LITTLE PINKI

Little Pinki might have lived her dream when she skipped and smiled her way on the red carpet to Kodak Studios earlier this year, but Asma Begum has a different dream - walk down the aisle in her village.
Pinki the six-year-old girl with a lip deformity from Dabai village, Uttar Pradesh was the one of the star attractions during the Oscar awards ceremony this year. The 39-minute documentary, filmed under the Smile Train project on Pinky by American director Megan Mylan won the best short documentary awards this Oscars.
Like Pinki, Asma too a village girl from Baitbari, Garo hills had cleft lip, and at 32 years of age she had no suitors and all her marriage proposals were rejected due to her deformity.
“She was always laughed at in the village and had few friends. She remained mostly depressed due to her lip deformity. All her marriage proposals were rejected,” Asma’s maternal uncle MR Mulla recalls.
But, now a simple 45 minute operation could turn Asma’s life 180 degree. She is admitted at the Woodland hospital for the surgery sponsored by the Smile Train project.
Woodland is the only hospital in Meghalaya sponsored by the Smile Train project to give free surgery to anyone between the age of 3 months and 40 years with cleft lip and palate.
“The cost of the operation (about Rs. 10,000) and travel fare from home and back of the beneficiaries is covered under the project. We have operated 300 people since January 2007,” Dr. Werlok Kharshiing plastic surgeon at the hospital told the Shillong Times.
He added many people from distant villages in Meghalaya, especially those from Garo hills have been coming for the surgery since January 2007 when the project began in the hospital.
Dr. Kharshiing said cleft lip and palate were mainly caused due to heredity and lack of vitamins and nutrients in expectant mothers. Therefore, many of the cases are from the village where pre-natal care is poor.
Mother of Armina Katun, a 15-year-old girl, Isha Bibi said she was surprised at the transformation on her daughter. All along she too worried of getting a groom for her daughter with her lip deformity.
“I want to thank the doctors here, they changed my daughter’s life with just a simple operation,” Bibi said clutching her daughter, who continued to blush despite the stitches on her lips.
Smile Train is an International charity organisation that provides free surgery for cleft lip and palate to people all around the world. The project gained worldwide popularity after the documentary on Pinki titled “Smile Pinki” winning the Oscars.
“I am absolutely sure Asma would be able to get married after the surgery and get back the smile into her life,” Mulla said.