100 Smiles. One Chance. This Children’s Day

What if 60 minutes and ₹35,000 could rewrite a child’s future?

It can. I’ve seen it happen — again and again.

Hi, I’m Reza. For over a decade, I’ve worked with children born with cleft lips and palates across India. And here’s something most people don’t know:

1 in every 700 children in India is born with a cleft.

That’s thousands of babies every year — born with an opening in their lip or palate, unable to eat properly, speak clearly, or even smile without pain.

Cleft isn’t just a medical condition. It becomes a social stigma.

I’ve met mothers who were blamed for their baby’s birth. Families who were ostracised. Children who were hidden away or left untreated for years.

Some were never taken to school. Some never made it past infancy.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

With one safe surgery, lasting about an hour, everything can change.

The child can eat. Speak. Smile. Be accepted. Be heard.

Last year, at our camp in Kolkata, 70 children came with hope.

Only 27 were operated.

That number still haunts me.

This Children’s Day, we want to do better.

100 children. 100 surgeries. 100 new smiles.

And we need you.

₹35,000 can give one child a whole new life.

Even ₹500 or ₹1,000 helps us get closer to that moment — when a mother finally sees her child smile without shame.

You don’t need to know their names. Though we shall report the kids that were healed because of you, one day, they’ll know that someone believed they deserved a second chance.

Will you be that someone today?

Reza Zakaria

Secretary | Cleft Care Advocate

EBMA Foundation