Children born with facial deformities such as cleft lips and cleft palates are all too often sentenced to a life of isolation, shame, disfigurement, public humiliation and private pain.
However, there is reason for hope.

It is called Operation Smile.

Operation Smile is a global alliance of organisations working to serve children in 22 countries in Asia, Central and South America, Africa and the Middle East.

Operation Smile Mission in Kenya (OSMIK) has been active since 1987. Since then, Operation Smile volunteers have provided free surgery to over 5000 Kenyan children.

Throughout the world, Operation Smile volunteers repair childhood facial deformities while building public and private partnerships that advocate for sustainable healthcare systems for children and families.

Together, we create smiles, change lives, heal humanity.

Brigid Nanjala was 13 years old and living in Kaptrit, a small village near Kitale in western Kenya, when her family learned Operation Smile doctors would be providing surgery at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital in Nakuru.

Brigid was born with a cleft lip, and other children were afraid of her. Her parents did not have the money for surgery, nor did they even know that the repair of Brigid's lip was possible. Their neighbor, Joseph Zewedi, told Brigid's family about Operation Smile. He also started a collection in the village to raise the money - about $3.50 - for a one-way bus ticket to Nakuru. Joseph raised the money, and he and Brigid began their eight-hour journey to Nakuru.

When Operation Smile visited Brigid and her family three years later, her mother confessed that she never believed that Brigid's lip would be repaired. She wanted the volunteers of Operation Smile to know that she is eternally grateful. As for Brigid, the children in her village now receive her as if she holds some kind of magic. She has more friends than ever.

Brigid before

Brigid after