16 Filipino children from remote island brave 10 hour bus trip to receive Cleft Lip and Palate reconstructive surgery.

Cleft lip and palate operations so easily transform a child’s life and future, but families from San Jose island in the Philippines have a particularly difficult time accessing this support.

Ten hours round-trip away from the nearest hospital, even aid workers rarely visit due to rebel group activity.  Pauline Curtis-Smith, working on the ground, has been a real hero working with these families in a dangerous setting.

In November we sponsored 12 children, and this month a further 16, bringing us to a total of 28 so far. In the Philippines, where 45% of the population live below the poverty line and 40% never see a doctor in their lifetime, many families simply cannot afford simple surgery for their children. 

These before and after photos of Andrei Coching, Jaymar Juancho, Christopher Bautista, Jethro Darado, Chriz Delizo, John Flowing Sing - Sing, Gabriel Fadulla, KC Tardeo, Kent Gregorio, Khian Emenedoza, Kyle Pruga, Maria Herilla, Princess Joy Sing - Sing, Ronalyn Gabanan, Sammal Ubag and Tristan Cabral show a beautiful transformation.

Susie, our Office Manager, says ‘These pictures really bring home the reality of the impact these operations have. It is wonderful to know that our 100% Promise has been used to ensure that children have these transformative reconstructions in a safe, supported environment. What a wonderful cause.’

Full medical checks are carried out the day before surgery. Children who are not well enough have their operations delayed, in which case you will notice a longer time gap between their before and after photo’s.

All it costs is £230 per operation. To help us sponsor more children, donate here.

We are delighted to welcome new Advisory Board members to the team!

Suzanne Godfrey was the cofounder and Head of Global Sales and Marketing for Fastway, increasing their turnover from $30million to $458million in seventeen years. Currently an Executive Director of a new drinks brand, BerryWhite, Suzanne is helping us to delivery an innovative new marketing strategy. 

Amanda Ellis, Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is the first woman to head the New Zealand Aid Programme, leading the team that manages over half a billion dollars of development assistance annually. Amanda was awarded the World Difference Lifetime Achievement Award for promoting women's economic empowerment and is representing New Zealand on the UN Security Council. 

Anna Nation is an HR Expert who has worked with BP Plc and Barclays Capital. Anna has completed her first novel this year and has contributed hugely as Global Angels’ HR Advisor.

Pepukaye Bardouille, a Global Energy Specialist with the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group. Pep has advised CEO’s in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia on corporate strategy, organisational delivery, and operational performance improvement whilst working for McKinsey & Company.

Roza Azu is a creative director who has worked on campaigns for Coca Cola, Godiva, Barnes & Noble, Converse, and Starbucks, among others. Passionate about travel and global narrative, Rosa is our Corporate Liaison in the US. 

We also have some exciting new Ambassadors!

Deckscar is a DJ and producer, prominent across London’s vibrant music scene. 

Amelle joined the Sugababes in 2005, enjoying success of countless top ten hits. In 2009, Amelle became the first Sugababe to have a solo number one hit with Tinchy Stryder. 

Get Funked perform classic soul, funk and pop in both an 10 and 13 piece line up, comprised of some of the UK’s finest session musicians and vocalists. Credits include Mary J Blige, Emeli Sande and Amy Winehouse. 

In Northern Mozambique almost 1 in 5 children were dying before they reached their 5th birthday due to water borne disease and lack of access to basic medical care. Since 2006, we have partnered with the Nema project working with 16 remote communities to improve health and education.

We are about to open our second health clinic provided through Global Angels funding, with 5 more in the pipeline. As this blog is posted, a nurse, with midwifery training, is being recruited to live within the new medical centre. The excited community are poised to make the finishing touches by building a toilet block together next week for their newly resident medical expert.

The building project is led by Abacar, who you can see in his high visibility jacket below.

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Abacar, born in Guludo Village, has been involved in this community project since 2008. Starting off as a labourer, he has recently become a foreman. Originally illiterate, his literacy and numeracy have improved dramatically.

A visiting French doctor did a few trial days in Guludo’s nearly complete medical clinic. The Doctor saw Abacar’s son (left, above) who had been playing near his father. The doctors trained eyes could see that he had a serious problem with his stomach. He was given the right medical attention. Abacar and the community were given an insight into how different life is with accessible medical support. Soon, with the recruitment for the nurse in process, this will become their daily reality.

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Malaria is still the number one killer in Mozambique and with the new clinics, this can be monitored and medication will be readily available in the area. In Guludo Village, this clinic really will save lives.

Further to this medical clinic, community teams have been coming together to install the three running water points in Guludo, Lumuama and Nuande villages. It is amazing to see the communities take responsibility for the building and maintenance of these resources.

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Lumuama has a population of approximately 700 people and a few years ago, Global Angels installed the first water point in the area. Though this made a huge impact, the village was spread across such a large area, that the decision was taken to install a second pump. With the new well fully operational, no members of the community ever need to drink the muddy water from the pond that they used to rely on. Now everyone has access to safe drinking water.

You can find out more about how to support this project on our donation pages. 

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We are so pleased that Molly has been featured in the New Zealand Herald during her recent trip. 

We look forward to bringing you more news of her trip and adventures in the comings. 

As you will remember from our December newsletter, all the operations funded by your generous donations at the 2012 Global Angel Awards have now taken place.

£230 covered the cost of the hare lip and/or cleft palate surgery operation for Grace, Venus, Ulses, Jade, Blas, Jhean, Mark and Melchizedek (pictured below) as well as aftercare and medication. These children live in Guerrilla controlled areas that aid workers are unable to access. With the support of our Angels we were able to provide them with accommodation and transport for themselves and a guardian so that they could make this 10hour round trip safely.

During the awards night we raised enough for the 12 operations we had targeted, and they have had life-changing impacts on nine children. We also raised enough to be able to offer the funds for a further eight! All of these surgeries were completed around a fortnight after the event. The final child featured in our Global Angels Awards brochure, Joseph Medoza, proved a little camera shy but is looking wonderful and feeling confident and strong after his operation.

As with all of our project partners, we have a special relationship with our friends in the Philippines, who receive and implement 100% of funds to deliver the operations and change children's lives. A few words from Pauline, working closely with the children and their families:

“The impact of the operations on the children is profound. The older children have not been attending school as they get ridiculed. Without an operation they have no hope for a good future, they would never get a job and there is no social welfare system here. They are destined to a life living in poverty. It also has an impact on their personality.

“It is so amazing to see the transformation in their confidence when they look at themselves in the mirror after they have had their operation. I have seen many parents weep when they first see their child, especially the fathers!

“This impacts the extended family, as they ask us ‘Why would anyone go and look for children who need an operation?’ They had given up hope this would ever happen. The average wage of these families is around 94 dollars each month, so it must have seemed impossible.

“Thank you, to all of the Angels, from the bottom of my heart.”

We are delighted these operations have been successful and made a sustainable change to these vulnerable children and their families. So delighted, in fact, that we kept looking for more support!

Donors have continued to come forward over the past months and we have sent 100 per cent of these funds overseas to support a further 18 operations. Pre-operation assessments are currently taking place to find18 children who can be operated on, and we look forward to bringing you more news over the coming months.

It was great to see the Global Angels Awards in the media again this year. We are especially grateful to Hello! and OK!for writing such wonderful articles.

Hello! featured us in their November 26th issue with Global Angel Ambassador, Joss Stone as well as Beverley Knight and Sandy Shaw taking the spotlight. It's a brilliant piece that really demonstrates the highlights of the evening as well as the motivation behind it all, recognising the generosity that has made our work possible.

Last week we were also in OK! in their Society Diary with Mark Moody. We would like to thank Graham Reading for his photography that really captured the evening. The piece highlights some of the incredible guests who joined us on the night including stunning pictures of our Ambassadors Lizzie Cundy, Hofit Golan and Caroline Feraday, and special guests Lenny Henry and Jason De Cateret.