Issue 12
SMILE NEWS 'Bungi' – as if he didn't have a name Joseph is his family’s youngest child and the only one born with a cleft lip and cleft palate. Walking in his flip-flops behind his father through a poor area of San Remigio on the Philippine island of Cebu, the 6-year-old carries a big plastic bag and asks the neighbours to sell him empty plastic bottles, pieces of metal, cans and glass jars. The family gathers anything of value which they sell on to ‘the boss’, who then sells those items to turn a profit. On a good day, he is paid 100 pesos (£2) at the most – so little for a family with four children. As Joseph sorts through the rubbish, he finds a damaged toy truck and plays with it. He smiles, but somehow his cleft lip makes his smile look as broken as the toy he found. Joseph doesn’t attend school. “He tried once, but came home crying. They call him ‘bungi,’” a derogatory word for cleft, his father, Jualito explains. As if he didn’t have a name. Sometimes the neighbourhood children throw stones at him – the same treatment they give to stray dogs. “Then he fights and comes home angry, crying and upset,” Jualito says. Jualito learned about Operation Smile’s work from a foreigner he met by chance. He was told that there was a medical mission that could repair Joseph’s lip in Cebu City but thought that the bus fare
was far too costly. A local charity provided the family with transportation and lodging at no cost and Joseph travelled to Cebu for the chance to receive a new smile. Amid the bustling atmosphere of the medical mission, Joseph kept on asking his father why they were there, and when Jualito explained, Joseph looked at him with surprise: “So they are going to fix my lip now?” Following successful surgery, Joseph stares at himself in the mirror. He can’t stop. His face is so different. He sees a new person – a handsome boy. Now, Joseph has returned to school with confidence. Joseph sorting through rubbish, before receiving surgery
Joseph, happy to be back at school post surgery
“The first day at school, Joseph washed himself, prepared his school bag and dressed in his uniform,” Jualito explains. ”When we got to the classroom I offered to stay with him but he said there was no need; he could make his own way home.” “He is not shy anymore. Unlike before, he likes going outdoors. Even if children still tease him sometimes, he doesn’t get mad – he knows his face is different now. He has more confidence now, and maybe this will give him a chance to get a proper job in the future."