Smile Train Stories

Brothers Winner Ramadhan (top) and Ahmad Alwi (bottom) before and immediately after free cleft lip surgery

Sulawesi, Indonesia — anyone who has ever been helped by a complete stranger knows just how much that kindness can impact their lives, but few get the chance to repay those who helped them. David Cogswell, a Princeton Fellow teaching at the Anglo-Chinese Junior College in Singapore, recently traveled to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi where he met a poor, local English teacher and farmer named Natsir.

“Natsir showed genuine compassion and hospitality to my friend and me, opening up his home to us, introducing us to his family, and sharing what little food he had to make us feel welcome as his guests. Yet I was deeply affected when I saw his youngest son’s cleft, given the lack of cost-effective medical care in the region.”

When he returned, David reached out to his mother, a speech pathologist in the U.S., to see if she knew where to find help. She contacted Smile Train Regional Director Simon Tobing and Program Manager Deasy Lasarati who were able to track down Natsir soon after. To their surprise, both of Natsir’s sons had cleft lips. On January 14th, Winner Ramadhan and his older brother Ahmad Alwi received free surgery under skilled surgeon Dr. Senja Adianto. They’ll soon both be smiling thanks to Smile Train donors, staff, David, his mother, and their father’s kindness. This wonderful news will carry further as David is spreading the word about Smile Train’s programs to his network of teachers in Southeast Asia to reach even more children.

On November 30th, Smile Train officially announced surpassing 700,000 surgeries. Seven-month-old Wina Anugrah was selected as a representative of this amazing “smilestone.” This is her story.

Jakarata, Indonesia — Despite hard living conditions, Willem and Asima were ecstatic when Asima became pregnant with their second child. They began to put aside the little money they could spare in anticipation of their new daughter’s arrival. However, during the second month of pregnancy, their joy turned to despair, frustration, and fear when Willem was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor.

The money they had saved for Wina’s birth had to be used alongside loans from family, friends, and his employer for Willem’s cancer treatment. As his cancer worsened, Willem weakened and had to quit his job. Asima explained to our partner hospital, “my entire family was so sad. My husband was too weak to do anything and I had to open a little market in front of our house to try to pay for food and his care.” After nine months, Asima had still not given birth and the doctor decided she would need to undergo a Caesarean section.

Willem was no longer strong enough to go to the hospital and could not be by his wife during her surgery — when Wina was born with a cleft lip and palate. “When my husband saw Wina, he cried. He thought it was his fault because he had a tumor.” They tried to remain strong and push forward with the help of their extended family, but three months after Wina was born, Willem passed away.

With the loss of her husband, Asima’s sorrow returned ten fold as her daughters would grow up without their father and Wina would have one less loving parent to help her in a world that looked down upon her for her birth defect. This past fall, a social worker volunteering for Smile Train partner Bandung CLP-Center in Bandung Santosa Hospital arrived at Asima’s door. Wina was enrolled at the hospital and recently underwent free cleft lip surgery and is scheduled for palate surgery when she is a few months older.

Sadly, Wina will grow up without her father, but thanks to our partner hospital, she has a new smile and will not have to face a life of torment and ridicule for how she was born. For Asima, the world was finally starting to lighten again, “Thanks to Jesus Christ for this miracle and to Bandung CLP-Center and Santosa Hospital and the team who helped my daughter. Thanks to Smile Train donors and Dr. Koeswara Amoes who performed Wina’s surgery. I hope my husband can see our beautiful daughter in Heaven and can feel this happiness too.”

Marikina City, Philippines — When Hanef Abdul Samad was born with a cleft lip or “bingot,” his mother saved as much money as she could to travel nearly 500 miles from the conflict-affected island of Mindanao to Manila to find help. She left her home, her family, and everything she had ever known for the slim chance that her son’s cleft lip could somehow be fixed. Shortly after they arrived in Manila, Hanef was lucky to be screened and scheduled for free cleft surgery by a medical mission group from the USA. All of her hopes had come true. Until the medical mission group suffered from internal problems and Hanef’s surgery was among those cancelled.

Hanef and many more who had been scheduled for surgery would not receive it as the mission group had to leave shortly after they corrected the problems that stalled their good work. Angry at the twists of fate that continually kept her son from a normal life, dejected and forlorn, Hanef’s mother continued on her quest to help her son with an even heavier heart. Unable to find work and watch her son, she reached out to a local charitable organization to help her get on her feet. The organization quickly referred her to a relatively new Smile Train partner, Marikina St. Vincent Hospital. Fearing further disappointment, she was very hesitant to bring Hanef in, but realized that for Hanef, she could never abandon hope.

Within days, Hanef received free cleft surgery under skilled surgeon Dr. Edmundo Mercado and a second chance at life. His mother was relieved of her fears and disappointment and with the help of a Smile Train Smile Grant and the local charity, they were able to begin the long journey home: promising to spread the word about Smile Train.

Having a permanent, local presence where partner hospitals can provide surgery year-round holds Smile Train to our promise to never turn a child away and ensures that temporary setbacks and timetables will not result in cancelled surgeries and lost hope.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – A nurse at Cho Ray Hospital happily carried newborn Hong Binh An from the maternity ward to the room where his parents were staying, only to find it empty. The baby’s parents were gone along with all of their belongings as if they had never been there. She never knew why they abandoned their newborn son at the hospital, whether they feared that Binh An’s cleft was an evil omen or were afraid that they wouldn’t be able to take care of him; only that they were gone and the baby she held in her hands had no home to go to because of his cleft lip.

Luckily, the hospital’s compassionate staff took it upon themselves to take care of Hong Binh An at the maternity ward until he was old enough to be taken to a nearby orphanage. Hong Binh An’s curiosity and playfulness quickly won the hearts of everyone at the orphanage. At 8 months old, he was finally strong enough for surgery and two of the orphanage’s staff brought Binh An to Smile Train partner hospital Benh Vien Nhi Dong II.

On July 4, 2011, Binh An received free cleft lip surgery under the skilled hands of Dr. Luu Dinh Tru. After a few days of recovery, Binh An was discharged to the orphanage, his new smile matching his curious and outgoing personality. Thanks to Smile Train donors and our local partner hospital, he has been given a second chance at a normal life. The staff at the orphanage know that with his new smile, Binh An will soon be adopted by a loving family.

Xinie’s family came from Danglas in the Philippines, a very remote town about 140 miles away from Baguio, the nearest city. Her mother, is 19 years old and dependent on Xinie’s grandmother who takes care of her five children: including Xinie’s mother.

When Xinie was born last October 20, 2010 with a cleft lip, the family didn’t even think of getting her cleft repaired. With their current economic status, they had given up hope of cleft surgery; they knew that such an operation would cost them more than they could hope to afford. Last year, they came across Jerry Languisan, one of Project Luke’s community volunteers. Jerry told them that he would bring Xinie to Baguio for surgery. But with a meager family income, they knew that that they won’t be able to shoulder the travel and food expenses they would be incurring. The family told the volunteer that they would still have to save enough money to cover the expenses of their travel.

Some months later Jerry went to Baguio to assist some cataract patients, he mentioned the case and estimated that the family would be needing around Php4,000.00 to come to Baguio. Luckily, Project Luke had just received a grant from Smile Train; Jerry visited the family in Danglas and told them the good news –Xinie didn’t have to wait for months for the operation.

Last May, together with her mother and grandmother, Xinie begin her 7-hour trip to Baguio for the first time. She received surgery from Dr. Dennis Dominguez at Notre Dame de Chartres Hospital. While waiting for her followup, the family said that they had been cutting down on food so they could still have money for bus fare when they go home — even the Xinie’s milk formula had been sacrificed. Project Luke decided to cover their food for their remaining stay at the hospital. The grandmother keep on thanking Smile Train and Project Luke, and to pay forward what blessings she had received now, she hopes and prays that someday Xinie would become a productive citizen.

One of our Smile Train partners, Impact Philippines, which runs four hospitals,  just sent us these pictures along with a special note from the mother of one of our patients. She doesn’t speak English, but Dr. Tian, who performed this great surgery, translated for us.

“I thank you very much for the help you’ve done to my child.  I hope you can continue to help a lot more children. You have made my child beautiful. Thank you very much to all who have helped!”

Dr. Tian wanted to wait until the post operation swelling had gone down and the nurses could finish cleaning her face, but her grandmother insisted that they take the picture with her first new smile.

On their behalf and on behalf of all of our patients and their families, thank you for your support.

Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia -

Aris Warsianto and his new wife were overjoyed when she began to show signs of pregnancy. A daily worker at a logging company earning less than $35 a month, Aris was happily looking forward to the birth of his first child, but his wife’s belly was getting larger than he ever expected. A local doctor soon gave the couple the news: TWINS! Months of earger anticipation culminated on what was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives. As the doctor handed him his first born son, Aris’ joy turned to sorrow and confusion. His son had been born with a grotesque facial deformity. In shock, Aris clutched his infant son in his hands as the doctor showed him his second son, with an even more pronounced cleft. He could not hear his wife’s calls to hold their sons. He could only stare blankly, wondering what he did wrong. The doctor informed her that their sons had cleft lips and cleft palates: tears ran down her cheeks when she saw her sons for the first time and finally understood what he meant.

In an instant, all of their dreams came crashing down. Their hopes of sending their boys to school and raising a  family, replaced by dread, hopelessness, and the knowledge that their boys would never have normal lives. The doctors had mentioned that a surgery could repair Ahamd Alfin Darmawan and Ahmad Alfan Darmawan, but Aris knew they would never be able to afford the surgery. For weeks, he wrestled with this despair and concluded that the only way to prevent the pain and suffering his boys would face was to end their lives. He thought of numerous ways to do it, but he could never bring himself to commit such an horrific act. Aris and his family would suffer, but they would suffer together.

Then one day, after hearing of the twins,  a man from a nearby village came to speak with Aris. The man arrived with his own young child who was born with a cleft, but had received surgery through Smile Train. Aris ran his finger across the child’s lip as the man told him that the Surabaya Cleft Lip Palate Center would do the surgeries for free. Aris did not wait. The next day, the boys were being examined at Surbaya Cleft Lip and Palate Center as the staff showed the parents pictures of other patients who had the surgery and how different they looked afterwards. The staff set a surgery date for both little boys and lifted the heavy burden from their young parents, renewing the hope and joy that preceded their births. As our Smile Train doctors brought Ahmad Alfin and Ahmad Alfan out of the operating room, Aris could not hold back  tears of happiness.

Thanks to our amazing partner in East Java, the benevolvent stranger who had suffered the same pains, and our donors, Ahmad Alfin and Ahmad Alfan have been given beautiful smiles that will last a lifetime.