Smile Stories: Before and After Smiles...

Operation Smile's volunteer medical professionals travel around the world to treat children suffering from facial deformities. Their efforts mean new smiles for thousands of children, including these former patients:

Rikta Ghosal

Khokhon & Sankor

Kohinoor

Lalchand

Rikta Ghosal

Rikta’s mother Meera knows what it’s like to be an outcast, as she herself was crippled by polio during childhood. “Every day Rikta comes home and cries, she compares herself to her brothers and sisters and asks me why she’s not like them,” she told Operation Smile. Meera knew her daughter was a smart and playful girl that loved to dance. But as she was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate, the people in her village wouldn’t come near her. She had trouble speaking and no one outside of her family could understand her. Fortunately, in 2005, Rikta received free surgery from Operation Smile.

Below is a translation of the letter Rikta’s mother Meera Mondal Ghosal sent to Operation Smile India, shortly after her daughters operation.

“From the deep core of my heart, I offer my love, affection, well wishes and endless regards to all of you. It’s a new life for her. My dream has come true today.”