Charity Group Gives Free Corrective Operations in Malawi

 

An aid group called Operation Smile has been helping¹ people born with cleft² lips and cleft palates for over 30 years.

The group, based in the United States, works in countries around the world.

In the African nation of Malawi, Operation Smile’s medical team operates on babies affected³ by a cleft lip or palate for free.

Many parents there feel embarrassed if their child is born with either condition. Agnes Chiotcha is a Malawian. She gave birth to a son with a cleft lip last year.

Chiotcha says she was overcome with emotion and wondered why she had given birth to such a child.

In Chiotcha’s home village, people began to say that her child’s cleft lip resulted from a failed abortion⁴. They claimed that she had asked a doctor to end the pregnancy⁵.

Others accused her of using birth control methods that deformed⁶ her baby.

Chiotcha says she denied that any kind of birth control was involved. She said that God created her boy with a cleft lip.

Operation Smile says cleft lips and palates are the world’s third most common birth defect. They reportedly affect one out of every 750 babies.

In Malawi, Operation Smile has performed 1,000 surgical⁷ operations over the past seven years. But the group heavily depends on foreign doctors because few local plastic surgeons are available.

Ibrahim Nthalika is program manager for Operation Smile-Malawi.

“We have only two [Malawian] plastic surgeons that...volunteered to work with us, that can do this and volunteer to work with us.”

People born with a cleft lip or palate may have difficulty speaking and eating. They also face unkind treatment and discrimination like the kind James Rice experienced.

Rice says his aunt insulted him a lot. He says she told him that if he had been born when she was there, she would have thrown him away -- into the toilet.

But those who receive the operation have reason to smile. Agnes Chiotcha says now those who used to insult her will feel guilty once they see her child had an operation.

James Rice says now he will be able to do everything without any problem and will not feel badly as before. He adds that he can now tell others who have clefts⁸ to have their defect repaired.

Operation Smile estimates that 3,000 people in Malawi still suffer from cleft lips or palates. The group is now training local doctors to perform the operation.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

abortion – n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of the fetus⁹

aunt – n. the sister of your father or mother or the wife of your uncle

cleft lip – n. a split in the upper lip that some people are born with

defect – n. a physical problem that causes something to be less valuable, effective, healthy, etc.

embarrassed – adj. feeling confused and foolish in front of other people

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 cleft   

n.裂缝；adj.裂开的

参考例句：

• I hid the message in a cleft in the rock.我把情报藏在石块的裂缝里。
• He was cleft from his brother during the war.在战争期间，他与他的哥哥分离。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

5 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

6 deformed   

adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的

参考例句：

• He was born with a deformed right leg.他出生时右腿畸形。
• His body was deformed by leprosy.他的身体因为麻风病变形了。

7 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

8 clefts   

n.裂缝( cleft的名词复数 )；裂口；cleave的过去式和过去分词；进退维谷

参考例句：

• Clefts are often associated with other more serious congenital defects. 裂口常与其他更严重的先天性异常并发。 来自辞典例句
• Correction of palate clefts is much more difficult and usually not as satisfactory. 硬腭裂的矫正更为困难，且常不理想。 来自辞典例句

9 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。