This
past two weeks in Bhubaneswar 101 surgeries were completed. 101 patients lives
were changed and so were their families. It was incredible to interact and play
with patients before surgery and witness the amazing change that occurred
within an hour or so. The moment when a parent sees their child for the first
time following surgery or a patient looks at himself or herself in a mirror for
the first time is indescribable. One man, who was one of the last patients to
have surgery, cried silently as he stared at his face in the mirror. The surgery gives patients new hope of
attending school, getting married, acquiring a job and much more. For many who have been ostracized or teased for much of their lives it represent freedom. Freedom to be normal and to be accepted and valued for your true self rather than your appearance.
Volunteer
clinical coordinator, Lisa Friessen, stated it perfectly, “It is still always a
miracle to me how you can get 50 people who have never seen each other before,
from different parts of the world come together to give hope to children and
families they have never met and very likely will never see again. Thank you to
everyone from India, USA, UK, Ireland, Russia, Panama, Jordan, Australia, and
China!” Thank you team! Every volunteer worked hard this week, battling power
outages and lack of air conditioning or fans, to provide quality care to every
patient that came through screening and surgery. It was a joy to meet everyone
and get to know them throughout the mission!
Thank you to Operation Smile who is able to help thousands of people on missions throughout the world. Thank you for valuing Student Programs and enabling both high school and university students to be part of such an incredible mission.
"Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy." (Ghandi)
I
will continue to update the blog with patient stories from Bhubaneswar and
stories about the people I met while working in Uganda!
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| Student Programs Volunteers: Daniel, Caroline and Jennifer |
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| Daniel and our bus driver |
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| This family was so happy after their daughters surgery |
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| This man cried as he looked into the mirror after his surgery |
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| Volunteers Daniel, Katan, and Tim |
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| Some of the volunteers at the final party |
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| Daniel, Jennifer, me (Rachael), and Caroline at the aiport |
