Sitting side by side and hiding their innocent giggles behind their hands, you would never know that Yang Xinmeng and Liu Xiaoyi had just met today at an Operation Smile medical mission in China. These two girls, not far apart in age, were inseparable throughout the week, each providing the other comfort, companionship and compassion. 

Operation Smile medical missions not only serve to provide physical healing, but emotional as well. For Yang Xinmeng and Liu Xiaoyi, meeting at this medical mission helped their emotional healing in a way that none of our highly qualified medical volunteers could imagine. 

Just seeing that they are not alone in their condition is often enough to dry many children’s tears. Making a friend, sometimes for the first time ever, begins the process of emotional healing from living a lifetime in what feels like complete loneliness.

As Liu Xiaoyi, a vibrant 10-year-old from Lian Chi, describes the isolation she feels at school, 9-year-old Yang Xinmeng continuously nods in agreement. Both girls were born with a cleft palate. 

“I don’t speak at school, they laugh at the way I talk,”Liu Xiaoyi explains. Her cleft palate causes for a speech impediment that makes acceptance intangible. Yang Xinmeng, who suffers from a cleft palate as well, can relate to Liu Xiaoyi’s struggles -- struggles that no one so young should ever have to face. Liu Xiaoyi finds an escape from the bullying by singing and dancing alone and for Yang Xinmeng, she finds refuge in drawing pictures at her home in Jinan.

The girls feed off of each other’s excitement while awaiting their surgery. This surgery will help make Liu Xiaoyi’s dreams of becoming an actress real someday. And for Yang Xinmeng, being able to speak properly will give her the confidence she needs to fulfill her dream of becoming a famous painter.

As this new friendship unfolds between the girls, it is silently understood that they are no longer alone in their hardships.