By Jessica Hansen, Executive Director

In 2018, I was sitting at the Commonwealth Club here in San Francisco, eagerly absorbing an interview of my dear friend Anita Stangl by journalist Jonathan Curiel. Anita is a Co-Founder and Special Advisor of Alliance for Smiles and was onstage sharing about her journey that led to thousands of children receiving life-changing surgeries. (Audio recording of interview available here: www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2018-06-08/alliance-smiles )

The entire conversation was incredibly informative and inspiring, but one response of Anita’s rang in my mind long after the talk was done. If I’m completely honest with myself, it rings there still. Anita mentioned how every few minutes (around three or so) a child with a cleft lip or palate is born, and how one in ten of those children do not survive their infancy, killed by their own communities for being born with this highly treatable condition. That statistic hit me like a ton of bricks. I’d had no idea. 

It happens for many reasons, but chief among them is that people recognize that there are few trained surgeons in some regions of the world who can help, and even if they exist, surgery may be inaccessible or unaffordable for most families, especially those living in poverty. People in these areas may know that organizations like Alliance for Smiles exist, they may think they are sparing a child or even themselves a more difficult life. In other cases, the condition may be thought of superstitiously as a curse or punishment. 

The children who manage to survive face numerous issues, difficulty breathing, eating, speaking and increased risks of infections and other health challenges. On top of this, they can be seen and treated like monsters by their own communities and peers – often kept out of school and excluded from society. 

Anita went on to explain about realizing that a brief surgery (around an hour and a half for a cleft lip and double that for palates) was all these children needed for a completely different life, one of acceptance and opportunity. What made this particularly exciting was that she also came to realize that there are thousands of people with the skills needed who were willing to travel halfway around the world to volunteer their time and talents to make these surgeries possible. 

That is how twenty years ago, this incredible organization was founded, and how – with your help – it has been able to re-shape the faces, lives, and futures of thousands of children across Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. We’ve now spent two decades bringing together the children and families who need surgeries with the volunteers, facilities, and equipment needed to provide them. Beyond that, we are training and equipping the next generation of medical providers around the world, making more high-quality surgeries available, even in the most remote reaches of the world.

This last spring teams have been changing lives in Guatemala and Ecuador, where our volunteers shared the stories of some standout patients and their families:

• • Handing a child over to a complete stranger from a strange land who doesn’t look like you or speak your language can be a terrifying prospect for a loving mother. We encountered such a mother in Retalhuleu, Guatemala. Her ten month old baby had a cleft, but the mom was “exceptionally scared, and almost canceled the baby’s surgery”. Luckily, AfS volunteers are not only incredible professionals, they are also deeply empathetic, understanding, and supportive humans. The entire team, but especially Mission Director Silvana, patiently provided care, information, and encouragement to the mother, which gave her the confidence to proceed. When her baby was recovering well and returned to her, she was overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude, knowing that her baby would recover and grow, likely never knowing the difficulties they avoided thanks to the surgery and the team.

• • Our dentist in Guayaquil, Ecuador shared about two patients that really stood out to her. The first was a 14 year old patient with Down Syndrome, who had never had her teeth cleaned before. She was too nervous and didn’t want them cleaned, so via a translator, she agreed to have them looked at and “just counted”. Since that went well, she then agreed to some cleaning. The cleaning was so gentle that it put both the patient and her mom at ease, and by the end they were bubbling over with “thank yous” and hugs. The second patient was only three years old. He had rampant black decay on all of his upper teeth. With limited access to specialized dental tools, the only options were to extract them all or try to save them with hand-held tools. Given his young age, the decision was made to try to save as many teeth as possible. Luckily, they were all able to be restored and preserved using bonding techniques, and this boy’s beautifully restored, healthy, white smile brought his mother to tears.

Coming up next for Alliance for Smiles are surgical missions to Vietnam, Ghana, and beyond. Children’s lives and smiles are beaming brighter all around the world thanks to you and your support. So, if there is someone in your life who (like me several years ago) doesn’t know just how many children this impacts or how life-saving and life-changing surgeries can be, Cleft Awareness Month is the perfect time to share the statistics and a link to Alliance for Smiles with them. Together, we can continue making the world a healthier, safer place for the children who need it most.