THE JOURNEY HOME JOURNAL
by: Bobby Manzano, President & Executive Director, OSP
I’m back in harness. After a brief rest to recuperate, I’m up and
about once more and raring to go. It has been four days since The Journey Home
ended, yet the euphoria of that highly successful mission still lingers, and
I’m savouring every bit of memory that comes to my mind. For the benefit of those who weren’t here to
celebrate with us, I would like to share this report, which I delivered during
the after-mission thanksgiving dinner and party on December 1.
OUR JOURNEY HOME has come to an end. It has been an unbelievable ride from start
to finish. Over a span of only 30 days, we’ve visited nine cities, given more
than 8,000 free medical evaluations, provided 6,110 free dental treatments and
performed 1,219 free reconstructive surgeries.
Wow! Those numbers
are incredible, and every single one of them represents a real human being
whose lives we have changed forever.
Every one of them can now go out and face the world
without shame or fear of being ridiculed.
They will have a life like the 200,000 others across the globe that
we’ve previously healed … like May Klaire, a former cleft lip patient who’s now
a nurse … or Chadleen, a former cleft palate patient who’s now a singer and one
of our Smile Ambassadors … or Grisha, a cleft palate and cleft lip patient
who’s now an anaesthesiologist and one of our fellow volunteers in this mission.
We pulled off the biggest mission in the Philippines by
Operation Smile or any private charity here and did it in spectacular fashion.
Operation Smile Philippines could not have done it alone.
- 700 Filipinos volunteered and 300 others from 36 countries came to help;
- Norfolk shipped 14 tons of medical supplies and equipment and mobilized resources from the global Operation Smile family;
- our long time local partners, the Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung Charitable Foundation, the HOPE Volunteers Foundation, the Kapampangan Development Foundation and the De La Salle Health Sciences Institute, hosted the big mission sites;
- private companies and local government units underwrote the rest of the mission sites;
- public health workers and members of non-governmental organizations, civic groups, individuals including students, joined the effort and assisted in patient mapping and other logistical requirements.
This image of the whole community coming together to make
“The Journey Home” happen will resonate far and wide. The momentum we generated will carry us
through the next three decades. It certainly will be the catalyst to grow the
strategy for the next decade.
That has always been the goal of “The Journey Home.” It was no ordinary mission or celebration. We intended it to be a sentimental journey to the
past to anchor our drive to the future.
- We revisited Naga, where we had our first mission, to recreate the emotional high that sparked the birth of Operation Smile and rekindle the passion of our volunteers.
Operation
Smile has always been about passion and emotion. It is compassion that drives us to do what we
do and do it better every year. It’s our
heart that differentiates us from the rest.
It’s the root of our pride and motivation.
- We organized the mission on a scale and size that has never been done before here to showcase our capability and global standards.
- We turned the mission into a high profile undertaking to draw wide attention and attract more to our cause.
The
media coverage we generated has been very comprehensive. The local press in the mission sites carried
our story. We were on national
television, radio and newspapers. The
most read and most influential newspaper in the country, The Philippine Daily
Inquirer, did an editorial on us, which underscored the level of attention that
“The Journey Home” has elicited for Operation Smile.
We are going to leverage the hype and emotion to open
doors for us. The excitement from The
Journey Home has yielded amazing results. Our long-time partners have renewed
their commitment. We have gained new supporters, new partners, and new
donors. We’ve inked a partnership with
the Commission on Overseas Filipinos, which could open avenues for our
countrymen living and working abroad to help. We’ve also held preliminary talks
with two key government departments, the Department of Health and the
Department of Social Welfare and Development, on possible partnerships in
several areas of common concern. And
most importantly, our volunteers are in high spirit. I would like to ask those who are returning
to their home country to please tell our story to your countrymen.
“The Journey Home” has given us a good head start to the
next 30 years. And for this, I would
like to thank the following who made this journey with us and made it a
memorable and fulfilling experience:
- first and foremost of course are our Operation Smile volunteers, medical and non-medical volunteers – your zeal has been contagious and inspiring
- our counterparts in Norfolk – you were there for us from the start of the planning to the execution of the mission;
- our donors and site partners – thank you for your generosity! you stood by our side and, when we were beginning to have doubts, encouraged us to push through with this seemingly impossible task;
- our board of trustees in Operation Smile Philippines – the trust and confidence you placed in us spurred us on;
- my team in the Operation Smile Philippines office - Zena, Albert, Gian and Alma as well as our office messengers, Chito and Manny, our temporary staff Jenny, Elora and Dianne. We may be small in number but tenacious in execution; we took on a huge task and never lost heart;
- To Bill and Kathy, thank you for challenging us. Thank you for believing in us, maybe more than we believed in ourselves, as we began the conceptualization of this “Journey Home” endeavour over a year ago. And to Viet, thank you for your “brotherly” love and support throughout this in the life of Operation Smile Philippines. You three walked the miles with me to all the mission sites to inspire our volunteers and partners, oftentimes waking up at 4 in the morning to catch a flight to the next destination; you were a source of strength throughout the journey;
- and lastly, and certainly not the least, my wife Baby and my family – for your understanding and for sacrificing our time together so that I can do what I have to do.
