Guwahati: A middle-aged farmer couple from Australia uses various ways to raises funds to bring smiles to thousands of people in northeastern India.
Derek and Trish Hume from Gympie, a town some 250- km north of Brisbane, collect money over tea and informal get-togethers in their country for the Comprehensive Cleft Care Centre under Mission Smile (formerly Operation Smile).
They took up the mission during their first visit to Guwahati, the commercial capital of Assam state, in May on a holiday.
They visited the cleft care center and were impressed by how it was restoring smiles of patients.
“I had a short stint with Operation Smile Australia about a decade back and visited India twice during missions that focused only on surgeries. But at the centre here, it’s all comprehensive, from pre-operation care, nutrition, surgeries to after-care and speech therapy,” Derek, 59, told The Telegraph of Kolkata.
“That a cleft patient could lead a normal life after spending time at the center is what impressed us. Moreover, there is a support system for the family as well. We didn’t take long thereafter to decide to do our bit for it,” he added.
The couple are on their second visit to Guwahati and has collected close to Australian $5,000 (about 240,000 rupees) since May.
“So far there have been 33 donations, not just money but in kind as well. We call the latter garage sales, where second-hand stuff (hardware, books, furniture) is dumped in the garage for sale,” he said.
“All of it has been through face-to-face interactions. There is no Internet involved,” he added.
The money has been donated to the Mission Smile authorities here. Asked about the means used to raise the funds, Trish said with a smile: “It was a personal connect with friends. We host tea parties during the course of which we brief them about the work done for cleft patients here and they are ready to shell out what they can.”
Over 14,300 surgeries have been done under Mission Smile Assam till date. The cost of a surgery is about 32,000 rupees.
“Our target was to contribute for about 20 surgeries. We are flying back to Australia tomorrow but we intend to keep this small initiative going. Only this time, we will focus on the nutrition of the patients,” Trish said.
About 700 patients at the centre are yet to attain a level of nourishment for undergoing surgeries.
“This is the first donation to the center by a family in their personal capacity. The process will be transparent as the donors will be in the loop as to where the contributions are used,” Runa Rafique, senior manager (partnerships), Mission Smile Assam, told The Telegraph.