Cleft Lip Project

ROTARY CLUBS JOIN FORCES WITH

OPERATION RESTORE HOPE

THE ROTARY FOUNDATION and  the Rotary Clubs of Diepholz-Vechta (Germany), Stadskanaal (The Netherlands) and Manila (Philippines) have funded for the second straight year a Cleft Lip Surgery project that will operate on another 90 children this year in addition to the 90 children who were treated last year. This project is made possible thru the efforts of  Operation Restore Hope who with volunteers from Germany, New Zealand & Australia  come over to perform the surgeries our indigent Filipino children.

This joint undertaking of the Rotary organization and Operation Restore Hope consists of a week-long mission for the past two years for Filipino cleft lip children of economically deprived families at the President Diosdado Macapagal Memorial Medical Center (formerly Caloocan City General Hospital) with the support and cooperation of its Medical Director Dr. Racquel So Sayo and  Mayor Enrico Echiverri of the City of Caloocan.

The Rotary Club of Manila (RCM), the first and the oldest in Asia will be the focal Rotary Club that will assist in the implementation of the project.  RCM President Ben Santos stated that the agreement among the Rotary Clubs of Diepholz-Vechta of Germany, Rotary Club of Stadskanaal of the Netherlands and the Rotary Club of Manila of the Philippines to share their resources to ensure a successful implementation of the project is in keeping with the Rotary International theme SERVCE ABOVE SELF, that will certainly give new life to the underprivileged and less fortunate Filipinos born with this developmental deficiency.

Now in its 17th  year, Operation Restore Hope still operates on the basis that it is made up purely of volunteers.  All of the international volunteers donate their time and skills to threat the Filipino children.

The charity is also involved in the training of Filipino surgeons and Anesthetists who can then carry on the good work of Operation Restore Hope.  After the foreign team head back home, the Filipino team will keep working with the patients, performing highly skilled surgery under Operation Restore Hope’s endorsement.