Getting Back to Work in the Dominican Republic

By Cassidy Craig | PACU Volunteer

Seven years ago, I travelled halfway across the world as a sophomore in high school on my first mission trip with Mending Faces. I am forever grateful for that experience because it introduced me to the medical world at such a young age. I’m super excited to be back this year in a new location, the Dominican Republic! Bright and early this morning, we met with our team over breakfast and discussed our roles throughout the day. Screening day is always busy as we meet so many new faces in order to carefully craft the surgical schedules for the upcoming week. After breakfast, we loaded up the bus and headed over to Clínica Cruz Jiminian. We were warmly welcomed and given a tour of our new space before quickly getting to work. Half of the team worked on unpacking and setting up the operating rooms while the other half met with the prospective patients. On my previous missions, I served as a volunteer and tried my best to interact with the children despite the language barrier in the Philippines. This year, I was able to get more involved after a few years of patient care experience in the Emergency Department. I worked alongside Anna Domingo during the screening process, administering COVID swabs and taking vitals signs. I’m looking forward to the first day of surgeries tomorrow and can’t wait to help out in the PACU!

From Behind the Lens: A Photographer’s Mission

By Kaysie Logan | Mending Faces Photographer, El Salvador 2021

Participating in the Mending Faces 2021 El Salvador mission has brought joy to the faces of everyone involved. It is a story of stories, transforming the lives of those with less, living a life that would otherwise be tainted by facial or other body deformities that ostracize them from their peers and make living a normal life difficult or impossible. The volunteers of Mending Faces dedicate their time to helping these individuals live a life they deserve. Although surgery brings pain, joy and liberation await at the end.

For me, working with the patients has allowed me to be apart of something great, and be a piece of the story that changes these lives forever. As the photographer, my goal is to tell the story of stories, to give perspective into the mission that transforms the lives of so many. Capturing love and heartache, pain and happiness, joy and satisfaction, through the lens of my camera - that is my mission. From the mother letting go of her child to wait in the unknown, to their reunion together and beginning of their new life, I am there to capture those moments. These moments have brought me to tears and will remain with me as I go through life, forever grateful for the opportunities and life that I am given.

The most touching part has been interacting with the patients post-operation, bringing smiles to new faces and sharing in their joy. Through the pain and hardship, these children and patients still smile and show their immense gratitude to all of us involved in the mission.

Personally, I am rewarded in returning to my love of photography, Spanish, and art, through purpose and service. Through this mission I can reconnect with these abilities and use my talents to help others less fortunate than I, making these pastimes all the more meaningful. Through photography, I tell the stories of the mission. Through translation, I bridge the gap between cultures. Through art, I bring color and joy.

I look forward to revisiting my passions through service in El Salvador in October 2022.

Another year of COVID 19 - What does this mean for Mending Faces' patients?

Despite all of our hopes, the COVID 19 pandemic has continued to impact communities across the globe, yours, ours, and those that Mending Faces aims to serve with life changing medical procedures. While Mending Faces was able to travel to El Salvador for one medical mission, serving 25 patients, we were not able to return to the Philippines in 2021.

We are disappointed to say the least. But we have no intention of giving up. Mending Faces is currently hard at work planning medical missions for 2022.

You might ask why, with all the risks that come from traveling during a global pandemic.

Cleft lip, cleft palate, and other facial deformities drastically impact the lives of those who are born with them. Poor communities around the globe do not have access to the surgical procedures that correct the deformities early in life, giving children the best chance for success. Since the pandemic, what access these communities did have through non-profit organizations has been drastically cut off.

How does this affect patients? Delay in treatment can have long term impacts on the health and well being of those affected. Cleft lip and palate patients have a hard time getting proper nutrition, are at risk for infections, and often face poor mental health. Indigent communities often don’t have access to the education that would help people understand what causes facial deformities, instead their views are shaped by superstition that often leads families to isolate and prevent children from attending school. This makes it incredibly difficult for children born with facial deformities to lead full, healthy, lives.

The longer a patient doesn’t receive treatment the longer they face immense hardship. In the Philippines, there have been between 8,000 and 10,000 babies born with cleft deformities since the start of the pandemic. With international travel virtually impossible, these patients did not have access to the surgeries that will provide them with a better future, creating a backlog of those in need.

There are a lot of hurdles to jump to get a medical mission in place right now. We are diligently working with our local partners to plan medical missions while still ensuring the safety of our volunteers. In the Philippines, this includes continued conversations with the Rotary Club of Kalibo and UGAT, so that the moment that there is hospital space available for our patients we are able to return. In El Salvador, it is working with the 7th Day Adventist Church of San Salvador to plan a fall mission.

Additionally, we have partnered FNE International, an organization that supports communities in developing nations to improve housing, health, and education. This partnership will help us assess the viability of adding additional mission sites in 2022. We are incredibly hopeful that this will allow a mission to be planned in Latin America.

Thank you for your ongoing support during this time, it is essential in the mission of providing hope and a brighter future to those burdened with cleft lip, cleft palate, and other facial deformities.