October 17, 2014 - Clark

Friday, October 17, 2014

Operation Smile

I wanted to document the history of our connection with Operation Smile.  About 6 weeks ago, Elise and Fifi, representatives of Operations Smile asked Mbidi Ilunga, director of public affairs to meet us at the Lubumbashi Stake Center.  Shelley was unable to attend, but Flavien and I met with them.  We told them we could arrange for our members to volunteer if we knew what the assignments were, the time duration and any qualifications.  They took until last Thursday to meet with us a second time to spell out the details.  They had no idea that we could produce so many volunteers and we basically outlined how many we thought would be able to support their mission.  

This meeting was held with Justin, the Mikesells and the two of us with Fifi and Jake.  There was only one weekend to solicit volunteers.  Shelley made sign-up lists and a handout for all stake presidents.  Justin serves as stake president of Katuba Stake and said the three of them would meet at 5:00 on Friday.  Saturday, we met President Tshibanda, Kisanga Stake and he was unaware of any meeting.  We called Justin and he told us he was the only one to show for the joint meeting on Friday.  Our first meeting with Operation Smile was scheduled for orientation on Tuesday evening.  We didn’t know if anyone would show.  Justin took signup sheets over to President Tshibanda but President Kongolo never received any notification and his stake members were totally unaware of the project.

Tuesday evening was the hour of truth at 5:00.  Members started showing up and continued to do so from 5:00-6:15.  We must have had nearly 100 show up for training.  First problem with Operation Smile representatives was they changed our scheduled volunteer assignment days.  They no longer needed any volunteers for Wednesday and they first notified us Tuesday evening at 5:00.  We had 32 volunteers scheduled for the next day, Wednesday.  

Thursday our member volunteers showed up at 8:00 but Operation Smile representatives didn’t come until 9:15 and said they wouldn’t need us until 1:30.   There were about 40 volunteers who came and Elise said they only needed 8 people at a time and suggested 8/8/8 with different time slots.  We advised everyone that they had done exactly what we had asked them to do and that the Lord was mindful of their sacrifice and commitment.  We told them that they need not stay if they had other obligations because they had done all that was asked of them.  Long story short, the majority of them stayed without food or water until the patients started arriving around1:30.  Once they did, there seemed to be a steady stream of patients arriving from communities outside Lubumbashi.  

We did arrange for water from Operation Smile and Flavien and I bought nearly 300 bananas to feed both the volunteers and the patients and their guardians.  We registered 178 people, about 90 patients and assisted with their room assignments and served the evening meal to all.  The Operation Smile people were there for about 45-60 minutes in the morning and then not again until 5:00.   They left the entire registration process to us.  It was so heart-warming to see the volunteers come and stay all day.  Many came at 7:30 in the morning and stayed until 7:00 at night.   What dedication.  We could learn much from this people.  Americans have watches, Africans have time.

Friday, the first rains came and the volunteers for breakfast could not arrive on time because of the torrential downpour. Most of the volunteers did eventually come once the rains subsided.   We did however have three translators, Flavien, Steve and Eric come and stay all day long.  They were invaluable for the doctors’ evaluation and speech therapist coaching and lessons for parents.  Steve has really come of age through this project.  He has taken ownership along with his fiancé, Matilda.  They have been at the Sendwe Hospital whenever any volunteer has been at the hospital.  They come at 7:30 and don’t go home until the last delivery of meals around 7:00 pm.  Steve told me he wants to make sure everyone has training and someone they can turn to.  He has become Mr. Operation Smile.  The Operations Smile staff have taken notice of him as well.  Bruce, the head doctor wanted to steal him for his very own translator, but had to share him with all the rest of the medical staff.  

Friday and Saturday they screened all of the patients, taking pictures and conducting interviews while building patient files.  For the 200 or so patients who have come, Sunday is the day of notification.  There are about one-third of the patients who will be told they will not receive surgery.  Based on priorities of cleft lip and cleft pallet first, there are some surgeries too difficult to be performed during this single week.  There are also many cases not involving their focus group, such as burns, other deformities, etc.  

Monday through Friday morning they will perform surgeries.  We had never imagined the volunteer hours that would be contributed.  Many wonderful saints have come and stayed and stayed and then returned again the following day.  We could have gotten by with some casual contribution, but the members wouldn’t allow it.  We have little idea of the hours that may be required this coming week, but it has been a very heart-warming experience.  

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Today we took Dr. Benjamin Rodriquez with us to Flavien’s Ward.  Dr. Mikesell thought this would be a more authentic African experience rather than going to the stake center.  Dr. Rodriquez is a plastic surgeon from Las Vegas who is a church member.  He has been volunteering with Operation Smile for 25 years and usually goes on 5-6 Operation Smile missions a year.  About 2 weeks each mission.  He is a retuned missionary who served in Chile and speaks Spanish, Italian and French.  He was an enjoyable guest at church.  The world is pretty small when you’re a member of the church.

Yesterday we had a fund experience with Therese.  She is the director of Notre Dame School for Girls.  We have an approved project with her school to provide a cooking lab.  She received 10 sewing machines about 2 years ago from the church and has done a wonderful job of teaching sewing skills to her classes of 300-350 girls each year.  Her husband is a carpenter and has constructed two new classrooms to house the sewing and cooking classrooms.  Therese grew up with no training and is a self-taught woman who saw a need for disadvantaged girls.  We told her if she would raise 25% of the money required to supply her lab, we would present it as a proposal.  She raised $1,600 with her school registration, but spent it on roofing for the new classrooms because we didn’t some by and pick up the money.  She told us she would have the money again by October 7th, so this time we went and picked up the money.  We put it in a safe at the mission office.  It was all in Congolese 500 franc bills.  It filled a small shopping bag and weighed about 5 pounds.  It was difficult for her to give us the money.  It requires a certain level of trust.  We decided to have her go shopping with us to buy the supplies and identify all the equipment needed.  We spent the better part of the day shopping with Sister Riendeau as our translator.  I was the chauffeur with three women and it was not nearly as torturous as a man might imagine.  Therese was like a 6-year old on Christmas morning.  I don’t believe she has ever participated in such a shopping trip.  She said she wanted to bring the entire store home.  

We finally went shopping for ourselves on Saturday.  We’ve needed to restock for over a week but have been completely immersed in the Operation Smile project.  We ate grilled cheese twice and peanut butter once for dinner this past week, but we survived and didn’t whine too much about it.  I heard USU, BYU and Box Elder all lost their football games this week, so another good week to be in Africa.  

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)