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

China - Min Zhu

My name is Min Zhu Lei. I'm three years old and already, I'm wary of strangers. All too often, they stare at me, or look away in disgust or horror. I have a cleft lip and my mother and I came to the medical mission in Xi'an, China looking for help. My family, including my mother, father, older brother and sister live in very poor conditions, and ever since I was born, we've been looking for an opportunity or money to get treatment for me.

When my mother was almost without hope, she saw an announcement on TV saying that Operation Smile was coming, and my father started to put aside money from his meager wages as a taxi driver for the two-hour bus trip to Xi'an. Their hard work paid off - just look at the difference in my face, my eyes, not just my mouth. My transformation has brought hope to my whole family.

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.