Our Stories

How a mother found the strength to raise eight boys on her own and a son found the strength to smile.

She's 36 years old, a mother of four, Zambia's first female plastic surgeon, and a Smile Train partner. Here's how she does it all.

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.

Small acts of kindness can have really big consequences. 

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.

For 70 years, Pyari knew little besides rejection and heartbreak, until you gave her hope. And a smile.

Health workers from Burundi attend a workshop so they can better teach others about the importance of cleft nutrition. 

How one man built a legacy of smiles that will last for generations — on both sides of the operating table.

Meet the brother-sister duo transforming cleft care in the mountains of Ecuador.

When Cristina learned her son would have a cleft, she sought comfort and support, but found none, even from the local community. Until she met Dr. Dávalos. In the 10 years since, they've changed what it means to have a cleft in Ecuador, together.

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.