Story: SmileTrain Impact in Kenya

As a field reporter with SmileTrain, I traveled with staff and supporters to document the impact of comprehensive cleft care on children, families, and entire communities. Read the full trip report here, and an excerpt below:

As the group toured the hospital, walking through breezeways and past a playground, a joyful chorus sang out: “Rejoice, and be glad!” It was the children of the HearSay & Read Clinic, whose speech therapy camp brings cleft-affected children and families from around the region together for a week each year. “It’s about togetherness,” one grandmother shared. “Without each other, it would be hard to move forward.”

The Journeyers distributed high-fives and goody bags to the children. Longtime Smile Train supporter Dory McFail shared crayons and led an impromptu coloring lesson where everyone traced one another’s handprints. “That’s the teacher in her,” Dean McFail said, as he watched his wife with the children.

Photo by Gabriel Bienczycki