![Smile Train patient Demaris from Kenya holds a picture of herself before her free cleft surgery](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-07/damaris-holding-photo-before-free-smile-train-cleft-lip-cleft-palate-surgery-kenya.jpg?itok=g5glTJIO)
Determined Damaris
Even when the whole world seemed against her, Damaris persisted. And won.
![Annointed with his mother, Favour, after his cleft surgery.](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-05/annointed-with-mother-after-free-cleft-lip-palate-surgery-nigeria.jpg?itok=uWuEc449)
Annointed for Greatness
The story of a cleft mother’s bravery, in her own words.
![Oscar holding a picture of himself before free Smile Train cleft lip and plate surgery in Zambia.](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-04/oscar-after-free-cleft-surgery-holding-before-picture-zambia.jpg?itok=u-8JmCUs)
Oscar is a Gift
How a mother found the strength to raise eight boys on her own and a son found the strength to smile.
![Livingstone with his friends after cleft lip and cleft palate surgery](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-02/livingstone-with-friends-after-cleft-lip-cleft-palate-treatment.jpg?itok=zhxVMF1U)
Livingstone Clings to Life
Cleft surgery was only one piece of Livingstone's journey from malnourished baby to star of his village.
![David's mom holds an image her son before cleft surgery](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-02/david-holds-before.jpg?itok=BWHeD1_B)
David’s Cleft Journey in His Mother’s Words
Magaly is the mother of David, age five, a Smile Train patient in Quito, Ecuador. She shared with us her son’s journey to cleft care and what Smile Train has meant for her entire family.
![Samson's mom hold an image of Samson before cleft surgery](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-02/samson-holding-before.jpg?itok=QB0FEtXr)
Baby Samson’s Superhuman Strength
Aunt Rebecca did not trust that her sister would provide Samson with the special care he needed. So, she brought him back to the place he was born, the tiny-two room house he now shared with 13 relatives, all female.
![Maria before her cleft surgery](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-01/maria-before-surgery-super.jpg?itok=cIdu5sXn)
It’s Never Too Late to Dream
Maria has been waiting for cleft surgery since 1953. When the opportunity came, her son wanted her to pass.
![Ayubu before cleft lip surgery](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-02/ayubu-before-cleft-lip-surgery.jpg?itok=9wYWba9j)
A Smile That Brightens And Enlightens
Ayubu's classmates harassed him relentlessly for years because of a local myth about clefts. When he was 10 years old, his mother heard there was hope at a hospital less than an hour away.
It Starts with a Smile: Wang Li
![Kamse living with an untreated cleft lip in Kenya](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-02/kamse-before-cleft-surgery.jpg?itok=sREJDK6G)
A Student Of Resiliency
Kamse was excited for his first day of school, but, when the day finally came, he was taunted all day long. Kamse ran home and begged his grandfather never to make him go back.
![Fernanda stands in front of a cow](/sites/default/files/styles/1_column_470_x_305/public/2021-02/fernanda-and-cow.jpg?itok=4fc3ox5n)
Fernanda: The Jolly Rancher
Wendy was 17, single, and scared. She had just had a baby with a cleft, and any help seemed far, far away from her family's ranch in the remote Andes highlands. But Smile Train was there.