Smile Train Stories

New York, NY — In honor of International Women’s Day, we decided to focus the spotlight on two of our leading women in the field, surgeons Sister Dr. Najjuka Liliana Lucy Gerardine and Dr. Jyotsna Murthy. These two remarkable surgeons have dedicated their lives to giving others a second chance at life and are a constant inspiration to our Smile Train community.

Sister Dr. Najjuka Liliana Lucy Gerardine

A Smile Train partner since 2008, Sister Dr. Najjuka, based at Surgical Centre Smile Train Mbarara in Uganda, is a leading force in delivering cleft care throughout Africa. Sister Dr. Najjuka has provided over 650 Smile Train sponsored cleft surgeries on a continent where surgery is a male dominated field.

She is both student and teacher; never passing up an opportunity to improve her surgical skills and organizing cleft missions focused on teaching more local doctors, both men and women, throughout Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and all of East Africa. She is currently in Burundi teaching a perspective local surgeon the proper techniques to one day become a Smile Train partner.

Dr. Jyotsna Murthy

More than a decade after her first Smile Train surgery in 2001, Dr. Jyotsna Murthy MS, M Ch, DNB has provided over 5,000 free cleft lip and palate surgeries. Not to mention all of the surgeons that she has trained and instructed as a professor at Sri Ramachandra University and on countless medical/training missions, including Sister Dr. Najjuka.

Her generosity and compassion know no bounds as she has spearheaded numerous initiatives in India for surgical care and has been integral in Smile Train’s development of new local partners. She is dedicated to not only repairing clefts, but understanding them as well and is involved in many research projects on the psychosocial problems that can develop from unrepaired clefts and the genetic study of how clefts form.

Kampala, Uganda — In Uganda, when a child is born with a cleft lip or palate, tradition dictates that he or she is named Ajok or a variant of it. It literally means “Cursed by God.” Unfortunately, in far too many cases, this “curse” becomes self-fulfilling as the child is shunned and ostracized, destined to lead a life of unwarranted shame and isolation. Before he came to Smile Train partner Uganda Burns and Plastic Surgery Institute Hospital: Mulago National Referral Hospital, six month old Ojok Ismail was destined to this same fate.

Ojok’s mother was a laborer on a farm where she met her husband. They arranged to get married and according to custom, her husband paid the first part of his dowry to her shortly before the birth of their son. When Ojok was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, his father soon ran out on his family believing that his son was cursed and that it was his wife’s fault. Ojok’s mother was left without a husband, support, or the remainder of the dowry to take care of her infant son and so she moved to a larger town to find work.

Unable to afford someone to watch over Ojok while she worked, she brought him to her job at a local bar everyday. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as a month after she started working at the bar, a customer noticed the small baby with a cleft in a makeshift crib in the corner. The customer was a relative of another Smile Train patient who had his surgery fixed the year before. He explained that her son was not cursed, but rather was born with a birth defect called a cleft — and that it could be fixed. He persuaded Ojok’s mother to come with him to see the health worker who had helped his family before and within days, Ojok was admitted for free cleft surgery.

When Ojok was discharged from the hospital with his newly repaired cleft lip, his mother shed tears of joy knowing that he would never have to go through the trials and hardships that she had faced due to his cleft. Ojok left the hospital with a bright new smile and a scheduled date to repair his cleft palate when he gains more strength. His mother left the hospital with a happiness she had not felt in months and the hope that her estranged husband and her village would welcome Ojok back.

Thanks to the wonderful support of our donors, a benevolent stranger, and the hard work of our partner surgeon Dr. Robert Ssentongo, Ojok’s “curse” has been lifted before he was old enough to experience the hardship. Ojok’s mother and family will always remember the moment he was given a new life and will help Smile Train abolish the superstitions associated with clefts.

Supporting awareness is a big part of Smile Train’s work. We strive to get the Smile Train name out to as many communities as we can, and we work to ease the fears of concerned parents, many of whom have never been told that their child’s cleft is completely treatable. Sometimes, however, misconceptions about cleft conditions can be deadly: Kiiza is a young boy from a community that believes that children with clefts are cursed and responsible for the misfortunes of the whole group. Sadly, this is not the first we’ve heard of practices like this. Kiiza’s story underscores the importance of Smile Train’s mission to provide information as well as treatment. Our partner Sister Doctor Najjuka, from Uganda wrote to us about this young man…

Kiiza was brought to us at the age of 13.

He was born to a cattle keeping community which believes that a child born with a craniofacial deformity brings a curse to the herd which results in loss of cattle.

Others like him are traditionally buried alive in a heap of cow dung, at birth and never see the light of day.

Luckily he was delivered in hospital, and by the time his clans mate took a decision about his fate the health care providers had already assured the mother that the child will grow up like any other if he receives care.

Care however didn’t come early since this community lives in the country side. An attempt to send him to school failed because he easily became a laughing stock in class being mocked and ridiculed.

The Mother didn’t lose hope about her son. When an announcement was made inviting all children with this deformity to come in for free surgery Sponsored by Smile Train, with a promise to assist with transport she borrowed money from her neighbors and brought him for surgery.

He was all praises to the Smile Train, and promised that though he is starting his studies late in life, he will work hard and become a doctor to help other children with similar problems, Thanks to the Smile Train.

Myths about clefts are still a major problem in developing countries, and one of the many challenges Smile Train faces. If Kiiza pursues his dream, he will be able to use his first-hand knowledge of the dangers of misinformation to help future generations of cleft children in Uganda.