A life transformed

Joseph’s story

The six-year-old carries a big plastic bag to collect recyclables and scrap metal, asking neighbours to sell him empty plastic bottles, pieces of metal, cans and glass jars.

The family gathers anything that might be worth a few more pesos before they sell it on to ‘the boss’, who then sells those items to turn a profit.

Joseph is the family’s youngest child and the only one born with a cleft lip and cleft palate.

His mother, who died several years ago due to heart disease, also collected scrap metal and recyclables. Joseph’s father Julito (referenced in this story) has now sady passed away, but thankfully lived to see his son receive the cleft surgery he’d waited so long for.

The cause of cleft conditions can be environmental or hereditary, and Joseph’s father believed his son’s cleft condition may have been caused by hours of bumpy motorbike rides Joseph’s mother endured while she was pregnant.

The stigma is harmful

Joseph doesn’t attend school.

“He tried once, but came home crying. They call him ‘bungi,’” a derogatory word for cleft, Julito had explained to us.

Sometimes the neighbourhood children throw stones at him — the same treatment given to the stray dogs in the area.

For unknown reasons, Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, is a region where cleft conditions are more common than the rest of the world — around one in 500 children are born with cleft lip and cleft palate.

The global average is closer to one in 750 births. Even though there are skilled plastic surgeons in the country — some who volunteer for Operation Smile — most families cannot afford the cost of surgery.

Joseph’s family is no exception.

Even the bus fare to the hospitals of Cebu City is too costly for some families.

However, when the family learned about Operation Smile and the free surgeries it provides to children like Joseph, they became hopeful for his future.

Hope for a better future

Local organisation, Abounding In Love, provided Joseph and his family with free transportation and lodging to an upcoming Operation Smile medical programme, Joseph was closer than he’d ever been to receiving a new smile.

Following their bus trip to the programme, Julito was surprised to see how many other children had the same condition as Joseph. While relieved to learn that his son wasn’t the only child to have a cleft, Julito feared Joseph wouldn’t qualify for surgery beause there were so many other families in need of help.

Thankfully, after a passing his health evaluation, Joseph became one of many children who were selected to receive surgery.

The day after his cleft lip was repaired, Joseph stared at himself in the mirror for a long time.

Joseph’s future looks brighter

“When we were discharged from the hospital and arrived at home, all our neighbours were very excited to see Joseph and told him he looked so handsome,” Julito had told us. “When we came to our house, he got a mirror and looked at his face and said, ‘Oh, I’m very handsome now!’”

But Joseph’s confidence wasn’t the only bright spot in life after surgery. His new smile meant he could return to school, eager to learn. He also became friends with those who once bullied and teased him.

Cleft care in the Philippines since 1982