Have you seen this video? If not, I hope you’ll pay few minutes to watch this.
Operation Smile Video from YouTube
10 international missions. 9 sites. 3weeks. 30 countries. 1,000 volunteers
I’ve been listening to different advocacies. One of them even touched my heart and I follow the call to support and help a child. I will tell you about it on a separate post. For now, let me share about the recent event I attended at Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
I received an invitation to attend the 30th Anniversary Press Conference of Operation Smile although I had a tight schedule few days before our vacation I decided to put off other commitments.
Let me reveal to you my mood few hours before this event. For some reasons, I woke up that day angry and can’t even smile. Then, I realized there’s more to be thankful. I have a decent job, very nice home, delightful meal, supportive family and friends and of course a healthy mind and body. Who am I to complain? I was moved by the videos and photos of children with cleft lip and palate. They can smile even with those deformities, so why can’t I?
President & Executive Director Roberto Manzano; Smile Ambassador Ms. Janine Marie Togonon; Vice President Donald Patrick Lim
I heard about Operation Smile many times and had attended events that mentioned or support their advocacy. This year, Operation SMILE unveils the 30th Anniversary plan with a “journey home”.
(Smile Ambassador Ms. Shamcey Supsup)
History
Did you know that Operation SMILE started in the Philippines. It all began when the husband and wife team visited the country for a one-time medical mission in Naga City. Around 300 families, hoping to avail of free surgery for their children, trooped to the medical mission site. However were only able to accommodate 40 children that day. One of the women whose child wasn't accommodated came to the Magees with a bunch of bananas, insistently telling the Magees it was a gift of gratitude for helping all the other children. That powerful memory tugged at the couple's hearts, inspiring them to mobilize support for another medical mission the next year. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The Journey of Bill and Kathy Magee
Three decades after American couple Bill and Kathy Magee first set foot in the country, Operation Smile is coming back to the Philippines, the birthplace of the worldwide children’s medical charity that provides surgery and related health care to indigent children and young adults afflicted with cleft lip, cleft palate and other childhood facial deformities.
Photo courtesy of Operation Smile
Today, Operation Smile has grown, conducting surgical missions in over 60 countries with a global network of more than 5,000 volunteers from 80 countries. It has provided over two million comprehensive health care evaluations and over 200,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with clefts, of which more than 24,000 are Filipinos.
(Chadleen Lacdo-O Singing Ambassador, Operation Smile Phil.)
“It's both our responsibility and delight to come together and thank the Filipinos for inspiring the birth of Operation Smile,” says Dr. Magee, co-founder and executive chairman of Operation Smile, Inc., the mother organization headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.
“It is indeed a very significant move for OSI (Operation Smile International) to celebrate the organization’s 30th year here in the Philippines. We are privileged and honored to host ‘The Journey Home’,” says Joaquin Quintos, chairman of Operation Smile Philippines (OSP), the in-country organization of OSI.
Operation Smile’s “The Journey Home” is a series of medical missions that seeks to change a child’s life by conducting free surgery to repair cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities.
The schedule of “The Journey Home” will be as follows:
- October 26-31 in South Cotabato Provincial Hospital, Koronadal
- November 8-18 in Bicol Medical Center, Naga City; Mother Theresa of Calcutta Medical Center, San Fernando, Pampanga; Teresita Jalandoni Memorial Provincial Hospital, Silay City, Negros Occidental; Northern Mindanao Medical Center, Cagayan de Oro City
- November 22-December 2 in Sta. Ana Hospital, Sta. Ana, Manila; De La Salle University Medical Center, Dasmariñas, Cavite; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Cebu City; Socsargen County Hospital, General Santos City.
To find out more about Operation Smile’s “The Journey Home,” call (632) 811-9737 or email info@operationsmile.org.ph.
Let’s help Operation Smile create more smile and transform the lives of the children worldwide.
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