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November 11 - 17 , 2007 |
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A Journey of Smiles: Changing the World One Smile at a Time
By Katrina N. Cabanos
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The
world is strewn with enough ills that
there is no shortage of worthy causes,
from AIDS to cancer to veganism, to
devote time and resources to. But no
other cause du jour can literally lay
claim to making people smile when they
otherwise could not.
The Philippines will serve as a
launching ground this month for
Operation Smile’s World Journey of
Smiles (WJOS), the
 world’s
biggest surgical mission projected to
treat over 5,000 children and young
adults with congenital facial
deformities worldwide. Operation Smile
is a volunteer medical services
organization that provides
reconstructive |
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mission in Naga City. Upon their return
to their home in Virginia, USA, the
Magees instantly set to work to building
what would become the biggest medical
charity devoted to correcting facial
deformities in children. Stirred by the
hundreds they were not able to treat
during their first mission, Operation
Smile was borne out of their
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Before
and after: A young girl
gets a life changing
surgery to correct her
cleft lip |
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promise to
come back and change lives one
child at a time, one smile at a
time.
Operation Smile hasbeen
conducting annual medical
missions across the globe and |
providing training and financial
assistance to health care professionals
to lay the foundations for local
capacity and self-sufficiency.
In celebration of its 25th anniversary,
the Magees are back in the Philippines
to officially commence the WJOS. The
mission will be held simultaneously in
40 sites in 25 countries from November 7
to 16. WJOS will mobilize more than
1,500 foreign and local volunteers in
five continents. It is their anniversary
gift to children around the world, said
Dr. Magee.
A Philippine Birth Defect Registry
report stated that cleft lips and
palates are among the top 12 birth
defects in the Philippines, |
| Dr. Bill
Magee poses with a young patient
and his mother before undergoing
surgery to correct the boy’s
cleft lip |
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surgery and health care
to indigent children and adults with
cleft lip, cleft palate and other
related conditions.
Dr. Bill Magee, a plastic surgeon, and
his wife Kathy, a former nurse and
clinical social worker, founded
Operation Smile in 1982 after conducting
a medical |
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which
translate to 4,004 afflicted newborns
per annum. This congenital deformity can
be corrected easily in a procedure that
takes generally less than half an hour.
The cost of reconstructive surgery,
roughly around Php 14,000 but subjected
to change depending on the severity of
the deformity, remains unaffordable to
low income groups where the condition is
most prevalent.
Operation Smile is sustained by the principle that by
creating smiles, they are changing lives
and healing humanity. A facial deformity
of any kind has repercussions that are
more than skin deep. For children,
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this
would mean being consigned to a life of
ridicule and discrimination that would
often discourage them from going to
school and acquiring the social and work
skills they need to live by as an adult.
By providing this life-altering
procedure for free, Operation Smile
gives these underprivileged children a
fighting chance in turning their lives
around. It changes the lives of these
children, allowing them to eat and talk
properly, and even sing. And of course,
by surgically, allowing them to smile. |
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Online Traveler Poll Raves
Boracay and Palawan
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A leading
Internet company catering to
affluent travelers from Europe,
United States and Asia recently
listed the famed Boracay beach
and the province of Palawan as
among the 10 best holiday
destinations in Asia in its Best
Travel Brands 2007 survey based
on the votes of its online
clients.
This comes weeks after both two tourist locations landed top spots
in a similar review conducted by
Asian Wallstreet Journal. A
separate poll conducted by
Forbes Traveler Magazine also
recently listed the island of
Coron in Palawan as one of the
best diving sites in the world.
SmartTravelAsia.com opened the survey to its online clients
with over 2,000 unique travelers
participating.
The poll showed Boracay and Palawan tying as the seventh best
holiday |
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destination in
the region. The island of Bali
in Indonesia bagged the top spot
in the category followed by
Phuket, Thailand and Kerala,
India.
“We welcome this development as it proves that both Boracay and
Palawan remain the country’s top
destinations. Visitors frequent
these areas for the white,
powdery sand beaches of Boracay
and the unforgettable diving
scenery of Palawan. This also
serves as recognition of the
government’s and the private
sector’s commitment in
preserving the beauty of these
islands,” said Tourism Secretary
Joseph Ace Durano.
Secretary Durano believes that results of the SmartTravelAsia.com
survey will benefit the
Philippines’ campaign for higher
tourist arrivals, especially as
it moves to break the three
million mark this year.
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