Operation Smile missions
When Amway Thailand was celebrating their 10th anniversary as an Amway affiliate in 1997, they decided to celebrate their success by sharing with their community, and a wonderful relationship with Operation Smile was born.“It was our way of saying ‘thank you’ to the people of Thailand for embracing the Amway business,” says Choomprin Yurayong, Corporate Communications Director – Amway Thailand. “We must also say thanks to Jim Payne, Senior-Vice President and Managing Director of Amway Asia, who introduced us to Operation Smile. After we learned about how the program gives children with cleft-lips and cleft palettes a new smile and a new lease on life, we didn’t hesitate to say yes.”
In the 20 years that Operation Smile has been around, free reconstructive surgery has been provided to tens of thousands of children and young adults in more than 20 developing countries and the United States, bringing them new hope and the opportunity to live better lives. About 1,000 children in Thailand have undergone surgery of their facial deformities.
Since 1997, Amway Thailand has supported seven of Operation Smile’s missions: five international missions and two local missions. Their support is more than just financial. Amway Thailand employees and Amway Business Owners (ABOs) join the missions as mission coordinators, interpreters, and as support team members.
“Amway employees work as coordinators to help Operation Smile plan and operate the logistics side of the mission,” says Supris Netekien, Brand Communications Assistant Manager – Amway Thailand. “They help select the sites, handle the shipment of medical equipment and supplies, and contact the local medical and government teams in the province where the mission will take place. This is in addition to coordinating accommodations, transportation, and meals for the program.” ABOs often serve as translators for the Operation Smile team, so they can communicate with the local doctors and patients. In addition, ABOs help nurses take care of patients in the pre-operation and post-operation wards. “Two months before each mission, Amway Thailand sends out a request for interested ABOs who want to join the mission as volunteers,” says Supris. “They have to be interviewed by Amway staff to check whether they are available during the mission period, and to find out in what capacities they could help. We check their English fluency, medical background, and so on. The company then selects ABOs and assigns them to suitable jobs and provides orientation before the mission starts.”
Amway Thailand’s Managing Director, Preecha Prakobkit, is one of the board members of the Operation Smile Thailand (OST) Foundation. “This is a beautiful and heart-warming program,” says Preecha. “This program reflects Amway’s commitment to its vision of ‘Helping people live better lives.’ In addition, the partnership between Amway and its ABOs is real, and it can help improve the quality of life for underprivileged children everywhere.” “We, employees and ABOs, join hands to work together in this valuable task,” adds Preecha.
There was an eight-year-old girl who came for the free surgery in one of our Operation Smile missions. Her family was very poor. Her parents were farmers and were blamed by the neighbors in the village about the girl’s cleft lips. The girl was looked down upon by the village people as a monster, or the ugliest human being. Some called her the devil. She gave up school for a long time, because she was so ashamed by her friends’ teasing everyday. She was at home alone in the day while her parents worked in the fields. A chicken was the only friend that she could talk to, laugh with, or cry with. The neighbors did not allow their children to talk or play with her, because they believed that she would bring bad luck to them. Now she has a new smile, very beautiful as other normal children. She also has a new life with many friends at her school. All kinds of opportunities in life came back to her and her family… the opportunity to study in a school… the opportunity to see the bright sky out of her own house… the opportunity to smile… the opportunity to share laughs with friends. All of these opportunities are now available to her, because of Operation Smile, with support from Amway Thailand.
