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Check Out the Field Journal Entries Written by the Medical Teams during the Missions

Excerpt for Jimma Mission,December 2008

Jimma 12/14/2008
Jimma, Ethiopia
The surgical suite is a mutli-cultural melee, three operating tables in one room..Beth, the clinical coordinator gives her commands, keeping chaos at a minimum. Table 1: Dr. Yemane from Jimma stands by as David, team leader and plastic surgeon from Ireland puts the last stitch in 13-month-old Kadiat, whose baby face is blemished with an asymmetrical bilateral cleft. As Millicent cuts a thread,Alice, a nurse from kenya starts to clear the cart... Table 2: 11-month-old Mohamed, is almost finished. Andy, a surgeon from Wisconsin makes his last stitch as Adam, an anesthesiologist from the UK, monitors the baby's vitals. He adds a little incision, a v-plasty to his tiny mouth to make the vermillion symmetrical; no child is denied the best, even if it requires more time. Table 3- Per, from Cambridge, and Andrey, from Russia, start their next case, as soon as Plinio, from Spain, has him under anesthesia. Daniel, a dentist from Mexico is on-hand for consult, ever busy pulling jagged or decayed teeth, making impressions for obturators, offering advice to achieve the very best smiles. Accented English flows across the room, bits of Amharic heard amid the beeps and murmurs of biomed equipment.

Pre-surgery waiting... 13-year-old Biridbe sits apprehensively by, keeping her eyes averted; she tells me she works hard in school in her quest to become a teacher, and gets good grades. Sshe has to wait all day for her surgery, as she is a teenager and babies go first, so I give her a makeover to bide the time. I paint her nails a sheer glimmery bubblegum pink, a little rusty blush to her cheeks, and put bright, colorful rubber bands at the end of her tightly plaited cornrows. Then i give her dad a gift to give his daughter 2 weeks post surgery- "glazed berry lip gloss". She grins her crooked grin and glances repeatedly at the lip gloss. It's what she really wants to accent her new smile! They call her name and I am allowed to walk with her into surgery, holding her newly manicured hand gently as she falls asleep.

Pre-post op room: Meti sits quietly with her parents, her new smile apparent on her parents’ faces rather than hers, as she is still in some pain from her surgery. Her mother looks at me, and beats her hand against her chest, their way of expressing her happiness as father bows his head and places his hands positioned to give thanks. Their smiles then turn toward their daughter, and continue to beam brightly as their prayers were answered.... children spread out in the pre-post area have spilled out into the halls, lying on their own disheveled clothing and blankets, Mark G. happily distributing plastic shoes that he purchased in the market for less than $1 a piece, but the families act more delighted than someone given a new pair of $100 Nikes or Guccis... Ethiopian women, some wrapped in ragged "natala", their shamma .. Some carry their children in shawls on their backs. Those who have brought their food are chewing injera, the Ethiopian bread made of "teff" grain- injera is a flat bread that is spongy in taste, sour, almost bitter. I am working with a young teenager pre- surgery on some sounds....Suddenly one of the American nurses blurts out "I think this kid must have asthma!" as after every few words he sucks air as if gasping. I laugh. No, that "gasp" I tell her just means "OK" in Amharic.. And this kid said OK about 15 times during our short conversation... she'd be on an inhaler by now in the USA!

Post op: Biribe is holding her mirror, catching her beautiful bright teenage smile, in awe, and then she dips her head and puts her hand on her heart. These moments are magic, and in itself explains just why we do this and why we must come back. I think we just made not only a new smile, but a future teacher for the children of Ethiopia.

I leave for Addis Ababa tomorrow. My flight, as well as all flights for several days, have been cancelled flying from here to Addis, so Operation Smile will find a means to gets us by land on this 5-6- hour journey from Jimma.

I'm fine and will try one last email from Addis!!

- Cathy Snyders, Volunteer Speech Pathologist
Mission Dates: December 4- 12, 2008

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Comments
a fan says: January 31, 2009 These stories bring much happines and pride to me. That there are Doctors, Nurses, reporters,camera people; just every volunteer, willing to give so much to humanity is truly heart warming. Thank you all!
Shericooke says: January 30, 2009 I am so happy to get these letters sharing with us what actually happens between the children, their families and all the doctors, staff and volunteers. Thank you so much for bringing us right there, where I can 'see', 'hear' and 'feel' with you and everyone these incredible miracles. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Love and Blessings, Sheri
Lloyd says: January 30, 2009 JUST BEAUTIFUL !!!
Stu says: January 30, 2009 What a blessing to have a trade or profession to contribute.
Pat says: January 30, 2009 As a young nurse I have scrubed into so many of these cases and am always so delighted to see the results. Every child deserves this kind of surgery
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TO VIEW MORE go to: http://operationsmile.org/missions/journals/jimma

Upcoming Missions 2009

Irish Volunteers are scheduled for Operation Smile Medical Mission to the Philippines, India, Egypt and Jordan over the next 3 months.

2009 Mission Schedule*

Mission Date Country City
Jan 17 - 23 India Rajkot
Jan 29 - Feb 6 India Guwahati
Feb 4 - 14 Nicaragua Managua
Feb 18 - 28 Honduras Tegucigalpa
Feb 19 - 27 India Jamshedpur
Feb 20 - 27 Philippines Cebu, Davao
Feb 28 - Mar 7 Colombia Cartagena, Barranquila
Mar 3 - 14 Egypt Cairo
Mar 5 - 13 Jordan Amman
Mar 12 - 20 Cambodia Phnom Penh
Mar 14 - 22 India Bolpur
Mar 18 - 28 Bolivia Santa Cruz
Apr 15 - 25 Dominican Republic Santo Domingo
Apr 16 - 25 Kenya Nakuru
Apr 19 - 26 Haiti Hinche
Apr 19 - May 1 Egypt Alexandria
Apr 20 - 24 Russia Taganrog
Apr 22 - 29 China Zhengzhou, Henan
Apr 26 - May 2 Brazil Maceio
May TBA Madagascar TBD
May TBA Cambodia TBD
May 11 - 14 Mexico Colima
May 14 - 25 Senegal Thies
May 20 - 30 Peru Lima
May 21 - 29 India Guwahati
May 29 - Jun 6 Ethiopia Jimma
Jun TBA Ethiopia Jimma
Jun TBA Vietnam TBD
Jun TBA Ethiopia Addis Ababa
Jun 10 - 14 Paraguay Asunción
Jun 18 - 27 Jordan Amman
Jun 22 - 26 Russia Novosibirsk
Jul TBA China Urumqi
Jul 2 - 5 Colombia San Jose de Guaviare
Jul TBA Venezuela Caracas
Jul 22 - 26 Ecuador Cuenca
Jul 23 - 26 Colombia Popayan
Aug TBA Kenya Nairobi
Aug TBA Colombia Bogotá
Aug TBA Russia Ulan Ude
Aug 6 - 14 Brazil Rio de Janeiro
Aug 12 - 19 China Liaocheng, Shandong
Aug 13 - 22 Kenya Nairobi
Aug 13 - 16 Colombia Risaralda
Aug 17 - 21 South Africa Mpumulanga
Aug 19 - 23 Honduras Santa Rosa de Copan
Sep TBA China Yantai, Shandong
Sep 1 - 9 Brazil Fortaleza
Sep 3 - 6 Colombia Santa Marta
Sep TBA Venezuela San Cristóbal
Sep 16 - 26 Mexico Guadalajara
Sep 23 - 27 Ecuador Guayaquil
Sep 24 - 27 Colombia Duitama
Oct TBA Kenya Nyeri
Oct 8 - 17 Kenya Nyeri
Oct 14 - 18 Colombia Cali
Oct 20 - 25 Brazil Amazonia
Oct 21 - 30 Venezuela Barinas
Nov TBA Panama TBD
Nov TBA Egypt TBD
Nov TBA Jordan TBD
Nov 4 - 14 Madagascar Toulier
Nov 5 - 15 Paraguay Asunción
Nov 6 - 8 Colombia Bogotá
Nov 12 - 13 Honduras Tegucigalpa
Nov 18 - 22 Ecuador Ambato
Nov 23 - 28 Brazil Santa Rem
Dec TBA Ethiopia TBD
Dec TBA Venezuela Catia La Mar
Dec 5 - 13 Haiti Hinche

*Mission sites and dates are subject to change

Irish Medical Volunteers On Missions (May-December 2008)

The Last 6 Months Over 19 Volunteers participated on Operation Smile International Missions

May 2008: MADAGASCAR - Niamh Ryan, OR Nurse

August 2008: CHINA - Anne McGovern, Medical Records

September 2008: CAMBODIA -
Michael Earley,Plastic Surgeon,
Liam Claffey, Anaethesist,
Ruth Farrell, OR Nurse,
Niamh Ryan, OR Nurse,
Jennfier Collins, Dentist,
Finola Earley, Medical Records,

October 2008: KENYA (Mombasa)
Holly Tyrrell,Student,Rathdown School
Debbi Appelbe,Student,Rathdown School

October 2008: KENYA (Kisumu) -
Margaret O'Donnell - OR Nurse
Geraldine Connolly - OR Nurse
Niall Farrell, Student /Rockwell College

November 2008: INDIA (Bolpur) -
Eoin Farrell, Student / Rockwell College

December 2008: SENEGAL -
Joanne Timmoney - OR Nurse
Martina Healey - Anaethesist

December 2008: ETHIOPIA (Jimma) -
David Orr, Plastic Surgeon
Mark Earley,Student Sponsor,Teacher/Gonzaga College

Operation Smile Ireland Gala Fundraising Dinner 2008

Dublin, Four Seasons Hotel, Black Tie, 7:30PM

Operation Smile Ireland is 5 years old this year. Our ball has a theme of "celebration". Operation Smile Worldwide has operated on over 100,000 children so far and we believe this is something to celebrate.
If you would like to help our worldwide Medical Missions to provide much needed operations for these children, why not join us at our celebration ball?
Make a difference and help us celebrate at the same time!

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