Niteco Fundraised for Cleft Palate Treatment

During the last days of 2016, Niteco joined hands with Operation Smile on their Vietnam Medical Mission to provide reconstructive surgery for children with cleft palates.

“Every three minutes a child is born with a cleft lip and cleft palate. Many clefts palates are not repaired, especially in developing countries. Therefore, we feel it’s our responsibility to give more and more effort to help those less fortunate than us. We Nitecans believe that no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted,” said Hoang Phan, the president of Niteco’s charity group, NICEF.

Niteco is no stranger to Operation Smile. This past April, some of our employees volunteered during another Mission Week in Ho Chi Minh City, where Operation Smile performed surgeries for 10 children. And again this December, together with many surgical and dental experts, Niteco once again took great delight in helping to bring beautiful smiles to another 10 children.

“Nearly all of the patients come from rural and mountainous areas with poverty-stricken backgrounds,” said Hau Luong, a Nitecan who had volunteered twice. “Usually, each patient needs to have 2-3 operations to get the desired results. So I saw some familiar faces this time around and it was great that their parents still recognized me. I remembered there was a child in April who shared the same birthday with me. It was such a minor detail, but it made me feel connected.”

Cleft lip occurs in an estimated one in every 500 births in Vietnam. Since 1989, Operation Smile has conducted medical missions in Vietnam every year to provide free reconstructive surgeries for Vietnamese children. An active partner of this organization for 3 consecutive years, NICEF  never misses an opportunity to join the program and help perform little miracles to children of Vietnam.

We Nitecans believe that no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted

Apart from volunteering this year, NICEF also succeeded in raising a donation of $2,200 USD from our employees to support the children with traveling and meal costs.