A grandfather and granddaughter both afflicted by the same facial deformity. A young boy kept home from school for relentless teasing. A 15-month-old offered the rare opportunity of follow-up care.

These are just a few of the patients encountered by Team Cleft Repair on their second trip to Laos in March 2026. In all, the team served 55 patients, performing 69 surgical procedures and more than 70 dental treatments as part of their comprehensive cleft care. In addition to the medical care, the team also gifted their host hospital with a Maglumi 600 CLIA System, which will provide the ability to test and diagnose locally instead of sending them off and waiting weeks for their results.

The 2026 mission was not without its challenges–even before the team departed. Team Cleft Repair was originally scheduled to visit Gia Lai, Vietnam, but historic rains and torrential flooding disrupted the governmental approvals needed for the trip. The team eventually pivoted to Houaphanh, Laos, where they had visited for the first time in 2025. With a “logistical warp-speed” ten weeks of planning, the group of volunteers were ready to return to the hospital.

“One might say we brought surgical instruments, supplies, and skills. But what we truly carried here was something less tangible: the belief that geography should never determine the quality of care a human being receives,” Team Cleft Repair Myhanh Nguyen wrote. “Our Lao hosts welcomed us not as visitors, but as partners. Their dedication reminds us that compassion speaks a universal language—one that requires neither translation nor star charts to navigate.”

Read more about some of the patients Team Cleft Repair got to know below.

A Family Repair

Perhaps one of the most touching discoveries of the trip, Team Cleft Repair found out on their third day of surgery that one of their youngest patients–a 6-month-old baby girl–and their oldest patient–a 64-year-old gentleman–were in fact grandfather and granddaughter.

The revelation was a testament to the ripple effects each surgery can hold.

“Sometimes the smallest surgical sutures can stitch together something much larger: dignity, confidence… and perhaps a family’s future,” Myhanh wrote. “One cannot help but hope that our small act of kindness—repairing two cleft lips in one family—might help break a quiet cycle of suffering that has spanned generations.”

Even before the familial plot twist, the grandfather and granddaughter had had their own memorable moments during their respective surgeries.

The 6-month-old girl provided one of the trip’s daily challenges when her oxygen saturation and heart rate briefly dropped, requiring the team’s full attention. After her vitals stabilized, her surgery proceeded without further incident.

“Later in recovery, she greeted us with a mischievous giggle, as though the entire episode had been her idea of a joke,” Myhanh wrote.

The grandfather, who had lived with his cleft lip for his entire life without seeing a doctor, had one request of the team: “Make me handsome.”

“The crew took the mission seriously,” Myhanh said. “After his long-overdue cleft lip repair, he gave us a thumbs-up of approval.”

Both healing well, the grandfather and granddaughter soon returned to their remote mountain village with newly repaired smiles.

A New Trajectory

While every patient has their own unique story, it is not hard to find themes among the hardships faced by those awaiting their cleft lip or palate repair. For the team’s young patients–children growing into their own identity–the deformity can alter the course of their schooling and, ultimately, their future.

One example of this appeared on the second day of surgery with See, a 13-year-old girl who had spent most of her life hidden at home by her parents in an attempt to shield her from cruel teasing of her bilateral cleft lip and palate.

When the team’s lead surgeon, Fernando Almas, completed See’s complex reconstruction, the impact was immediately palpable.

“When See’s parents saw her face for the first time, they burst into tears,” Myhanh wrote. “They went from one crew member to another—crying, hugging, even kissing us in gratitude, joyful that their beloved daughter See can now be seen for who she is for the first time.”

The societal impact of a cleft lip and palate were also apparent for Akham, an 11-year-old boy seen by the team on the third day of surgery.

The young boy had been taken out of school due to relentless teasing of his bilateral cleft lip and palate, but his parents–migrant workers in Thailand–were too poor to obtain the surgery he needed.

The journey to meet the Operation International team for the free procedure proved equally troubling, but ultimately successful thanks to the support of Akham’s family members. His parents had left Akham in the care of his elderly grandmother, who was too frail to make the two-day journey. Fortunately, an aunt volunteered to bring him to the hospital.

“If today’s repair allows Akham to return to school, then perhaps we will have helped break another cycle—this one between poverty and opportunity,” Myhanh wrote.

Continuity of Care

One of the common shortfalls of medical mission trips can be the inability to offer follow-up care or multiple procedures for a single patient. Team Cleft Repair, like many Operation International teams, has been fortunate to avoid this challenge by often returning to destinations year after year.

That was the case for Team Cleft Repair’s last-minute pivot to Laos, which they had visited for the first time in 2025. Among the returning patients was Sy, a 15-month-old who had his cleft lip repaired by the team last year.

This time, Sy returned to the hospital for a cleft palate repair. Seeing Sy again, the team not only delivered a successful palate repair, but was able to observe the impact of their medical care.

“Sy has grown into a curious and affectionate little explorer. He studies everything with wide eyes, offers generous smiles, and has mastered the tactical deployment of blown kisses to every member of the crew,” Myhanh wrote. “One cannot help but suspect that the love of his parents—and perhaps the confidence granted by last year’s repair—has helped him meet the world with such open joy.”

Thank You!

As always, Operation International's missions would not be possible without our generous supporters. Thank you to all donors, volunteers, supporters, partners, and friends who made the Team Cleft Repair mission possible.

“This mission concludes not with a sense of completion, but with renewed purpose,” Myhanh writes. “For in this vast universe, we are reminded of a simple truth: ‘To the world we may be one person. But to one person, we may be the world.’”

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