Operation Smile

It's Friday! Today, we are proud to bring you an update on the care we recently provided in .

Last month, Operación Sonrisa Perú completed a surgical program in Lima. Thanks to your support and more than 100 volunteers, this program provided comprehensive health evaluations to 67 patients and life-changing care to 38.

In Thika, Kenya, Joseph and his wife, Esther, welcomed their first child, Peter, at a hospital during a rainstorm that knocked out the power. In the darkness, the family could not see him clearly. When the lights finally came back on, they discovered that their son had a lip and palate. With no family history of the condition, Joseph describes feeling shocked and overwhelmed, uncertain about what the diagnosis meant for his son’s future.

“We come from a very humble background,” Joseph says. “We couldn’t afford the money of the surgery, and we didn’t have those insurance policies.”

Joseph’s uncle saw a post on Facebook about an upcoming Operation Smile surgical program at Thika General Hospital and shared it with him. After connecting with our team by phone, Joseph brought Peter to the program, traveling an hour by cab to reach the care they had not known was within reach.

Following , Peter has continued to receive comprehensive follow-up care, including speech therapy referrals at Kenyatta National Hospital, as part of his ongoing recovery and development. His speech is still developing, and Joseph credits much of his progress to ongoing care and the increased time Peter spends playing and interacting with other children.

“If I meet a parent who has a child who has a cleft, I just tell him your kid is not having … not witchcraft, not juju, not what people say,” Joseph says. “Don’t listen to those stigmatizations.”

Watch Peter's story at https://bit.ly/4vzNSs9.