Operation Smile week was an amazing experience – one I will never
forget. I am truly ecstatic to volunteer
with such an awesome organization – a fantastic opportunity to help make a
difference. Operation Smile goes to over
60 countries providing operations on cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial
deformities. Children who are born with
cleft lips are often unable to speak, eat or smile and a forty-five minute
surgery can fix that. This year,
Operation Smile South Africa made their inaugural mission to Malawi and
provided 158 people with surgery (their goal was 125) and made even more people
smile.
Although not 100% Kathi, since I was suffering from kidney pain (due to
lack of hydrating during travel) and a possible giardia scare (still waiting on
the results for that one), I still felt the awesome of the week. I just wish I had more energy to give back
some of the awesome.
Day 24 of Awesome
I had to be in Lilongwe by noon for the Operation Smile announcement. I walked to the bus stop to find that the bus
would not be running today, so I panicked and started walking. A few hours later I got a ride to the spot
where I like to hitch and got a ride (before I had a chance to open my coke) to
Salima. In Salima, I caught a ride
quickly to Lilongwe and once I got to Lilongwe town, I got a direct ride to the
hospital and arrived at 11:30. The
damage? Four hundred kwacha (less than
two dollars)! I got lucky – someone was
looking out for me – someone knew I was destined for this week with Operation
Smile.
I went straight to work filling out medical records for patients undergoing
surgery the next day. From there we made
announcements to the families who were qualified for receiving the surgery
(this can be an upsetting day for some, but usually the surgery cannot be
performed because the child is too young or it is not the type of surgery that
Operation Smile performs). A day of
excitement and madness – the patients cheered and rearranged their belongings
(which took a lot of Chichewa translating, which is not my expertise) but
finally everyone was in the right place.
I smiled at my amazing friends (Carolyn, Cassie, and Shelly) knowing we
were in for a fun-filled week.
We then proceeded to eat an incredible Indian buffet at a fancy restaurant
in Lilongwe – so fancy, I had never heard of it before. I laughed and chatted with the Operation
Smile team and felt great about the upcoming busy days.
Day 25
The first day is where logistics are born and it was quite hectic trying to
get those straightened out. I walked
patients from surgery to the post-op ward where they would stay the night. I only know a few phrases in Chichewa so I
doubt I was much comfort to the relieved parents and drugged out children. However, today, an 11-month old baby breast
fed for the first time. Immediately
after surgery, the baby woke and her mother stood over her smiling. The nurse told her she should breast feed her
baby, but the mother was hesitant. The
nurse insisted and so she tried. The
result? A happy mom and baby.
Day 26
We walked through post-op this morning and I admired the little bandages
covering tiny repaired lips – they looked like mustaches and made me
smile. Underneath those band-aid
mustaches were tiny lips sewn together, relieving these children of ridicule
and staring while giving them confidence and a smile. It was brilliant, really and I felt giddy.
I spoke to several patients in Chitonga – which increased my sense of
usefulness. Not knowing Chichewa has
been a huge struggle during the week. I
can’t help translate and I can’t provide kind words of reassurance. I can only stare into the scared, confused
eyes of patients and shrug my shoulders at the English-speaking nurses who want
to know what’s going on. However, I
found my tribe – Tongas in the hospital!
I found two who thought it was amazing I could speak Tonga (as less than
1% of Malawi speaks this language) and we shared a bond. I felt relief.
Day 27
Today I got to geek out as I scrubbed into surgery. I sat in on a little boy with a cleft
lip. They knocked him out with gas,
taped down his eyes, marked his lips for the incision, made the cuts, burned
the flesh a bit to make the muscles fuse together (like my technical talk?) and
sewed him up in 45 minutes. Incredible!
After surgery, a little girl in the recovery room reached up in the air and
waved for me to come closer. She just
underwent surgery, had no signs of pain or discomfort; she just had her brave
face on. She merely wanted me to be
closer and so I said the few words in Chichewa that I knew and she nodded. Simple and sweet.
Day 28
A man from Dowa district heard about Operation Smile on the radio. His community has many people with cleft lips
and palates but were too scared that it was witchcraft. He decided to go anyway. He showed up in the afternoon and was
immediately put through screening and operated on and low-and-behold, it was not
witchcraft!
Happy Thanksgiving! We were treated
to Thanksgiving dinner at Blue Ginger by one of the American doctors on the
team, Elizabeth. It was family-style
Indian and it felt good to get dressed up for a fun night with good people. It was a sweet treat and I know we were all
grateful for the non-traditional, but very family-like Thanksgiving meal.
Day 29
One patient broke his mirror walking back to post-op. He was busy gazing at his new smile when it
fell from his hand and hit the concrete hard.
The mirror shattered and so did his smile...temporarily. I picked up the glass pieces and promised to
bring him a new mirror. I returned with
a brand-new mirror and caught him gazing at his smile once more with one of the
broken shards. I guess he held on to one
of the bigger pieces of the mirror (probably half-expecting me not to replace
it) and stuck it in his pocket. With the
new mirror he could see his whole face and that truly made him smile.
BLTs were served at lunch and I almost wept. Not to mention the pumpkin pie from the
ambassador. I felt spoiled!
Dinner and festivities followed at the Crossroads Hotel where I received a
certificate, a t-shirt and lots of hugs.
Operation Smile felt like a family.
Day 30
Happy Thanksgiving, again! Our only
day off from the busy week at Operation Smile was a Saturday and so we cooked
at Irene’s house: chicken, deviled eggs, veggie salad with ranch dressing,
mashed potatoes, stuffing and three kinds of pie (apple, lemon meringue and
pecan) with vanilla ice cream. We went
around the table saying what we were most thankful for. Me, myself?
I am happy and grateful to be having the Peace Corps experience I always
wanted and to have amazing friends and family who support and love me. It was exactly how Thanksgiving day is
supposed to go – taking turns cooking in the kitchen while watching the Sandlot
and lazily lounging on the couch.
Perfection.
Day 31
Post-op checking on the patients was not as busy as other days, but still
rewarding. We received a letter
addressed to all the Operation Smile team members from the patients. I teared up as I read how happy and grateful
they are for having new smiles, more confidence and better lives. They cheered for us, but I wanted to cheer
for them. One boy held my hand, looked
into my eyes for at least one minute while he squeezed my hand. That minute felt like the most solid
connection anyone could have with another human.
We went back to the hotel for swimming, pizza and beer. A fantastic way to end one of our last days.
Day 32
Last day of Post-Op was filled with happy tears – I am so lucky to have
shared this experience. Cheers rang out
as patients learned that they could keep the blankets they were using at the
shelter during the week. Who would have
thought such a simple gift would bring such celebration? It reminds me to be grateful always.
Lunch was steak, potatoes and salad at the Copper Pot. I wanted to yell out a cheer for this, as
well.
Thanks, Nici and the whole Operation Smile team for making the PCVs feel
welcome! We were so happy to join you on
the very first mission in Malawi.
Thanks to Shelly, Carolyn and Cassie for being such a solid PCV team – you inspire
me every day and I feel lucky to work beside you. I’m proud of who you are and admire your
constant enthusiasm.
More information on Operation Smile: www.operationsmile.org
Photos by Shelly Whittet: http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.10101739854534447.3200117.8603023&type=1
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