Winter Smile News
Welcome to the Winter issue of Smile News, bringing you the latest heart-warming stories from our life-changing work around the globe.
Jupiter’s story
This beautiful smile belongs to Jupiter. Today he’s a confident and happy 14 year old who loves basketball. But, his beaming smile is a world apart from the lonely little boy we first met ten years ago. A shy four year old who was teased because of his cleft condition.
Born on Bantayan Island in the Philippines, Jupiter was blessed to have parents who loved him unconditionally. There was a history of cleft conditions on his father’s side of the family, so although upsetting, their son’s cleft wasn’t a complete shock.
Even with the support of loving parents, growing up with the stigma of an untreated cleft had left Jupiter withdrawn and isolated. He’d learned to avoid other children because of the bullying.
Jupiter’s parents made a modest living from fishing. Their home was destroyed by typhoon Yolanda in 2013. Even before this huge setback, like many families around the world, they had no hope of being able to afford the costs of surgery for their son.
Thankfully, an Operation Smile surgical programme in Cebu City was the lifeline they needed and the first step towards Jupiter’s newfound confidence. When his mother saw him for the first time after surgery she wept with joy and exclaimed, “He is so beautiful!”
Surgery has given Jupiter a second chance at a brighter future. Now he’s attending school, his parents have high hopes and his mother says, “I hope he will get a good job, maybe become a policeman, not a fisherman. We don’t want him to experience what we have experienced.”
The road to a brighter future
Ramata was born in Ghana with a cleft lip and palate. Her journey with Operation Smile has spanned many years and countless miles. Beneath her new smile there’s a complex journey of care and support from the team at Operation Smile Ghana.
Awareness campaign
Nutritional support
Cleft lip surgery
Cleft palate surgery
Speech therapy
Dentistry and orthodontics
From the field
Brighter smiles in Rwanda thanks to dental programme
Children with cleft conditions are prone to a number of oral health challenges, so dentistry is a vital part of the comprehensive care we provide to patients around the world.
Back in August, Operation Smile Rwanda held its first dental programme in Kigali, in partnership with the University of Rwanda. 264 patients were screened during the programme and the team of volunteer dentists carried out more than 500 dental procedures. Dental hygiene products were also provided for each patient.
The programme was also an important opportunity for education and training, helping to increase the reach of specialised care in Rwanda. Following an educational exchange with local dental providers, 12 dentists successfully completed an ‘Obturator and Speech Aid workshop’. Obturators are a device fitted in the roof of the mouth to cover the cap caused by a cleft palate and aid feeding.
Volunteer focus
Speech therapy changes lives in Malawi – meet speech therapist Morgan Silungwe
Volunteer speech therapist Morgan Silungwe has been working with Operation Smile since 2012. We chatted to him recently to find out more about his work with Operation Smile Malawi and how speech therapy is transforming the lives of young patients in the country. He told us:
“I’ve a background in speech therapy and a postgraduate diploma. Operation Smile was coming here to Malawi, in 2012 and there was need for volunteers. I volunteered partly to gain knowledge and skill in the area of cleft palate, because despite learning it in school in Canada I had no hands-on experience. So, I’ve gained a lot and my skills have been improved through coaching and mentoring from the speech therapists I met during surgical programmes.
Speech therapy is very important when it comes to cleft care. We know that surgery does not train or teach our children how to speak. It only fixes the palate or the lip and then we still need to go back in order to train them how to speak.
Morgan Silungwe
“By the time they are receiving surgery, they have already developed a habit of not talking well. Parents are often surprised that after surgery their child’s speech is the same, so speech therapy is vital to correct their speech production.
“If you were to bring the patients to say thank you to the people who donate to Operation Smile, they would cry. They’ll cry, because if it was not for them, their life could have been so difficult. We thank our donors that are supporting us. We hope they will continue to support us as we still have a long way to go.”
Building connections, changing lives – meet volunteer anaesthetist Dr Anuraag Guleria
Anuraag Guleria has travelled all over the world helping children and adults with cleft conditions. From Nicaragua to Morocco, she’s been a valuable addition to the Operation Smile team, sharing her time and expertise as an anaesthetist, for free, on more than ten surgical programmes.
In her day job, Anuraag works in Manchester as a consultant anaesthetist. Although she’s involved in adult surgery when required, her main focus is on paediatrics.
We caught up with her recently after her return from an Operation Smile surgical programme in the Philippines and asked her what inspired her to become an Operation Smile volunteer, she told us:
“I like working in countries where I think I can be useful. Working in environments which are challenging and surgeries which need specific and high-risk anaesthetic care. It’s a way of working with those who would normally not get care. I enjoy the challenge and it’s amazing that we can do highly specialised procedures with such ease and do them safely in these kinds of environments. That’s what keeps me trying. It changes the kid’s life so much.
“To me, every child is really the same, because I just love them for that minute that I liaise with them. I remember a baby that I met in Africa. He was amazing, so chubby and healthy and his smiles will stay with me forever! But for me it’s also seeing how much they change after the surgery. I think it’s so important that we continue this work. We change that child’s life.”
Beyond the code
BBC film shows how AI helps create new smiles
Last year, the BBC StoryWorks team filmed with Operation Smile in Musanze, Rwanda, to showcase how we’re using AI technology to streamline the surgical evaluation process for patients. The five-minute film follows a Rwandan family whose child received lifechanging surgery. It shows the profound impact of our work on patients and their communities.
For every patient we work with, the team takes before and after pictures of their face, to evaluate the results and learn how to improve care. This means there are tens of thousands of images of faces, all needing to be assessed and classified – there simply aren’t enough surgeons to look through every single photo.
The AI program uses algorithms to analyse each photo and determine the severity of the cleft. It can also analyse the ‘after surgery’ photos, highlighting those surgeons whose work is exemplary and who might be suited to training others in the future.
“Much of plastic surgery is subjective,” says Dr. Caroline Yao, plastic surgeon and senior vice president of patients and evaluations at Operation Smile. “Every surgeon may give you a different opinion about what they think of the result. But an objective answer we get from AI can bring all the practitioners’ opinions together.”
Smile Heroes in action
Celebrating new smiles with Superdrug and Oral B
Corporate partners Superdrug and Procter & Gamble have once again been working in partnership to raise money for Operation Smile through their ‘Give a smile’ campaign. The campaign ran from 11 September to 8 October 2024, and saw Procter & Gamble and Superdrug generously donating 20p for each Oral B product sold in store or online.
This annual campaign raised more than £52,000 which will help fund our international work to provide free, safe surgery and comprehensive care to children and adults living with untreated cleft conditions.
Courtney Ferguson, Senior Manager for Partnerships & Philanthropy at Operation Smile UK said, “We’re incredibly grateful to Superdrug and Procter & Gamble for partnering with us once more on this campaign. The funds raised will make a hugely positive contribution to our vision for a world where no child lacks access to free, safe surgery and cleft care.”
Thanks to Superdrug, Procter & Gamble and everyone who stocked up on toothpaste during the campaign!
Legacies leave a lasting smile
Every year, the funds we receive from kind legacy donations form a vital part of our income. Since 2015, we’ve received 220 legacy gifts, raising an incredible £3,536,280, which is the equivalent to 23,575 new smiles.
Leaving a gift in your will to charity, is one of the most selfless gifts you can give. Your will is a remarkable record of your life, those who are closest to you and the causes that matter most to you.
Building a legacy of smiles
Retired builder Chad Hemsley left £100,000 to Operation Smile in his will. During his life, Chad overcame physical adversity, founding and managing his own building firm. His company constructed several hospitals and aptly, Chad’s legacy gift helped fund a new operating room for Operation Smile patients in Malawi.
Legacy gifts come in all shapes and sizes, one man left us his collection of guitars, and another his caravan. All gifts are gratefully received – both large and small – and they help bring more new
smiles to children with cleft conditions
around the world.
A world of new smiles
Thanks to the kindness of our supporters, during the last financial year we’ve been able to achieve so much. Our local and international medical volunteers have given up their time, for free, to transform the future for thousands of children and adults with untreated cleft conditions. We’ve trained local medical teams and invested in hospitals and health facilities to make sure that more people can get the care they need, closer to home. Take a look at some of our key achievements.
204
surgical programmes
86,000+
patients receiving comprehensive care
15,517
patients receiving surgical care
34
countries with programmes
140
ongoing facilities of care, including hospital partners and care centres
1,285
trainees in surgical or comprehensive care programmes
3,397
volunteers certified in life-saving techniques
8,220
medical volunteers deployed in programmes
6,840
global medical volunteers
Updates from around the world
New Cleft Care Centre opens
Operation Smile Philippines has recently opened a new Comprehensive Care Cleft Centre in Cebu City. The centre will serve patients in Cebu City and the Visayas region, and become a global hub for cleft care and training. As well as providing cleft surgery and comprehensive care for the benefit of local communities, the centre will host livestreamed surgeries and educational programmes, training the next generation of cleft care experts worldwide.
Nurse training success in India
The Asia Pacific Nurse Leadership Training brought together nurses from across India to advance leadership skills and knowledge in surgical care. During the training, 44 participants took part in a range of sessions including patient safety, infection control, and surgical care, all designed to equip them to deliver high-quality care in diverse environments.
The training was part of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Mentorship Programme where nurses, guided by Operation Smile and J&J facilitators, brainstormed ideas and chose mentors to help them apply their knowledge to real-world challenges.
