In my work in the Peace Corps in Madagascar, I have witnessed multiple babies born with a cleft who pass away due to malnourishment. Babies with cleft conditions so severe, they never learn to breast feed and their mothers stop producing milk. Parents are left tirelessly trying to find solutions on how to keep their child alive.

Last year I biked over 80 kilometers to find children or adults suffering from cleft lip and cleft palate to tell them that there is a solution, that Operation Smile can provide free, safe surgeries and, ultimately, help save lives.

In my quest to bring patients from villages in Madagascar to Operation Smile medical mission sites, I stumbled upon a young mother who was holding a tiny fragile baby. The baby cried and couldn’t produce tears due to how malnourished he was. I told her about the upcoming Operation Smile medical mission and she agreed to meet me on the day of departure so I could take her and her baby to the medical mission site.

On the day we were supposed to meet to go up to the capital city, she never showed up. I worried, I called the contact number I had with no luck. I continued with my mission and gathered seven other patients in need to accompany them to the medical mission site. Upon my return, I biked back out to her village. Once there I spoke to the village chief where I initially talked with the mother. The chief helped me find the mother, who greeted me silently and said: “My baby died two days before I was supposed to meet you.”

This is the reality. I am not sure if Operation Smile could have operated on this child in such an unhealthy state, but I’m sure the team of medical volunteers could have helped the mother find ways to nourish her baby, feed her baby to gain a healthy weight.  In that moment, I promised myself that I would try even harder to find all the cleft lip and cleft palate patients I could and bring them up to the Operation Smile medical missions.

Often, Operation Smile medical volunteers wonder why individuals do not seek surgery. I can only speak for the conversations with the people I have had here. The majority are scared. The majority have not heard of Operation Smile because they live in the countryside, do not have phones, do not have radios and electricity is scarce, often limited to two to three hours a day in some villages. The majority of people I talk to do not have the funds to make the journey to the medical mission site or even strength to walk from their village all the way to a village where there is a direct transit to the Operation Smile medical mission site.

This is why I help spread the word and help gather patients to accompany them to the medical mission.

I start with flyers and personal stories. I often bring former Operation Smile patients with me to remote villages and vouch for all the great work Operation Smile does for its patients and help ease some of the fear often associated with surgery and doctors. These “promoters” become the back bone of my search, they are my eyes and ears in the villages. Since they have been operated on by Operation Smile, they help promote the work of Operation Smile to others with cleft lip and cleft palate, letting them know there is a safe, free and trusted solution. 

I also talk to church leaders and village chiefs, who are trusted in the community, to help me spread the word and gain the trust of the people to help me help them. I explain to them the medical program details and let them become spokespeople for Operation Smile in their villages.

Lastly I bike. I bike and I walk to every village I can carrying around 50-60 flyers handing them out. Some people just stare, some people in fear and others in amazement because of the fact I am speaking Malagasy. But in all they listen. That’s most important. Sometimes I sit and have coffee with them, talk some more and slowly but surely one person mentions: “Oh yea in that village over there, you know by the red building across from the church –  there’s a child with a cleft lip.” So I walk over, and indeed there is that beautiful smile I am looking for.

This is why I am passionate about Operation Smile's work around the world and here in Madagascar. And this is why I will continue to do what I do to tell people about Operation Smile, to build trust and, ultimately, help a mother keep her baby healthy. 

Together, we are all part of the Operation Smile story. Take a moment to share with us why you're involved with Operation Smile. How your life has changed forever. It is, after all, your story and your commitment that helps make our work possible.

-Charlotte Steppling, Peace Corps Volunteer, Madagascar