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Morng, 6 years, Cambodia
In Cambodia, they call a child with a cleft a “Cheb.” Cheb can mean a lot of things, all of them bad: “hole,” “mistake,” “freak,” “ugly,” and “loser.”
To 6 year-old Cambodian boy, Morng Taing Pilot, Cheb was an unfortunate nickname. He grudgingly accepted it, as he and his family lost all hope of ever fixing the massive gap in his lip and palate. But one day, his family heard a report on the radio of a special program that offered free surgery to poor Cambodian children with clefts. It seemed too good to be true, and the clinic was 26 miles away, a two day walk at least. But Morng and his father decided it was worth taking a chance, and after a long journey, they ended up at the National Pediatric Hospital in the Kandal Province of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
 Smile Train partner Dr. Long Vanna and an all-Cambodian surgical team operated on Morng. It took a little over an hour to transform this little boy from a Cheb back to Morng Taing Pilot. Just 73 minutes to save Morng from an entire lifetime of suffering and humiliation. Dr. Vanna commented, “I’m delighted seeing poor, lovely children having a new smile.”
And Morng’s neighbor sums it all up, “It seems like magic that a local doctor can make the child as if he never had cleft lip before. He is no longer a Cheb!” |
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