In EAL grade 10 we read a book called Words in the Dust. It was about a girl called Zulaikha from Afghanistan. She had a cleft lip, and this brought her major difficulties. Finally, she was able to get surgery, which had a positive impact on her life. She gained confidence, felt brave enough to make her dream come true. From reading this book we have seen how big of an impact surgery can have, and how important it is that medical care is available for everybody, and that is why we have chosen to work with Operation Smile.

In a virtual presentation from Operation Smile, we heard that their aim is to provide more surgeries, operating more locally, and making more all year centers. They told us about what work they do, and how they help the families after the surgery, with other types of treatments such as psychological care and speech therapy. They described to us how they use sock puppets to make it fun for the kids to attend speech therapy after the surgery.  

We have learned how beneficial cleft lip and palate surgeries can be for children, and we decided to help. All of the grade 10 EAL  students made a speech therapy tool –   a sock puppet. We also wrote letters, articles, made infographics, and videos. Finally, we made a smile fund on the Operation Smile website. 

Our goal for our service project is to provide life changings surgeries for kids. Each surgery costs around 2400 kr, and we originally aimed to raise 5000 kr. So far we have 7,500kr and we have reset our goal at double our plan – 10,000 kr.

This money will provide 2 children with surgeries. However, they will also be given the opportunity for free services including dentistry, orthodontics, speech therapy, nutritional counseling, and psychosocial care. These children may have a background with limited financial resources or live in a place where the government doesn’t provide free surgery or live far away from any hospital. This denies them access to surgery for their cleft lip or palate. Therefore operations provided by Operation Smile have a great impact on the children’s life and future. 

You can help us provide surgeries for the children by donating to our SIS fundraiser.  Help save a life.