Marceline will get her smile

 

Harry Potter gets his day!

 

Stories to the heart

This is Eugenie. She looks like a ten year-old, but she is 14. Stunted and malnourished as a result of extreme poverty and a cleft lip. But that's not all. Eugenie is an orphan who until two years ago was wandering the streets begging for food and shelter. That is until a kind-hearted woman saw her and took her in as her own.

They traveled by foot and bus for hours to reach Kagali where they had heard that doctors were coming to perform surgeries for free. Realizing that this might be the only chance for Eugenie to get her lip fixed they anxiously awaited to see if she would be picked. And she was, but with hesitation because her red blood count was low and she had a cold. She needs to be monitored this week to make sure she is well enough for surgery. But if she is (and I hope she is) she will get her life-changing surgery on Friday. What a day that will be.

Yesterday afternoon when I visited the post-op area of the hospital I saw a boy we have dubbed Harry Potter because of the sweatshirt he was wearing. Jean, his real name, had just come from the recovery room with a new smile. Walking at his side was his father, carrying an IV. I asked the father what he would say to the people on the other side of the world who had helped make this surgery possible. He thought for a moment and then said, "I don't know what to say. I don't have any words to express my feelings." Then he turned to his son and told me, "Everything I want to say is written on his face." Enough said.

Dancille and her cousin

Three year old Dancille has been teased and shunned all her life. But this week her life will change. On Thursday she will go into surgery with a broken face and come out with a brand new smile forty-five minutes later. She will be one of the 248 children this week who will get a new chance at life. Able to eat, drink, speak and go to school just like other kids.

When I look at her I see hope and that is enough to make it all worthwhile.

Mission going well

Our medical mission for Operation Smile is going well here in Rwanda. In the last two days over 372 people with cleft lip or cleft palate have been screened by the international team. Most of these are children with cleft lips, but there are adults, too, up to age 80.

Last night the surgery schedule was prepared and today it will be announced to the waiting crowd of hopeful families. The good thing is that more than 200 will be able to get surgery this time. The bad/sad news is that the rest will be turned away to wait for another opportunity for surgery, hopefully next year. There will be many unhappy families.

Sent Harrison Ford a DVD

Harrison Ford received a DVD today that I had sent him from our trip to Haiti. He and his co-pilot Terry Bender did a fantastic job of getting medical volunteers and supplies in to the desperate people who had been injured and left homeless by the earthquake a little over a month ago.

Now, this afternoon I head off to Rwanda where I will participate in a 2-week medical mission with Operation Smile. The result will be another TV special bringing attention to their great work throughout the world with children suffering from cleft lip and cleft palate.

Off to Rwanda tomorrow for Operation Smile

I leave tomorrow for Rwanda with a television production team from Canada and the US to produce a new television special about the amazing work Operation Smile does each month around the world.

Operation Smile’s international missions are conducted throughout the year in hard-to-reach places throughout the world. International missions involve up to 60 medical volunteers who travel to partner countries to provide surgeries for children over a two-week period.

Operation Smile’s partner countries also facilitate treatment for facial deformities, either by conducting medical missions on the local level or by conducting year-round programs in existing health facilities or through the development of clinics.