“Being the mom of a cleft-affected child, it’s very important to me to be able to bond with other...
Eduardo’s mother felt a sense of loss when she first saw his cleft. But she loved him no less for it,...
Location is everything. For many living in the Andes Mountains, the higher up a mountain a family lives...
When Dani was born with a cleft, her family knew a difficult road lay ahead. But nothing could prepare...
When Mariane Goes started her new role as the Director for Education and Training for Latin America...
Jaime first saw clefts on TV. The show featured twin babies, each with a cleft. He couldn’t imagine it....
Javier Anzo may seem like your everyday guy. He lives in Mexico City with his wife, Olivia; eight-year-...
Fidel lives in the countryside in Panama, a four-hour walk from the nearest city.
When Rosa was pregnant with her third baby, she knew from day one that this would be her first boy....
My name is Juan. I am from Isla de Maipo, Chile. I live with my dad, my mom, my dogs, and a rabbit. And...
Dentsply Sirona, the world's largest manufacturer of dental products and technologies, recently took...
Cinthya lives with her husband and three children in a wooden shack in the mountains above Lima, Peru....
According to Camila, her life in 2019 was busy but routine. She lived with her boyfriend, Alexis, and...
You might say Dr. Celso Aldana and his team have been waiting for Gianna and Maximiliano since before...
Genaro is a farmworker in Mexico. He doesn't have a stable income, and he and his wife, Ariela, had...
Already the mother of two preteens, Ana was shocked to learn she was pregnant again. The whole family...
Edith had already given birth to two daughters, but nothing could have prepared her for Chiara. The...
In January 2022, Sarah Ingle, Smile Train’s Manager of PR and Social Media, joined Miss USA, Elle Smith...
In 2017, Smile Train Ambassador Kylie Jenner and her mother, Kris, visited our partners and patients in...
Zulema and Jose thought they had it all planned. They had carefully saved and budgeted the money they...
Zindia, 22, lives outside Lima, Peru, with her three-year-old son, Joseyur, who was born with a cleft....
Iván Vélez has been the Smile Train Program Manager for South America since October 2020.
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Paola felt her prayers were answered when she learned, after so many years of trying, that she was four-...
At the end of their 12- to 14-hour workdays at the car plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico, most workers...
For Andrea Meza, working with Smile Train isn't just a privilege of her position as Miss Universe; it's...
"Don't worry. The doctors are ready for him." Though Noelia did not know Félix was going to be born with...
Héctor Rivas and his wife Karen had been praying for a child for a long time, so they were thrilled in...
In 2017, we shared the story of Auner, a baby with a cleft who was brought to live at Smile Train’s...
This story contains references to attempted self-harm and may not be suitable for all audiences.
Magaly is the mother of David, age five, a Smile Train patient in Quito, Ecuador. She shared with us her...
When Adahara was born with a cleft rural in Chacaltianguis, Mexico, no one in the hospital knew what to...
Andrea Anaya is the Program Manager for Smile Train Central America. Below, she tells us about her start...
Silvia Backes is the Program Manager of Smile Train South America. On this occasion, she tells us about...
Karla Rico is the new Program Manager at Smile Train Mexico, where she is responsible for maintaining,...
Smile Train mourns the loss of Dr. Ian Jackson, a man who lived each day of his 85 years with energy,...
Camila Beni is the Program Manager at Smile Train Brazil. She recently sat down with us to talk about...
Twenty-six years ago, Montse was born with a cleft lip and palate. Cleft surgery was not available in...
Smile Train and the entire cleft community mourn the loss of Dr. Hirji S. Adenwalla, a truly heroic...
Gracee was born with a cleft lip and palate in the Philippines and she was incessantly bullied...
Celeste is a neonatology nurse in Argentina. When a baby with a cleft was born in her hospital,...
Dr. Daniely Farias is a Smile Train partner plastic surgeon in Campo Grande, Brazil who is now on...
In Chile, cleft surgeries and comprehensive cleft care have been postponed to ensure patient safety...
In the mid-1990s, Dr. Maria del Pilar Echeverri was working as a speech therapist to children with...
Carmen Gloria Morovic decided to become a pediatric plastic surgeon when, as a medical resident at the...
Eight years ago, Juanita met the love of her life, Everardo, at their company Christmas party. Three...
Blanca and Selvin met in their youth as involved members of a church in Montúfar, Guatemala. Long...
Rosa and her husband were living and working on a finca (ranch) in rural Colombia, taking care...
Lourdes was born in Yaruqui, Ecuador with a cleft lip and a rare condition in which skin was formed over...
In 2017, Estefani and Gabriel were a young couple living with Estefani’s mother, Erika, in a rural area...
When it came time to choose a medical school, Andrea Astudillo of Cuenca, Ecuador joined her older...
In 2014, Soledad Gallardo of Santa Barbara, Chile was very surprised when her daughter Matilda was born...
In 2007, Cristina Solano of Quito, Ecuador decided to take time off from her work as a multimedia...
The entire Cuchipe family works as ranch hands high atop the Andes Mountains, in a remote area of...
In Guatemala, children’s rates of severe malnutrition are so high that the government has special...
Nine-year-old Camila from Santiago, Chile has a beautiful smile that lights up the room. While her smile...
38-year-old Faustino walked for more than 10 hours over the Andes Mountains with his wife leading the...
Maria Carmen soon found that children did very well during the school year, but would digress in their...
Five-year-old Alexa wasn't always considered a queen, as she was born with a cleft lip. Fortunately,...
