My Nonprofit Reviews

I had never been active in charity or nonprofit work prior to this past year, when I had an incredible personal experience with SmileTrain that, to me, proved its worth as a tireless and inspired organization devoted to performing good works. Last July, I traveled to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. While motorbiking through the Tanah Toraja region with a friend, I met a local villager named Natsir who was working as an amateur English teacher in the area. After talking for a bit, he invited us to accompany him to his home in a nearby village. We headed up into the hills to his modest house, where he introduced us to his family, poured us cups of tea, and toured us around his small farm. However, I was deeply affected when I saw that Natsir's youngest son Winner, who was two years old at the time, was suffering from an unrepaired cleft palate. Unfortunately, given the family's lack of financial resources and the region's underdeveloped medical infrastructure, the simple procedure needed to remedy his condition was out of the question.

When I relayed this story to my mom, she knew of SmileTrain and thought perhaps they could help. She was able to get in touch with the SmileTrain field officer in Indonesia who was enthusiastic about the potential to help Winner. Unfortunately, the only information I had to help them locate Natsir was his first name, his profession, and the name of the village in which I had originally met him. It was a long-shot, but I forwarded these details to SmileTrain and hoped for the best.

In January, I received an email from our contact at SmileTrain. Through the tireless efforts of their organization, they were able to locate Natsir and his family in their village! As it turns out, Natsir's other son was also suffering from a cleft palate which I did not notice because he did not have as severe a harelip. Both the boys were granted free corrective surgeries and successfully had their operations on January 14 in the city of Rantepao. Now they are in recovery and, in a short time, will be able to give big fat smiles like never before.

The fact that SmileTrain was able to track down this family in such a remote location with so little information is truly remarkable, and as a result, the lives of these two boys have been completely transformed. This organization is certainly worthy of your support, and my experience showed me that their donations are being put to work exactly where they should be. I cannot sing their praises enough- this is exactly what a charitable organization should be doing.

More Feedback