Overseas Diaries

International mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh: January 15-23

Operation Smile’s second international mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh was a great success. Medical volunteers hailing from 11 countries including Bangladesh, Singapore,China, India and even Peru provided medical examinations for 148 patients and surgery for 98 children.

Part of this mission, were four of our very own Operation Smile Singapore students, including Karen Oung, General Secretary of the OSSSCNEC.

Karen shares her experiences on her first ever mission trip:

The 15th to the 23rd of January 2011 were a couple of extremely meaningful days for the 4 of us participating in the Dhaka mission trip as student volunteers. In Dhaka, we saw first-hand the efforts of Operation Smile Singapore and the entire National Chapter come to fruition; 98 cleft-lip and –palate patients underwent surgery; an experience that has changed their lives forever.

In all honesty, we arrived at the mission site not really knowing what to expect. It was clear from the start that we would be pretty helpless from the medical standpoint, since none of us had the necessary training or education. However, we are quite proud to say that we did contribute positively to the overall success of the mission. This was possible due to us taking on various roles such as that of Medical Records and Electronic Medical Records personnel and Patient Imaging Technicians.

The main responsibility of the Electronic Medical Recorder was to keep track of and generate operating schedules as changes were made throughout each day. Together with the Electronic Medical Recorder, Medical Recorders ensured that all surgeons, nurses and other medical staff were kept updated on each patient’s medical condition, such as patient allergies etc. Patient imaging, on the other hand, involved documenting the patients’ cleft-lip or –palate conditions at different stages in their treatment, namely pre- and post-operation.

It is difficult to put into words what exactly each of us student volunteers took away from this mission. However, it is perhaps the simplest answer to say that being in Dhaka and contributing, albeit indirectly, to the 89 miracles there has given greater meaning to the continued work we do as members of the Operation Smile Singapore National Chapter.

Check out the mission blog at http://tinyurl.com/4f986mx right now!

For reflections on the mission by our student volunteers, please visit: http://www.just-photography.com/blog/date/2011/02