Final Day of Surgery Week

Final day of Surgery Week

The new King and Queen of Smiles for the day were Kenyan volunteers, Doris (OR nurse) and Albert (plastic surgeon).

Century, Doris, and Karina

Every day, more people showed up to see if they could get help for their cleft.  The surgery schedule had been completely filled with patients who had arrived on the first two screening days.  However, if the person was healthy enough to receive surgery later that day or the next, the medical volunteers were always in agreement to add another person.  Though it would mean that their day in the OR would be longer, up to 12 or 15 hours, they were more than willing to give up a few more hours to create one more smile.

Commitment – the true meaning of commitment is portrayed by the many Operation Smile volunteers that have continued to give so much of their time to the cause. Here are a few that have been helping to change lives since almost the very beginning:

Doris – local Kenyan volunteer and OR nurse has been involved since 1987, when Operation Smile first came to Kenya.  She is an incredible person, always on the go and always with a smile on her face.

Florence – local Kenyan volunteer and nurse who has been involved for 17 years.

Dr. Robert Russell – plastic surgeon from the United States who has been involved for 23 years and has been on more than 35 missions.

Dr. Dan Sellers – plastic surgeon from the United States who has also been involved since almost the very beginning.  Dr. Sellers and Dr. Russell both came on a mission to Kenya in 1988, and shared their excitement to see so much positive growth in Operation Smile Kenya since then.

Operation Smile Kenya has been around for twenty three years.  There are 3 staff and more than 250 local volunteers and the efforts here in Kenya continue to grow.

The final day of surgery closed with the Final Party.  At another local hotel, the reception was set up for us.  There was initial introductions to the night, conducted by local volunteer, Alan, who I am pretty sure could make a side career being a comedian and mc.  Throughout the mission, he was always smiling, dancing, and saying something funny.

A dance group opened with tribal dancing and acrobatics.  Then we all proceeded to eat our final meal together.  Speeches were made by the coordinators and team leaders, special gifts and certificates were handed out, and to our surprise the Student Team was called up to 'sing a song or say a poem.'  We were totally caught off gaurd, as no poem was prepared and we weren't expecting to sing the song in this formal setting.  Dan had taught us a Kenyan song about togetherness and building Operation Smile.  Karina and Century had created some superlative awards to handout, so instead of singing - which I bailed on, they went up to announce and hand out the awards.  It was FUN break in the middle of the ceremonies, and they did great!  Here were a few of the awards:

'Best at knocking people and babies out'
Anesthesiologists

'Best at making babies cry'
Recovery Nurses

'Most Exercised'
Post-Op Nurses (the post-op ward was far away from pre-op, or, and recovery)

'Most likely to promise the student team an elephant'
Roy, the Kenyan coordinator

'Best Scrubs'
Doris

'Most likely to become a National Geographic Photographer'
Dr. Dan Sellers (he had the best camera on the safari and was getting the best shots)

'Most likely to miss their flight'
Russel (he missed it by a day on the way to Kenya) :)

After the ceremonies closed with a bittersweet thanks and farewell, there was cake and dancing.  Then the girls and I decided to go dancing with the team for a little bit, to celebrate this amazing time that we have had together.

I am so happy and proud to have shared this experience with Century and Karina.  They were an awesome Student Team and I enjoyed every minute of our journey to help give smiles in Kenya!