The Children of Sumatra began in 2002 with the aim of helping children suffering from cleft lip and palate living on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Many families there are too poor to pay for a simple operation that would transform their child’s future.
In Europe and America we are almost unaware of this condition because the correction of cleft lip and palate is a routine operation carried out in the first year of a child’s life. If left untreated it can have a disastrous effect on a child, making both education and social acceptance very difficult.
When the Asian Tsunami struck on 26th December 2004 we extended our work to be able to respond quickly to the needs of the people of northern Sumatra, the worst hit area.
Our local knowledge helped us co-ordinate the work of the major charities and arrange distribution of supplies. After completing many relief and re-building projects, including arranging for over 100 operations, we are now focussing once again on our original cleft lip and palate work. However, we are still helping people who have lasting difficulties from the tsunami, particularly the orphans.
Year by year the number of children operated on increases as our work becomes better known and more funds are raised. In Sumatra every year about one in every three hundred children is born with this condition so our work is ongoing. This year we already have 20 children waiting for operations and every week more are found.
We are now working with a hospital and rehabilitation centre, which is situated south of Medan close to Lake Toba. As well as the local surgeons, a team of western plastic surgeons visits once a year to help with the most difficult cases.
Although surgery alone achieves remarkable results, many children also require after care such as dentistry. Their teeth can grow crooked and need to be extracted. In many cases false teeth need to be fitted and this can sometimes be more expensive than the initial surgery.
In addition to after care the rehabilitation centre provides speech therapy. If the children with cleft palate have learnt to speak before the operation, as is often the case, they will need speech therapy to teach them how to speak properly once the palate is repaired. Children needing dentistry or speech therapy will need on going care for several years.
Often the children have been unwilling to attend school because of the teasing that their appearance provokes. After their operations we have to encourage them to go to school. Educating the children is one of the most important things that can be done to help give them and their community a better future.
To find out more or donate to the Children of Sumatra please visit our web site: http://www.childrenofsumatra.org/
