A reason for the little ones to smile

MediaCorp DJ Carol Smith joins Operation Smile mission to Cambodia to help less fortunate children

FOR the first nine years of his life, the people in Thanh’s village called him “Sut” — which means “split lip” in Vietnamese — as a result of his cleft lip. On his first day of school, he was teased so badly by the other children that he refused to go back.

All this changed, however, after he received cleft lip surgery from medical specialists during an Operation Smile mission trip to the southern Vietnamese city of Vung Tau.

Thanh is just one of more than 115,000 children and young adults who have received free surgeries for facial deformities such as cleft lips, cleft palates, facial tumours and burns since Operation Smile was founded in 1982. Every year, the international medical charity coordinates medical missions to 26 countries in Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Operation Smile Singapore serves as a resource centre for the Asian region, covering Cambodia, China, the Philippines, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. It is also the adopted charity of MediaCorp radio station Class 95FM for 2008.

This November, as part of a partnership between MediaCorp and DBS, Class 95FM DJ Carol Smith will join an Operation Smile mission to Cambodia as a non-medical volunteer, where she will accompany beneficiaries and their families through the entire process.

Explaining why she “jumped at the opportunity” to be a part of this mission, the 33-year-old radio personality said: “The child beneficiaries of Operation Smile have been through a lot of discomfort, fear and anxiety. All of us know what it’s like to be ostracised for being even a little different, so imagine what these children go through.”

In developing countries, one in 500 children are born with correctable facial deformities, which can be life-threatening and emotionally traumatising. Around the world, 200,000 children are born every year with a facial deformity and tens of thousands remain untreated. Many of these children have difficulties eating or speaking, and some are kept out of school.

On a typical two-week Operation Smile mission, approximately 300 to 500 patients receive free medical evaluations, and an average of 100 to 150 are given free surgical treatment.

Besides changing these children’s lives through surgeries which can take as little as 45 minutes, Operation Smile provides education and training to medical volunteers in its partner countries, and provides key medical equipment – laying the groundwork for sustainable healthcare systems.

Carol — who is currently single, although she half-jokingly revealed that she hopes to have enough children for “a football team one day, if not more” — said: “I get a lot of joy from interacting with children because of their innocence, charm, and purity. I think Operation Smile brings hope to each child, and I’d like to be there to comfort them, and be their friend on their journey of hope.”

In addition to helping to “put a smile on the children’s faces” this November, Carol hopes to accomplish two other key goals: To better understand their circumstances, and to bring their plight to the attention of others.

She said: “I’d like to be part of the journey of the beneficiaries while I am there, to get a real feel of life as seen through their eyes, and to listen and bring back their stories to share with fellow Singaporeans – who will, hopefully, be moved to help in their own way.” LYNETTE KOH MediaCorp DJ Carol Smith joins Operation Smile mission to Cambodia to help less fortunate children

FOR the first nine years of his life, the people in Thanh’s village called him “Sut” — which means “split lip” in Vietnamese — as a result of his cleft lip. On his first day of school, he was teased so badly by the other children that he refused to go back.

All this changed, however, after he received cleft lip surgery from medical specialists during an Operation Smile mission trip to the southern Vietnamese city of Vung Tau.

Thanh is just one of more than 115,000 children and young adults who have received free surgeries for facial deformities such as cleft lips, cleft palates, facial tumours and burns since Operation Smile was founded in 1982. Every year, the international medical charity coordinates medical missions to 26 countries in Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Operation Smile Singapore serves as a resource centre for the Asian region, covering Cambodia, China, the Philippines, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. It is also the adopted charity of MediaCorp radio station Class 95FM for 2008.

This November, as part of a partnership between MediaCorp and DBS, Class 95FM DJ Carol Smith will join an Operation Smile mission to Cambodia as a non-medical volunteer, where she will accompany beneficiaries and their families through the entire process.

Explaining why she “jumped at the opportunity” to be a part of this mission, the 33-year-old radio personality said: “The child beneficiaries of Operation Smile have been through a lot of discomfort, fear and anxiety. All of us know what it’s like to be ostracised for being even a little different, so imagine what these children go through.”

In developing countries, one in 500 children are born with correctable facial deformities, which can be life-threatening and emotionally traumatising. Around the world, 200,000 children are born every year with a facial deformity and tens of thousands remain untreated. Many of these children have difficulties eating or speaking, and some are kept out of school.

On a typical two-week Operation Smile mission, approximately 300 to 500 patients receive free medical evaluations, and an average of 100 to 150 are given free surgical treatment.

Besides changing these children’s lives through surgeries which can take as little as 45 minutes, Operation Smile provides education and training to medical volunteers in its partner countries, and provides key medical equipment – laying the groundwork for sustainable healthcare systems.

Carol — who is currently single, although she half-jokingly revealed that she hopes to have enough children for “a football team one day, if not more” — said: “I get a lot of joy from interacting with children because of their innocence, charm, and purity. I think Operation Smile brings hope to each child, and I’d like to be there to comfort them, and be their friend on their journey of hope.”

In addition to helping to “put a smile on the children’s faces” this November, Carol hopes to accomplish two other key goals: To better understand their circumstances, and to bring their plight to the attention of others.

She said: “I’d like to be part of the journey of the beneficiaries while I am there, to get a real feel of life as seen through their eyes, and to listen and bring back their stories to share with fellow Singaporeans – who will, hopefully, be moved to help in their own way.” LYNETTE KOH MediaCorp DJ Carol Smith joins Operation Smile mission to Cambodia to help less fortunate children

FOR the first nine years of his life, the people in Thanh’s village called him “Sut” — which means “split lip” in Vietnamese — as a result of his cleft lip. On his first day of school, he was teased so badly by the other children that he refused to go back.

All this changed, however, after he received cleft lip surgery from medical specialists during an Operation Smile mission trip to the southern Vietnamese city of Vung Tau.

Thanh is just one of more than 115,000 children and young adults who have received free surgeries for facial deformities such as cleft lips, cleft palates, facial tumours and burns since Operation Smile was founded in 1982. Every year, the international medical charity coordinates medical missions to 26 countries in Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Operation Smile Singapore serves as a resource centre for the Asian region, covering Cambodia, China, the Philippines, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. It is also the adopted charity of MediaCorp radio station Class 95FM for 2008.

This November, as part of a partnership between MediaCorp and DBS, Class 95FM DJ Carol Smith will join an Operation Smile mission to Cambodia as a non-medical volunteer, where she will accompany beneficiaries and their families through the entire process.

Explaining why she “jumped at the opportunity” to be a part of this mission, the 33-year-old radio personality said: “The child beneficiaries of Operation Smile have been through a lot of discomfort, fear and anxiety. All of us know what it’s like to be ostracised for being even a little different, so imagine what these children go through.”

In developing countries, one in 500 children are born with correctable facial deformities, which can be life-threatening and emotionally traumatising. Around the world, 200,000 children are born every year with a facial deformity and tens of thousands remain untreated. Many of these children have difficulties eating or speaking, and some are kept out of school.

On a typical two-week Operation Smile mission, approximately 300 to 500 patients receive free medical evaluations, and an average of 100 to 150 are given free surgical treatment.

Besides changing these children’s lives through surgeries which can take as little as 45 minutes, Operation Smile provides education and training to medical volunteers in its partner countries, and provides key medical equipment – laying the groundwork for sustainable healthcare systems.

Carol — who is currently single, although she half-jokingly revealed that she hopes to have enough children for “a football team one day, if not more” — said: “I get a lot of joy from interacting with children because of their innocence, charm, and purity. I think Operation Smile brings hope to each child, and I’d like to be there to comfort them, and be their friend on their journey of hope.”

In addition to helping to “put a smile on the children’s faces” this November, Carol hopes to accomplish two other key goals: To better understand their circumstances, and to bring their plight to the attention of others.

She said: “I’d like to be part of the journey of the beneficiaries while I am there, to get a real feel of life as seen through their eyes, and to listen and bring back their stories to share with fellow Singaporeans – who will, hopefully, be moved to help in their own way.” LYNETTE KOH