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Cleft Lip Surgeries – Fixing Smiles, Restoring Families

Страны
Южный Судан
Источники
Samaritan's Purse
Дата публикации

Samaritan’s Purse began the Cleft Lip Missions in South Sudan in 2001, working closely with the Ministry of Health. Collaboration with Primary Health Care Centers (PHCC) and other NGO’s in the country enables identification of patients who are then brought to Juba for surgery. Over 90% of the patients come from remote parts of the country and are often flown to Juba using the Samaritan’s Purse Mission Aviation Services (MAS) that operate out of Kenya and Uganda. The program is unique in that it flies patients in for surgery from various parts of the country, and then returns them home. The MAS support is an important piece of a complicated puzzle of logistics, enabling access to care that the patients would otherwise not have.

Cleft lip and cleft palate are openings or splits in the upper lip, the roof of the mouth (palate) or both.
They are a relatively common birth defect and are easy to fix by a skilled physician. However, if left untreated, children grow up with facial disfiguration and have difficulty with feeding and swallowing.
Sometimes there is potential for liquids or foods to come out of the nose. Babies who survive the risk of abandonment often struggle with breastfeeding and develop malnourishment. Some of them grow up with speech impediments but all of them grow up being ridiculed, mocked and shunned. They grow up to be ostracized members of their community. They are considered cursed and are often given the name “Machiek” which literally means “Deformed.”

When the Samaritan’s Purse Mobile Medical Unit team in Thaker visited Nyakouth, she rushed into her tukul to put on her ‘Smile’ t-shirt. This represented more than clothing for her. It represents the thing she could not do for several years, until one simple surgery fixed her face, and gave her a smile forever.
Nyakouth was born with a cleft lip. While this is a common, easily fixable condition, in South Sudan it bears a stigma so strong that sometimes babies with this condition are considered cursed, and are abandoned and left to die. In most countries, cleft lip and palate surgeries are common and easy to implement. However, in countries like South Sudan where healthcare is limited, this surgery, while much needed, is not available. Samaritan’s Purse began the Cleft Lip Mission with the aim of restoring dignity, and self-worth to people like Nyakouth who waited 65yrs for this miracle surgery.

Until that point, Nyakouth had resigned to a fate of loneliness, being cast aside by her community.
She didn’t think anything or anyone could help her. Being ostracized by the community was one thing but being rejected by family was another.

Her greatest grief of all was not being able to dote on her grandchildren. “The grandchildren run away from me. They fear me. They call me a wild animal,” she said. In December 2021, her miracle finally came and Nyakouth could have her cleft lip surgically fixed during the Cleft Lip Mission. She never expected to finally savor all the grandmotherly moments she’d missed out on – holding her grandchildren, telling them stories, playing with them, and cooking for them.

All her life Nyakuoth was teased, neglected by other children and told that she was cursed. She was deformed. After her surgery, she couldn’t stop looking at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t believe her transformation. “Everything is new,” she said.
December 2021 marked 10yrs of the Cleft Lip and Palate Mission in South Sudan and has since then repaired the lips of more than 700 babies, children, youth, and adults in this country, and over 1,000 in countries like Liberia, Bolivia, Myanmar and Guatemala. This year, a team of 21 experienced international surgeons and medical personnel will do Cleft Lip surgeries for children and adults who have been accepted into the program through their respective PHCCs. The surgeries scheduled from April 2 – 8, 2022, will take place at the Juba Teaching Hospital and will be done, free of charge.

Samaritan’s Purse is no longer accepting any new patients for this current mission. However, the program will be back in Juba in December 2022.

The Cleft Lip Mission has brought smiles, healing and restoration to people in various countries around the world, including South Sudan. Once cast aside as cursed, people who have had the cleft lip surgery have a new lease on life. Today,

Nyabouth is constantly surrounded by her grandchildren. These little ones who ran away from her, now cling to her and sit on her lap. The children in the neighborhood often gather around her as well. They are all fascinated by the transformation they witnessed. Some of them touch her lips and laugh with her. She is no longer cast aside. She’s together with her family. When asked what her husband thought, she said, “In our old age, he has finally seen my face.” As our team left her home, Nyakuoth could only do so much to contain her joy. She kept blessing Samaritan’s Purse and the surgical team that has changed her life forever.