Smile Stories: Before and After Smiles...

Operation Smile's volunteer medical professionals travel around the world to treat children suffering from facial deformities. Their efforts mean new smiles for thousands of children, including these former patients:

Ngan

Min Zhu

Brigid

Guillermo

Arnoldo

Thanh

Kenya - Brigid

I was born with a cleft lip in Kaptrit, a small village in western Kenya. My parents didn't know that the repair of my lip was possible, and many of the children in our village were afraid of me. When I was 13, my family learned from our neighbor, Joseph Zewedi, that Operation Smile doctors would be providing surgery in Nakuru. Unfortunately, my parents didn't have enough money for the trip to the hospital. Kind-hearted Joseph started a collection in the village for the money - about $3.50 - for a one-way bus ticket to the mission site. Joseph raised the funds, and he and I began our eight-hour journey to Nakuru.

Three years later, my mother confessed that she never believed my lip would actually be repaired during the medical mission. She wanted the volunteers of Operation Smile to know that she is eternally grateful. So am I. Now, the children in my village not only accept me, they believe I hold some kind of magic. I have more friends than ever.

See photos of Roma Downey’s inspirational journey to Vietnam with an Operation Smile volunteer medical team.

Watch the video of Roma Downey's journey to Vietnam with Operation Smile.

See updated photos of children from the 2003 Vietnam medical mission.