Operation Smile!

This morning my 5 year old woke me up at 6am by saying that he wanted to send four fresh bottles of water to the poor people so that they didn't have to drink dirty water anymore.

I have no idea where he came up with this or what he had seen to cause him to ponder on it at 6am in the morning but it was a wonderful thing to hear. We had a chat about those people and he ended up wanting to send them not just water, but duvets, toys and clothes too. This afternoon we are going to pick out some gifts online that we can send.

I think educating our children gently into seeing that not everyone is born as lucky as we are is really important. It helps them to learn compassion and understanding and gratitude among many other things. What a great gift for a child to receive.

That is partly why I am getting behind a fantastic project called Operation Smile.

As parents we all know how wonderful it is to see our children smile.

You know that huge grin that just screams HAPPY!

Or even that cheesy camera face that makes us laugh.

Now imagine for just a moment if your child couldn't smile.

Whilst cleft palates in our world are a minor problem that are fixed in the first year of a baby's life, in other parts of the world such as Rwanda, no money and a lack of specialist medical care mean parents of children born with a cleft are helpless.

But here's the great part: 

You can help these children and their parents right now!

Here is Marceline Before and After surgery:

All you need to do to help people like Marceline is to download a fab new single 'Smile' by those lovely boys The Undertones, and 100% net profits from each single sold will go towards helping Operation Smile raise £56,000 to fund its next project in Rwanda in April 2014.

The Overtones travelled to Rwanda in September to see for themselves the devastating impact cleft lips and palates can have on children. They were so moved by their experiences in Rwanda that they decided to record and release the song as a Christmas charity single to help raise the much needed funds. 

I think this picture perfectly captures how much it means to them.

This video tells their story and lets you hear the gorgeous version of the Nat King Cole song



82 peoples lives were transformed during just 5 days by the amazing team during their visit, but 108 children are still waiting for their life changing operation. 

So why not send the gift of a smile to one them today by going to iTunes.com/Overtones now. 

Available on pre-ordered now and is available to download from  16^th Dec.