For Maria Alejandra Berberian of Panama, our recent Latinoamerica en Accion conference inspired her to give 100 percent to every situation.
After all, her fellow student volunteers need her to do her best.
"This LEA taught me that what it takes to make a significant change is to have the right group of people doing the right thing for the right reason — that is Operation Smile for me," the 17-year-old said.
We've been reflecting on the lessons we learned from our LEA in Colombia, and more participants shared their takeaways.
From global to local: In Hampton Roads, our student volunteers marked the Valentine's Day holiday with our Spread the Love campaign to bring smiles to Operation Smile's hometown. From gifting homemade treats to firefighters to tutoring elementary schoolers, about a dozen clubs tapped into Operation Smile's spirit of service, spreading the word about our organization while doing good for their community.
So much good, in fact, we couldn't capture it all in just one blurb. So we rounded it all up for a photo gallery on Student Programs' website.
Spread the Love: Just because you're not in Hampton Roads doesn't mean you can't bring Operation Smile to your community, too! Ava Tankersley led her club's Spread the Love effort at Hampton Roads Academy, and she's drafted up five ways to bring the Spread the Love campaign to your hometown.
To celebrate the success of our Spread the Love campaign, we're bringing our community together once again and putting our students in the spotlight with our 757's Got Talent show. From an art exhibit to performances — and even yo-yo spinning — Hampton Roads high schoolers will take the stage and compete for the top prizes.
Global change: In the first two months of 2020, we've held three Mission Training Workshops on three continents -- in the United States, in Colombia, and most recently in South Africa. In Cape Town, 10 student volunteers learned how to teach the fundamentals of health care to our young patients during medical missions. We want to thank our guest speakers, Wendy Bradshaw, Sakeenah Kerbelker and Leila Amien, as well as our very own Fiola Lujabe, for a successful workshop!
A look at 2019: We're excited to share our Annual Report for the 2019 fiscal year with you all!
Drawing on the theme of "The Intersection of Our Legacy and Our Future," the 2019 Annual Report illustrates how Operation Smile remains dedicated to its patients as a trusted global provider of cleft care. Our decades of expertise positions us as a valuable partner in training future generations of health professionals and strengthening the health systems where we work. As keen collaborators, we build trust and foster relationships that bring the world closer to a future where health and dignity are improved through safe surgery.
Through this long-form webpage, we embark on a global journey that highlights many of our key milestones achieved in the 2019 fiscal year including a highlight of the ISLC Cleft Panel series, our announcement of eight new guidelines for patient safety alongside Vietnam's Ministry of Health, our return to Mozambique, surgical training rotations in Rwanda, and so much more.
We hope you find this piece to be both a valuable source of information as well as inspiration!
Operation Smile Shamrock Final Mile: We're calling on elementary schoolers running the Final Mile to be a Smile Hero: A young changemaker who raises awareness of our cause and makes more smiles possible.
Care and share: We're kicking off two pilot programs — the Cook Stove Project and the Dignity Project — and we need your help. By spreading the word, we can rally up more donations for cook stoves and women's health care kits: Help us by sharing this link and this one!
The Story Behind the Smile
TOP SHOT: Ten-month-old Mohammed and his mom, Sadiya, are all smiles before his surgery for his cleft lip. Mohammed has an infectious laugh, and all the nurses on the ward love playing with him, reported U-Voice student storyteller Nicholas Nottage. Read his stories from the ongoing medical mission in Durgapur, India.
New Jersey: To mark the school's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, The Pingry School club rallied the lower, middle and high school cohorts to make sock puppets together.
New Jersey: It just wouldn't be February without Lawrence High School's annual U-Lead with Love! They heard from guest speakers who attended Operation Smile medical missions, and everyone worked together to make smile bags.
Pennsylvania: The clubs from Mount Saint Joseph Academy, Moravian Academy, Academy of Notre Dame and Conestoga High School teamed up and hosted a movie fundraiser, showing "Wonder" at a theater in Ambler. They raised enough to fund two surgeries and sold about 50 tickets, raising awareness for Operation Smile in their local communities.
New Hampshire: The Bedford High School club has our vote: They raised close to $600 by selling treats at a primary polling station. Gov. Chris Sununu even dropped by to get cookies, chat about Operation Smile and snap a selfie!
Virginia Beach: Inspired by a philanthropy assignment for his English class, Tomas Baptista Conde of Great Neck Middle spearheaded a collection drive during a Christmas party with his Portuguese NATO community. Operation Smile's co-founders greeted him when he delivered the donations to our headquarters.
Virginia Beach: As part of an annual tradition, elementary schoolers at Cape Henry Collegiate made puppets for patients to play with during medical missions.
North Carolina: Prosthodontist Dr. Pimenta spoke to the club members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Pimenta works at UNC's Craniofacial Center.
Florida: Thanks to the dedicated club members and their adviser Shannon Martinez, the Valentine's Day grams fundraiser at Gator Run Elementary raised more than $1,000!
Texas: To mark Valentine's Day, the Vandegrift High School club made cards for our patients.
Arizona: The club at Perry High School enjoyed a taste of success: Their chocolate fundraiser reached their $3,600 goal!
Colorado:Carlos Carale's no-sew dog toy means business: His club at Swink High School got behind this fundraiser idea, and together they made 100 toys out of old T-shirts in just one hour. Local veterinarians joined in the effort, selling these toys at their offices.
Colorado: Student Matt Deckerman shared his mission experience in India with the audience during the Rock Canyon High School U-Lead this month. After hearing from Matt and other speakers, they channeled that inspiration into action and made sock puppets for our patients.
California: The clubs at University City High School and Castro Valley High said they enjoyed a successful club rushes and rallied a bunch of new members.
California: The Clovis North High School club had their hands full with their successful sock puppet service project!
Ohio: The Ohio State University club's doughnut fundraiser raised $500 in just four hours!
Canada: Our very own Mary Grant recently attended the Catholic Educators' Conference, and our OS Canada team welcomed two new clubs at Glenview Park Secondary School and Fleetwood Park. They're also looking forward to their first official Canadian U-Lead, which will take place March 7 at Western University.
Thailand: Our Student Programs rep, Dean Madeira, ran the St. Joseph School Family Fun Run in January and tallied 60,000 baht for the organization!
Malawi: The students' Valentine's Day flower sale raised money to purchase warm clothing and other necessities for our patients during the medical mission in Zomba this March.
Germany: This is the kind of magic that happens when passion and purpose come together: Dance enthusiast and Operation Smile volunteer Emily Yamishita holds regular contemporary dance classes for her young classmates at Frankfurt International School, and this month, their workshop with 26 students raised 780 euros for Operation Smile.
UAE: The Operation Smile team gathered their student leaders for a workshop day, digging into different tactics for boosting their clubs at school.
South Africa: The Cato family is at it again, creating change by leading the charge to recycle plastic caps! Thanks to Kiran Cato for helping his school notch 140 kg by the end of January!
EDUCATORS' CORNER
Podcasting for Perspective
Through her Operation Smile podcast project, Brywood Elementary teacher Kathryn Scholl got her California fifth-graders thinking creatively and with compassion.
"So much of what we teach our students does not come from a textbook," she told Student Programs in an email. "The lessons they learn through project-based learning provides them real scenarios where they can problem solve and think critically. … Operation Smile is an amazing organization that teaches students not only empathy and compassion for the doctors and patients, but gives them an opportunity to get involved immediately."
MEDICAL MISSION MOMENTS
India: Student volunteers Blake Parker and Sammy Knoblauch were recently in Durgapur, India, focusing on making our young patients feel comfortable and teaching them oral hygiene, burn care and nutrition. The students say it was important for them to make an impact on the Durgapur community through this education, and they hope it benefits the lives of the local people. Both girls hope to bring their experiences back with them to their schools to encourage their peers to get excited and try something new to give back to their communities and other communities around the world in any way they can!
Thailand: During the recent medical mission in Mae Hong Son, the student volunteers got to take part in a Q&A with Dr. Apichai Angspatt. He's the head of trauma and chief surgeon at Chulalongkorn Hospital who also serves as Operation Smile Thailand's field operations director.
STUDENTS ON DECK TO SERVE
We're sending international student volunteers to the following medical missions:*
Antsirabe, Madagascar: March 6-13
Oujda, Morocco: March 6-13
Managua, Nicaragua: March 14-21
Asuncion, Paraguay: March 15-20
Siliguri, India: March 15-23
Santa Cruz, Bolivia: March 21-27
Cebu, Philippines: March 21-27
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: March 23-30
*Schedule is subject to change. Please check operationsmile.org for details.
