M+R Spedag supports the project in Niamey/Niger of Cleft Children’s Aid Switzerland.
The Cleft Children’s Aid Switzerland has set itself the task of making it possible for children in Niger and India, who were born with a cleft lip and palate, to lead a good and socially integrated life. This involves the treatment of the disease, research into its causes and the further development of therapies.
Cleft means not being able to eat. Not learning to speak. It means not smiling. For children, cleft means exclusion from society. No friends, no playmates. It certainly means loneliness.
It may, however, remain something that only the children themselves can know what it means. We’re just guessing. We suspect it when we see them after they’ve been operated on: Like they’re trying to smile. The joy with which they learn, repeat words, practice sounds. And how they approach others. Until all this becomes a matter of course for them, one day, until Cleft and what it means is just a memory. .
The project in Niamey will essentially develop in two directions, the foundations of which have already been laid. On the one hand, the establishment of an independent cleft centre is planned. As already practiced, patients with cleft lip and palate are to be treated there, but on a larger scale: if there are now twenty children who can be operated on every month, there will be between 30 and 40 in 2014. The logopaedic training, which is essential for the complete restoration of speech skills, takes place in-house, as well as research projects that can give clues to the development of diseases such as cleft from a genetic point of view.
Further information can be found on the following websites:
February 10, 2014