Cape Town - Five Capetonians have individually run, walked, cycled and kayaked to raise funds to support free life-saving cleft lip and palate reconstructive surgeries through Operation Smile.
David Grier, Dan Meyer, Bob Bolus, Andrew Stuart and Richard Kohler have, over the past year, covered 15 500km and collectively raised over R1 million for the non-profit medical organisation.
Operation Smile South Africa has provided reconstructive cleft lip and palate surgeries since 2006 with a volunteer network of 126 specialists.
According to Operation Smile, a child is born with a cleft condition every three minutes. In First World countries, corrective surgeries are usually performed within the first 18 months.
In southern Africa, children may have to wait several years for the corrective surgical procedure.
Kohler, 53, a Milnerton Ridge resident, became the first solo kayaker to paddle 7 000km from Cape Town to Salvador, Brazil, from December 18, 2022 to February 19.
“My first connection with Operation Smile SA was when I was the first person to kayak around the SA coast line solo, finishing in 2014. I did this for Miles for Smile, which is a Cipla initiative for Operation Smiles. The almost overnight transformation of people’s lives, especially the children, is what touched me about Operation Smile SA. The trip to Brazil raised enough funds for more than 100 surgeries.”
Bolus marked his 65th birthday by walking 500km from Mossel Bay to Pringle Bay last October and November.
“There are children born every day with a cleft lip and palate. I have chosen to change these children’s lives to enable them to live in a happy and dignified way,” he said.
Adventurers, Grier and running mate Stuart, ran 1 500km along the coastline of Portugal and Madeira in June and July for Operation Smile.
Grier was the first person to run the length of the Great Wall of China in both directions in 2006 and 2019, according to Operation Smile. Since then, he has run six more times across the world to raise funds for the organisation.
Grier, 63, said: “I’ve had the privilege of going on a surgical mission, meeting a child before surgery, seeing them come out of theatre, meeting the parents, then seeing that child given a new lease on life.”
Operation Smile SA executive director Sarah Scarth said: “The funds raised by these extraordinary Capetonians were used to help people living with unrepaired clefts, living in under-resourced communities, access life-changing surgery through our surgical programmes in Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape.
“It also helped us deploy 60 volunteers – ie cleft surgeons, anaesthetists, paediatricians, speech therapists and nurses – to serve on Operation Smile surgical programmes across Africa, benefiting 1 000 patients with clefts.”