Operation Smile marks 25 years of presence in Vietnam (photos)
Monday, December 15, 2014, 10:48 GMT+7
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| More than 300 volunteers from many countries have arrived in Vietnam for the activities to celebrate 25 years of Operation Smile’s presence in the country this year. |
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| With 38 volunteers, including seven veterans, Operation Smile offered its first surgeries to 100 Vietnamese children with cleft lip and cleft palate in 1989. |
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| The nonprofit medical charity organization Operation Smile was founded in 1982 by Bill Magee (L) and Kathleen Magee in Virginia to perform free operations on children with cleft lip and cleft palate around the world. |
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| Doctor Micheal Solhjaug (first right) during a surgery. Micheal Solhjaug, a pediatrician, was in Vietnam during 1968-1969 as a naval soldier. At 69, he has taken numerous trips back to the country after the war in 1989, 1990, and 2009 to work for Operation Smile. |
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| During the last 25 years, Operation Smile has not only brought smiles to more than 30,000 children with cleft lip and cleft palate in Vietnam but it has also truly ended the war and healed the pain of that war. |
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| Nguyen Thi Hanh (the 2nd baby from right) was born to a father who has a cleft lip. She is among the children who have their lips remedied by Operation Smile. |
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| A child patient undergoes a surgery with technology support from Microsoft. |
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| Doctor Clive, from the U.K., is seen taking a kid to the recovery room after a successful operation. |
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| Smiles are back on the faces of both mothers and sons. |
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| Smiles are back on the faces of both mothers and sons. |
