Short Mission Stories and Family Portraits | Sarah Douglas

While I was on my mission in China, my job was to gather stories, take photos, and post on social media. On the first day at the hospital, Screening Day, I went around collecting stories from the various families, interviewing a total of 15 patients that one day. Each time I interviewed a family, or indeed an adult patient, I took a family portrait. I soon realised that I liked the idea, having had no idea that it was going to happen, and continued doing so the rest of the day, and throughout the mission. Below are some of the stories, accompanied by their portraits.

Mother-in-law Kui Limei, Ye Zhao, and baby You Daizhi (male) during
screening. Zhao's husband was not around when the picture was taken.

Ye Zhao, a 33 year old mother of baby You Daizhi, was born with a unilateral cleft lip. Whether she had the palate as well or not is unclear, as she did not speak mandarin, we had to speak to her husband and mother in law. I'm not sure that she did, as I have another future procedure written down in my notes, and nothing about a cleft palate. Having only been married to her husband a little while, and it being an arranged marriage, her husband does not know very much about her background, or any of the information I was dying to ask her. Neither did he seem to want to ask her about it. Zhao and her family travelled five hours by bus from a village in the mountains, the journey costing ¥300, the equivalent to €41. She had never gotten a surgery before, as she had not known it was an option, and having always lived with an unrepaired cleft, she was used to it. Zhao is from an ethnic minority in Myanmar, but came to Yunnan, China when she had an arranged marriage. They told us that when the surgery was over, and they got back home, they will celebrate. They were very happy, and thankful to Operation Smile. I saw the result, and she was so beautiful. It was amazing to see someone in their thirties, that had lived for so long with an unrepaired cleft, had finally gotten it fixed.

Zhi Mei with her parents during screening.

This is Chen Zhi Mei, almost 4 years old, and her third time at the mission site. She had already received two successful surgeries, staying in the hospital for a whole week last year. They are from Zhenkang, a county of Lincang, four hours away from the hospital. On screening day, I saw her as she was playing, waiting to be called. I noticed a fancy dress draped over a bag belonging to the family. Later, when I interviewed the family during their screening, while they were waiting at a station, I noticed that she was wearing said dress. It's so nice to see how much the surgery means to the families, how big an occasion it is. I saw that on my previous mission as well, kids dressing up for the occasion, hoping that they'll make a good impression, and look nice on the important day that it is. Of course, she got surgery this time round, and was such a lovely child, always energetic, and full of life. She also displayed qualities of kindness, even if all she did was give everyone out stickers. She was also so gentle, a truly adorable kid, so brave both before and after her surgery.


Meet Chen Fang Yu, an adorable little two year old, almost three, whose family, or at least mother, appeared to love the colour red (which happens to be my favourite colour). I mean, both the mother and daughter were wearing red (well, Fang Yu had it on under her pink coat- and actually, pink seems to be a very popular colour in China)...

Fang Yu with her mother (left) and grandmother (right).

Fang Yu was there with her mother and grandmother, and lives five hours away. They found out, like many of the patients on the mission, about Operation Smile, through the Civil Bureau, as well as the hospital. She had already received one surgery last year on her lip, and came back for her palate. I only met the family during surgery week (which was really a weekend on this mission, as it ran from Friday to Monday), but had encountered Fang Yu on Screening Day, in all her cuteness. She even carried around a mini version of the kind of sashes they use to carry their children around on the day I met her family, her teddy bear tucked nicely inside. She was just so sweet!
They had originally planned to go to the Second People's Hospital in Kunming, a big city in Yunnan, for the operation, which offers a free surgery, but it is further to travel, and there is an ¥800 (€109) examination fee. The only difficulty Fang Yu had with the cleft, was speaking clearly. Something which surprised me during this mission was that most patients had very little, or no, problems with their cleft, whether it was already repaired or not. Most people were so used to it, they got by. Another interesting point to note, is that Fang Yu's mother seemed to be one of the youngest parents there, having had her daughter at the age of 20. Many of the other mothers, and fathers, looked much older.

Here is Zhao Yiming, a seven month old boy, and one of the patients who travelled the furthest, a total of two days, from Zhenxiong county. On Screening Day, his mother didn't want me to take a photo of them, but on the day of his surgery, and the day after, she was very much willing to do so, even getting photos with Yiming, herself, and I, on her phone. Maybe it was because she now knew my face, and was no longer shy, or maybe she got more confident the further they got in the whole process. As a matter of fact, most families were happy to pose for photos, I never had many refusing to do so. Being the first child I interviewed, I was a little upset I hadn't gotten a photo, but then when the mother opened up a little more to us, even saying that I was welcome in her home town, if I should ever find myself there with Operation Smile, I get a few shots, not all particularly in good lighting, hence the photo here, most of the good ones were from post-op, and I'm in most of them.

That's it for today, I might release a second series of family portraits sometime, but for now, here is my first four. It was such a pleasure meeting, and finding out information about these patients, and I will never forget the personalities, and also how cute the kids were! It truly is an amazing experience to go on a mission, and something that I would recommend anyone who wants to volunteer abroad to look into.

Until next time,
Sarah