Volunteer Stories

I joined Operation Smile in 1991 when I was a plastic surgery resident back in Colombia. Operation Smile was much smaller back then, and I had the opportunity to get…

This July, ten Canadian high school student leaders joined hundreds of other students from around the world at Operation Smile’s 27th Annual International Student Leadership Conference in Seattle. At this…

Before Sabrina Ghiddi became involved with Operation Smile’s work in Ghana as a nonmedical volunteer in 2013, she didn’t know that the organization existed. However, the Italian transplant did know…

Dr. Opoku Ampomah walks side by side with his patient, 17-year-old Faustina, down the corridor that leads to the operating rooms at Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua, Ghana. It’s the…

Times were tough for Operation Smile Ghana program coordinator Lucy Apeajei when she was young. By the time she was 10 years old, Lucy had to start working so she…

When Dr. Emmanuella “Ella” Amoako earned her medical degree in Ukraine, she hadn’t sought to become a pediatrician. Rather, it was after she returned home to Ghana that pediatrics found…

Editor’s Note: The following story is the first-person account of guest blogger Sean Robson, Operation Smile South Africa Communications Coordinator, as he and photographer Zute Lightfoot accompanied Operation Smile vounteer…

Anesthesia is as vital to a surgical procedure as any instrument wielded by the surgeon. As part of Operation Smile’s Global Standards of Care, it’s a medical standard that enables…