Volunteerism and Operation Smile

I have heard a lot about Operation Smile before. However, I never had the opportunity to really cover the medical mission when I was still a reporter. So when Lifestyle society columnist Flor Ynclino invited me last Tuesday to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center to interview Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung, the founder of the Mariquita Salimbangon Yeung Charitable Foundations Inc., which funds Operation Smile here in Cebu, I got excited.

When I got to the VSMMC and was whisked to the third floor "headquarters" of the mission, I got more than what I thought I was getting from that interview. Mrs. Yeung said that to know more about Operation Smile, it would be best if I see what the mission is all about rather than just hear about the project from her.

And so, we went to the Child Survival Center of the VSMMC. The center was the place where children scheduled for operation and children who already had been operated on were staying.

Aside from the beneficiaries and their families, I also met some of the volunteers - the doctors and nurses -- and their stories really awed me. Can you imagine a cosmetic surgeon giving up at least a week's earnings, which should be really huge amounts of money, to volunteer his services to free! Or a nurse from Australia coming to the Philippines, to Cebu, to assist in the medical mission, free of charge.

From the almost two hours that I stayed at the VSMMC, I have learned that Operation Smile is not just all about giving free surgery to children with a cleft lip or a cleft palate. It is not just about changing the lives of hundreds of children every year by giving them a shot at life without having to be ridiculed by their playmates and the community. It is not just about changing the lives of a family. Operation Smile is also about volunteerism, giving and sharing.

And the spirit of volunteerism does not stop at the volunteers themselves. It extends to private individuals, and corporate entities, too. As Dr. James Joaquino, one of the cosmetic surgeons, said Operation Smile is a concerted effort - from the drivers of the different service vehicles that ferry doctors and nurses to and from their respective hotels, to the people in charge of screening patients, to the people in charge of making sure there is enough food for everyone, to the donors, to the richest sponsor.

Philippine Airlines, for example, gives fare discounts for the members of the medical team who travel from different parts of the country or the world to get to Cebu for the mission here. Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and the Cebu Marriot Hotel give free accommodations for out-of-town volunteers, especially those who belong to the medical team.

Restaurants shoulder the meals of volunteers and send food to the hospital. Everyone plays a role to make the mission successful.

Mrs. Yeung was right. I did learn a lot about Operation Smile by experiencing for myself what the mission is all about.

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