Dr. Byron Henry, co-founder of Free to Smile Foundation, began performing his first cleft surgeries in Colombia with the Healing the Children organization in 2003. He visits Colombia annually to continue his work, as he is endeared to the country and the many children he has treated there. With the inception of Free to Smile Foundation, in a collaborative effort with Healing the Children, this work of helping the many forgotten children in Colombia continues even stronger today. Free to Smile Foundation continues to support these efforts of performing comprehensive cleft care and training local surgeons to perform the surgery.
Why Colombia?
Colombia has endured many years of brutal fighting from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), leaving countless rural families out of houses and without a life. In its many rural, impoverished areas, cleft children go unnoticed and untreated. The Colombian people have a great appreciation of life and have expressed a real sense of wanting help. While we are fully committed to all of our sites, this one is very near and dear to some members of our foundation because it was the launching pad for future humanitarian missions.
