March 31, 2015

Smiles in NayPyiTaw, Myanmar!

I had the opportunity to join Operation Smile on their first mission to Myanmar! It was my 5th mission! I flew out of SLC on March 11th at 6:30am, stopped in LA for 4 hours, then flew to Tokyo, and then to Bangkok. I arrived in Bangkok around midnight, had some difficulty finding the girl who was picking me up, but luckily I found her. We finally got to the hotel around 2am and I showered and then crashed. We met up with most of the team the next morning and since our flight wasn't until 5pm, we spent the morning and afternoon sightseeing Bangkok, Thailand! I've always wanted to go to Thailand, but my layover didn't do it justice. I guess I'll just have to go back! Our first stop was the Golden Buddha, or the sitting buddha.

Watermarkets!
Beautiful woman sitting outside the hospital as we arrived on the first day!
"Little brother" with his mom and sister, our table to do vitals during screening day was right next to this window, they were our friends all day long!
"Little brother" and sister! These two were so cute! They watched us through a window the whole day performing vitals on other kids, until finally around 4pm "little brother" came through. The main doctor from Myanmar, who helped organize the whole mission, took the first 150 from the 220 we screened, so with "little brother" at the end, he didn't get surgery. :(
Playing with stickers galore...all over the windows!

Emily and I doing vitals with "little brother", sister and mom watching us through the window in the background!

We visited this sweet little girl, with awesome yellow face makeup/paint, at the patient shelters before surgery days started! She had a cleft palate.

This cute little guy had the most "face paint" or make-up on that we screened.
Devin with sister at the window!
Sister, what a cutie! I would hand her stickers and hair things through the window and then she'd give them to her "little brother" who would then put the stickers in his mouth. I put a stop to giving her stickers!
This sweet little girl was just posing by the tree for us all to take pictures!

My little friend, who kicked a ball all afternoon, is being held by his grandma as he looks out the window. It was so hot and humid here, that even with the windows open, the temperatures were not comfortable to just sit still.
The cute monk who received surgery!
We visited Uppastasanti Pagoda before surgery days!


They made us wear wraps on the grounds of the pagoda. It looks like I'm wearing pants by how its wrapped around my legs.
Two cute monks at the pagoda who willingly let me take their picture! I wonder what they're thinking...
And then he ran back into the pagoda!
Stunning!
Cute little guy with his mom or grandma, who's in need of a cleft lip repair.


Sweet little girl, seeing her reflection after surgery. She had her cleft palate repaired, but it didn't matter, she wanted to see herself!

Cute little guy in his oversized, green gown ready for surgery!
Breakfast...yum!! Watermelon, dragonfruit, noodles, pinapple juice and hot chocolate!

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