Yemen Smile Organization, a pioneer and unique example of charity, devotion, and humanity:Making a child smile for the 1st time [Archives:2004/754/Health]
July 12 2004
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For so many years, Yemeni cleft lip and palate children and citizens were deprived from the ability to have free-of-charge surgeries to bring them their normal smile. For children who suffered from such disease, they would usually have to travel abroad for treatment. Most Yemeni families cannot afford the high expenses of travel and accommodation, let alone the cost of surgery.
However, for all those families, good news has finally come.
With the official birth of YSO (YSO) in 2004, this deprivation was put to an end. YSO, a multinational cleft charity registered locally in Yemen, is now open to the public and ready to help hundreds of cleft lip and palate children of Yemen with free surgeries.
Advanced equipment, dedicated staff
Besides the fact that the non-profit charity is equipped with the most advanced technology in its field, it is also supported by dedicated and hard working Yemeni and foreign staffers.
The Local Chairman Abdul Nasser Al- Badani, known as Sam, along with his Yemeni colleagues and members of the international community have decided to help cleft children have a smile that they always dreamed of, and get back into the community as healthy and proud individuals.
Even though it has rather been lower-profile and away from the glimmer of the press, the organization has been working behind the curtains to help children all over the country for nothing in return. In the last seven months alone the charity has helped over a hundred cleft children from all over Yemen.
Initiative well-received
The YSO initiative was well received by the Yemeni community and donors in Yemen. In the official opening ceremony of the new headquarters of YSO in Sanaa on June 17, Mrs. Frances Guy, UK Ambassador to Yemen has praised the efforts of the association and expressed commitment of the UK embassy to support the association's noble and charity work in all possible means.
Meanwhile, Yemenis attending the ceremony expressed deep satisfaction for all
Training for the future
On another level, YSO does not only offer free and direct services to its patients, but it trains local and foreign surgeons to carry out surgeries with the latest cosmetic techniques of cleft repair.
This is part of the organization's ambitions and objectives to leave behind a fully equipped center to be run by Yemenis.
This would guarantee sustainable and everlasting charity service to the Yemeni people.
Help from Yemen & Singapore
Dr Bona Lotha, Head of the YSO Mission and an internationally renowned expert in cleft surgery, travels regularly to Jibla and Saadah to help these children and train the surgeons.
On the other hand, Dr. Yeap Choong Lieng at Singapore's Mount Elizabeth hospital also helps the charity by providing the latest hi-tech innovations in the field of cosmetic surgery, and is always there for assistance when needed.
Bringing a smile on children's faces
According to chairman Abdul Nasser Al- Badani (Sam), head of mission Dr Bona Lotha, and Executive manager Akram Al-Gunaid, the main objective of YSO is \”to make cleft children in Yemen smile normally again.\””
In fact
