and Slideshow

Today was a rest day for the children and families at the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Hospital in Hanoi. Hospital staff prepared the operating theatres while Operation Smile volunteers led the children and their parents through DNA swabbing for US research purposes. They also ensured the children’s administrative details were finalized by doctors in preparation for the start of surgery tomorrow.

Excitement and playfulness ruled the day as the children played about in the wards, stopped for lunch with their parents, napped on the beds, and continued getting to know the kids on neighboring beds.

- Peter Stuckings, Operation Smile Volunteer Photographer

View Album

Medical Mission Underway in Vijayawada, India

Follow along with these photos from Dr. Pinnamaneni Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Foundation.

Day 1 Screening - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

We just completed our first day of screening here in Phnom Penh. Our team of excellent volunteers screened approximately 165 potential patients and we have a waiting line ready for us this morning. So many incredible stories of families traveling long journeys in hopes of giving their child a chance for a new life and new smile. Despite the hardships and weariness - the Cambodian people are gentle, kind people and patiently wait for their turn and their one hope. Our hope is to help as many of them as possible - but we know they have all touched our lives!

As we rode back to the hotel in a tuk-tuk, our two high school student volunteers, Madison and Katie, relayed to me that this was the most incredible experience they had ever had and they were so moved. Their experiences have just begun….

- Dottie Ryan, Operation Smile Student Sponsor

Photo Slideshow: Naga - November 8, 2007

Follow along with Dr. Bill and Kathy Magee, as they complete their visit of Naga, Philippines. Next the Magees head to Hangzhou, China to visit the new Care Center and mission site.

View Album

Field Updates from Kolkata

The journey begins. This morning at 8:00 a.m. (Indian Standard Time) the first patients began the process, each one hoping that they would be chosen for the surgery that will change their lives.
The first potential patient Alam Sheik, aged 12, had spent the night on a bus traveling 125 miles/200 km to reach the hospital.

By the end of the day 115 babies, children, and adults received a complete medical evaluation from the dedicated medical professionals on the team. As the team left the hospital the first 26 patients scheduled for surgery on Saturday were settling into the ward.

Tomorrow is the team’s free day as it is Diwali, the Festival of Lights, arguably the most important festival in the Hindu calendar. The team will enjoy a city tour and time to shop for Indian artesan work.

- Alison Smyth, Operation Smile Volunteer

Update from Nanjing, China

Today we screened 101 children for surgery at the Nanjing site. One mother, disabled herself, traveled two days by train to come to the Nanjing mission. Operation Smile repaired her son’s cleft lip last year and she hoped he will receive surgery for his cleft palate this year.

– Clara Love, Operation Smile

Update from Hanoi, Vietnam

An Operation Smile team of 35 medical and non-medical volunteers, nearly all from Vietnam, is working in Hanoi at the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Hospital to help children from throughout the region who are suffering with facial deformities. On Thursday, November 8, the team provided free medical evaluations to 235 children and young adults who simply want the chance to live a normal life. The mission is being led by Field Medical Director Dr. Hoang Quoc Ky, Plastic Surgery Team Leader Dr. Nguyen Thanh Thai, Anesthesia Team Leader Dr. Tran Thi Bich Hanh, Clinical Coordinator To Thi Tien, and Mission Coordinator Tran Hong Nhung. The mission team will begin conducting surgeries on Saturday, November 10, and hopes to provide approximately 125 patients with new smiles. While this medical mission in Hanoi takes place, additional missions in Vietnam are beginning in the cities of Hue and Ho Chi Minh City.

- Lisa Jones, Operation Smile, Inc., Vietnam

View Album

Makati Team Completes Over 100 Surgeries

Thus far, in Makati the medical team completed 102 surgeries! They plan to finish the mission tomorrow with 8 more surgeries. The surgeries included both first time surgeries for many patients with cleft lips and palates as well as patients returning for revisions. One boy, Allen, returned for his third surgery. He was born with a cleft in his face, and his initial surgery corrected that deformity. Yesterday Allen received surgery to correct a fistula that formed in his palate from a previous procedure. At three years old, he was initially fearful of the doctors and the process. However, with some bubbles he quickly became the resident “bubble blower” for the other patients awaiting their surgeries!

– Monica Ruzicka, Operation Smile Student Programs

Video: Dr. Magee in Naga City

Follow the second day of surgery in Naga with Operation Smile Co-founder Bill Magee providing a live mission update. Look for his next update from Amman, Jordan.

Photo Slideshow: Philippines Day 3.

Surgeries began in Naga City.

Follow along with these ima