Oral Cleft and Lip Palate caregivers rendered their emotional testimonies of how different organisations come to their aid to put smiles on their faces. The caregivers, 43 of them, who meet every week at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital (LUTH) facility, last week, shared their stories in words and pictures at the Photo-voice Oralfacial Clefts exhibition. Oral cleft and cleft palate is a birth condition which is an opening(s) or splits in the roof of the mouth and lip, and can occur alone or as part of a genetic condition or syndrome.
The photo-voice exhibition held at Surgical Skills Center of LUTH, Idi-Araba, in Lagos, had scores of the caregivers present and they narrated tales on how they almost abandoned their children with cleft but for the intervention of Smile Train and LUTH who came to their rescue. Mrs Adebayo, who was in tears, shared how she discovered her two-year old daughter, Farida, has cleft lip as well as a hole in the heart. She was told about the Smile Train-sponsored patient intervention in LUTH and pleaded for succour as she had been turned down many times by other agencies.
One of the male caregivers, Mr John Obalade, spoke of how he refused to acknowledge Joseph, the cleft lip-child his wife had for two years, refusing to recognise him as his son. Obalade who was full of commendation for the Department of Cleft Palate and Smile Train for the ‘miraculous intervention’, disclosed that his son is doing well now in school to his surprise and pl.
