Home Visits- aka the most incredible day part 1

Since I'll leave the really in depth stories for the Operation Smile official blog (I'll post the link when things start getting posted) here I'll indulge a bit and talk more about the experience overall. The reason why I was sent early for this mission was because they had scheduled a home visit to a previous patient's home. Yesterday we visited Daisy, a week shy of eight years old, is the sweetest, gregarious, brightest girl. The drive to her home lasted for a good 45 minutes on a mix of paved and dirt road. Daniela, a volunteer here in San Cristobal, said that the passable roads were left over from the government's attempt to reach the Zapatistas which makes Operation Smile's work much easier now.

When we arrived, we headed to Daisy's school, which had a different classroom for each grade. The goal for a home visit is to get pictures and the story of the patient while they are in their home environment. However, here that is more challenging because a number of the people believe that a photograph can steal your soul. Often, the children are ok with getting their picture taken while adults are not. However, it is important to ask permission. Needless to say, I have spent a lot of time pointing at my camera and asking in broken Spanish if it is acceptable. Daisy, thankfully has become accustomed to this kind of treatment, as she has become a bit of an Operation Smile Mexico celebrity.

Daisy and her teacher

We spent some time in her classroom taking photos while the kids were supposed to be working on their Spanish as Tzotzil is their native language. However, the excitement of four strangers walking into their classroom with their principal, all while taking pictures all served as a large enough distraction that most students gave up pretending to do work. Daisy, who was rather shy, did in fact continue to work a bit in between giving us big grins.

The adorable Daisy, post mission photos

By this point, students from other classes began to crowd at the door. Entertained by all of the excitement, I started to take photos unwittingly starting a new game. Half the kids there loved having their picture taken and wanted to see the image on the screen right after. The other half however, would run, laughing, out of the shot. This game eventually involved crowds of kids getting progressively closer to my camera, until there was absolutely no way I could get them all in the shot.

The girls and boys trying to crowd the camera

The kids were absolutely adorable, even as the boys tried to push friends both in and out of the shot and the girls kept posing and smiling with their arms around each other. Shortly after this game began, the bell rang, and recess started. However, the game didn't end. The school had a large basketball court and numerous basketballs that the kids enjoyed playing with. While the majority of the boys chose to play basketball, most of the girls continued to laugh and run from my camera, running inside classrooms as soon as I turned their way. Initially when this game started, I was concerned that I was offending them, but as I wasn't actually taking any pictures, I wasn't too worried. Plus their constant laughter was also a good indication. After awhile chasing the kids a bit, and laughing a lot, some of the girls joined in the basketball game that Daniela had started of boys vs. girls. After all, who doesn't play basketball in foreign countries? Honestly, I was really surprised to see a basketball before I saw a soccer ball, the game of choice for the high school boys.

Some of the boys playing basketball

Once recess ended, Daisy walked us to her home, which was just a few yards away. Her mother, who had seven children, was such an incredibly strong person. As I interviewed her, using not one, but two translators, I was struck by her constant calm and complete faith that she had that Daisy's cleft lip and palate would be fixed. Sure enough, they had been repaired. Her faith and confidence in Operation Smile struck me. Without knowing hardly anything about the mission, she and her husband Lorenzo went to San Cristobal and let Daisy receive surgery not once, but twice, which is an incredibly brave thing to do. Just how brave it was, I learned later that day.

Once I had completed the interview and Diana, the photographer, had finished shooting we returned to the car. It was here where my lack of spanish got me into trouble. I was trying to talk to the high school boys a bit, but honestly I had no idea what they were saying. It wasn't until after I got into the car that Daniela informed me that they were asking why they hadn't been introduced to the girls and the guy who I had told I didn't really speak Spanish, had responded by saying, "Oh I'll teach you Spanish!" Needless to say, I was rather red once I had gotten the gist of it. The home visit was wonderful, in parts funny, sweet, and touching. As we left, we set the plan for the rest of the afternoon. We decided to visit two boys, Alejandro who had already received a cleft lip and palate surgery, and Serafino, who had received a cleft lip surgery, but was still waiting for a palate surgery. After, we were hoping to visit one more girl, Susana, who was just under a year old and lived on the outskirts of the other side of town.

Some other students at the door when we were taking photos of Daisy