A reason to smile

I grew up with a boy who had a thin vertical slit-line scar on this upper lip. He used to tell us that his big brother accidentally hit him in the face with an axe. For some reason, I believed this my whole young life. I had no idea what a cleft palate or lip was! It is clear to me, now, looking back on the situation that he was embarrassed of his scar and didn't want to talk about it. I can't help but wonder - since a small scar was a sense of weakness, what kind of emotional scars would a facial deformity left untreated cause?

Every three minutes, a child is born with a cleft condition.

While my friend was lucky to have gotten his cleft condition remedied at a very young age, many kids in the developing world don't have the option for treatment even if the deformation is life-treatening many families cannot afford the cost of medical treatment. Some of these child are unable to eat, speak or smile. They are often rejected by their peers. This, obviously, hinders their social development.  

Self-confidence is essential to a healthy self image and a building block for any child's growth.

Since before I was even born, Operation Smile has provided over 200,000 patients from 60 different countries with surgery for facial deformities. They are an NGO that changes lives and spreads smiles. 

CampusBookRentals.com makes a donation to Operation Child for every book they sell AND they've committed to donating over 1,000 cleft lip surgeries for children in 2013! That's pretty impressive!

RentBack is CampusBookRentals.com's new program that provides students with a way to rent their textbooks out. This is way better than selling their books at your campus bookstore's buyback sale because you can make way more money! Check it out and know that you're helping Operation Smile with each rental!

 
 

Make a child smile today!    

Join a smile circle & help the cause! 

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PAY IT FORWARD
Oh! And since I'm loving this feel-good post right now, I've joined the Pay It Forward train!

The first 5 people to leave a comment with their name, email address & blog address will receive from me, sometime in this calendar year, a surprise gift! Could be something handmade, a treat, some of my fav music, etc! There will be no warning, it will happen when the mood strikes. We all deserve a little something special every now and then. However, the 5 of you who comment first below must make the same offer on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc. This is going to be a ton of fun!