Testimonials: Before and After Smiles...

Operation Smile's volunteer medical professionals travel around the world to treat children suffering from facial deformities. Their efforts mean new smiles for thousands of children, including these former patients:

Rikta

Ngan

Min Zhu

Vietnam - Ngan

In my language, in Vietnamese, my name Thanh Ngan means “star.” I was tarnished though, born into a family of three, with a cleft lip and a gaping hole in my palate. For the first three years of my life, I was living in shame and isolation in the small village of Quy Nhon province in southern Vietnam.

Hearing about the Operation Smile team coming to Danang in 2002, my whole family traveled for miles to see if they could help me. Though it was late on screening day, our efforts finally paid off—I was accepted for surgery. Now my star shines brightly and my future is as open to possibility as the heavens.