Post-op Contemplation.

I spent quite a bit of time today in Post-Op. It's the most beautiful thing to experience. Jo spoke to us a few days ago about how in the DRC it's mostly the mothers who bring their children to screening. Here, the people arrive in big families. -The dad's as interested and heartfelt as the mothers. Both parents stay, play, console. And today, after the first day of surgery, there was a huge bunch of people coming to visit the patients from yesterday. Three, four, five family members per patient! When we walked into the hospital this morning, there were crowds outside the hospital, queues outside the rooms, behind the doors..

People here seem to understand the need for order, and trust in the instructions from the team. Besides the occasional crying baby, things here seem to be calm. (I didn't realise how much the panic and distress affected me until I was in pre-op mixing antibiotics and I felt relieved by the quiet. It's exhausting, if only subsconciously, wanting to be a source of calm amongst the chaos during the long days we have.)

I've seen some of the most beautiful women here. They were bright colours, and interesting textures. They smile and almost exude friendliness.

Nadia and I have discussed how amazing it would be to follow families home, and see as they go back to their villages. It would be even more amazing to travel to the mission site with the family, and go through screening and the operation experience with them.. Maybe someday! -If I'm ever fluent in French..

This is Florence and her daughter, Valimbatavaka, who is three years old. Whenever I saw them during screening, she would smile at me. With grateful, friendly eyes, completely trusting of me. -That I would return with her bottle refilled, that I wouldn't keep my flash too close to her daughter's face, that we would do our best to help their family; as I was completely trusting of her. With my belongings, and my heart. She laughed as I attempted to compliment her in Malagasy. "Tsara enao" -You are beautiful. Our smiple conversations confirmed with my broken french, -the few phrasses I remember from highschool lessons.

I would have loved to have a translator to myself. To communicate.. not necessarily more easily, but more deeply. To understand their fears, their excitement, their background, their seemingly boundless love.

Some things you can't express in words, though. Some things only your eyes sing, only your heart shines. And those are the things I've been blessed enough to experience here. -A capacity for love I never knew possible. Love for their children, love shown towards me, the kindness in their being.

Who even IS this kid.

okay seriously this kid is the CUTEST! all the girls are inlove with him, really. and we have no idea what his name is.-he's so mischievious, he's been telling everyone a different name, a different story... haha and he's super naughty! he stole water and broke toys and wouldn't share his soccerball... but then he just comes and hugs you or kisses you or cuddles you, latches on and wont let go, and suddenly everything is forgiven. and ohmygosh he's obsessed with cameras. -taking photos, looking at photos, being in photos... ah he's GREAT* he''s not getting surgery though, i guess he just saw there's a vibe at the hospital he'd like to be a part of... haha. but really.

yes. he is the BIGGEST BOWSSE.

Fastforward to Today.

it's 20h45 and it feels like midnight. we just played the name game. -latenight sheet edition. so much fun! we were all kinda hoping itd be cancelled bc we stayed so late at the ambassadors cocktail party! (SUCH a cool house. amazing food. random music.. including "red red wiiine" haha even without kfm, that song found it's way through.. had a great time*)



sorry i've been terrible with blogging, i have so much to say though, the days are full and long. and whenever i have a free moment, there isn't a laptop available.. *sigh*

tomorrow surgery begins. it's SUPER EXCITING! I'l get the correct numbers from Tamlin in the morning, but it's something like 900 surgeries that we would have done in total in Madagascar since we first began doing missions in 2007. Ruben and the dental team are breaking records (literally i think..) with the amount of obturators they're making. (Obturators are plates that fill the gap in the palate, it means lives can be changed even if they don't get surgery this year..amazing!)

In one of Tamlin's brilliant speeches tonight (flip she blows my mind with her passion) she said told us of a boy who, when asked what he was most excited about for after the surgery, answered "to be a man. because now i can blow on a fire"

moments like that.. for a little boy to be aware of the fact that if he didn't get surgery he couldn't make a fire to cook food and provide for his family.. a thing that never even crossed my mind.. i really don't think we'll ever grasp the difference opsmile truly makes in their lives.

Connect.

"I am because you are. A simple statement. But one in which we find incredible power. Ubuntu teaches us that we’re all inextricably linked –that in order for one to succeed, the whole must succeed. It teaches us that to be human, one needs humanity –that there is an element of ourselves in all whom we meet."

"This is the story of a young boy and an old man. A story of how this connection is able to change a life forever. Thulani was born with a cleft lip and abandoned by his family. He lived on the streets, an outcast shunned by society. There was, however, one man that always greeted Thulani when their paths crossed. They never spoke, but he had always recognized something of himself in the boy. The man was old –his face masked behind a bushy grey beard.

One day he stopped to speak. He told Thulani that Operation Smile would be visiting a village a few days away. But Thulani had no money. Together, the two collected enough to pay for two bus tickets and made their way to the mission. Thulani’s surgery was successful. He could barely believe he was looking at himself when the old man held a mirror to his face. The old man was offered a bath and a shave. As he emerged, it became clear why they’d shared such a connection. Behind the old man’s grey beard, remained the scar of a cleft lip."