Ngan
In Vietnamese, Ngan's name means "star," though she wasn’t able to smile brightly as she was born with a cleft lip and gaping hole in her palate.
Ngan lived the first three years of her life in isolation in a small village of the Quy Nhon province in southern Vietnam, a poor area known for rubber and coffee plantations.
Her family lives off of the equivalent of $500 U.S. dollars per year and would never be able to afford the surgery that would change Ngan’s life and give her a future.
But when Ngan’s parents heard that Operation Smile was holding a medical mission in Danang, Vietnam, in 2002, Ngan and her family traveled for miles for the chance to heal Ngan’s smile.
Though they arrived late on the last day of screening, their efforts paid off and Ngan was accepted for surgery.
Nine years later, in January of 2011, Ngan is the happy, healthy, vibrant girl she was meant to be. She has many friends in her village and studies with them. Though her school offers very basic education – enough to read and write – Ngan’s teachers say she is a hard working student and loves reading.
Ngan dreams of becoming a teacher and bringing education to other children in the province. Her dream is a result of the gift of free surgery she received as a little girl.
Her parents say they were very thankful for how Operation Smile has not only given their daughter a dream, but a real future, too. She will be able to continue in school, and someday, get married and have her own family.
In gratitude for the hope they’ve been given, Ngan’s parents say it’s now their turn to give back, and have referred many other parents and children born with facial deformities to Operation Smile Vietnam.
"Many poor families in our province will abandon their child if a baby is born with a cleft lip or cleft palate," Ngan's father said. And he never wants this to happen, knowing the miracle of free surgery exists through Operation Smile.
