by Janine Hill

Most of us do not have the skills to repair children born with cleft lips or cleft palates but there is a way for people to help if they have time on their hands.

Helping Children Smile needs volunteers to help in its Nambour op shop, which raises money for the organisation’s life-changing work.

Every year, the organisation sends a team of doctors and nurses to the Philippines to perform corrective surgery on children with cleft lips and palates.

Cleft lips and cleft palates are birth defects that occur when babies’ lips or mouths do not form properly before they are born.

Malika Burke, a nurse and shop coordinator for Helping Children Smile, said cleft lips and palates meant physical and emotional difficulties for children.

“They often wear masks because they’re so embarrassed but it’s not just that. Yes, they can have trouble talking and eating, they can dribble, their teeth grow crooked because you need your lips to keep them in, but they’re also at increased risk of choking and chest infections,” she said.

Helping Children Smile began in 1996 and has sent a medical team to the Philippines almost every year since to perform corrective surgeries on about 1000 children so far.

Malika has done five trips and said being part of the life-changing work was addictive.

“As the ward nurse, I’ll take the parents while their children are having the surgery. They are often excited because this is the last time they will see their children like that,” she said.

“They love their children, no matter what, but when they see their children after surgery, they’re crying, everybody’s crying. There’s a lot of tears of joy.”

Malika said each trip cost about $40,000- $50,000 to send a team of about a dozen doctors, nurses and anaesthetics, plus their gear, to the Philippines for about 10-14 days.

The work is funded by the op shop, donations, and sponsorships.

Malika said help in the op shop was welcome at any time but the shop was currently short on Tuesdays all day and Wednesdays and Fridays from noon until 3pm.

Donations of good quality clothing, homewares and bric-a-brac are welcome and can be dropped off at the shop in Currie Street. Cash donations and sponsorships can be arranged through the website, www.helpingchildrensmile.org.au.

▶ If you can help in the op shop, call 0450 636 080.