Dr Hodgkinsonabout to give the gift of hope to a young Cebuano girl by correcting her lip on her birthday.

Fundraising efforts become critical as Operation Restore Hope Australia prepares to return to the Philippines in February 2002.
Children are already being screened in Paranaque in Metro Manila and Lapu Lapu in Cebu in preparation for the team’s upcoming trip to the hospitals.

As always, their need will outstrip our aid but never our tireless enthusiasm for our cause, to try and make sure that these children with repairable birth defects and deformities such as cleft lip and palate have a chance in life too.

Dr Hodgkinson and Mrs Katherine Hodgkinson with the organisers of the concert.

Operation Restore Hope Australia held a charity concert on Sunday 3rd June in the Bay Room at the Stamford Court Hotel in Double Bay. The concert was in aid of children in the Philippines with birth defects and deformities who without charitable intervention would go unaided.

Prior to the concert, which featured the music of Gershwin. a short video was shown. The images in the video of the environment in which these children live. as well as the extent of their deformities left most of the audience torn between tears for their reality and a desire to help restore their hope for the future. The majority of the children shown suffered from cleft lip and palate although Dr. Hodgkinson mentioned that the charity saw a great deal of other conditions as well - especially burns. Dr. Hodgkinson also spoke of the charity's 10 year history, having now treated oven 500 children (all successfully).

The concert itself showcased the talents of duelling pianists, a young clarinetist, a violinist and the St. Agatha's Youth Choir. All of the artists donated their time. The program ended with an appeal by Mrs. Katherine Hodgkinson who mentioned that due to the 'family nature' of the charity that not one cent went to administration, salaries or fundraising companies. The concert was followed by an afternoon tea during which concert-goers, organisers and some of the doctors and nurses of Operation Restore Hope Australia shared in good food, good fellowship and a great cause.

Dr Hodgkinson and some members of the Operation Restore Hope Australia team outside the
nicely described “mother and baby friendly” community hospital in Paranaque, Manila.

Operation Restore Hope Australia has successfully carried out its 2001 mission.
29 doctors and nurses from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United States and Germany completed the missions in Paranaque, a district within Metro-Manila of approximately 800,000 people, and in Mactan at Lapu Lapu Hospital in Cebu City, a community of approximately 300,000 on the island of Cebu. 170 patients were operated on successfully and the majority of the procedures involved , cleft lip, cleft palate and complex burn reconstructions.

$175,000 worth of equipment
The team has raised over the years enough finances to fully equip Lapu Lapu Hospital in Cebu with over $100,000 worth of equipment so that these operations could be performed. In Paranaque approximately $75,000 worth of equipment has been donated or money has been raised to buy equipment, so that the procedures can be performed to an optimal level.

Time donated charitably
This year five plastic surgeons, three otolaryngologists, two oral surgeons, one dental surgeon, seven anaesthetists, one nurse anaesthetist, nine nurses and one hospital administrator were involved in donating time charitably without any financial reward to perform these vital procedures for these poor patients.

There are 250,000 children in the Philippines still in need of this cleft lip and palate surgery. They are suffering from social rejection and inability to speak because they were unfortunate enough to be born with a facial deformity which can be successfully repaired by skilled surgeons. And it doesn’t take much money to pay for these operations.

All funds go to performing the surgical procedures
Please review the progress of Operation Restore Hope Australia and check out the successful results of the children’s operations on our website www.operationrestorehope.org.

Any donations are greatly appreciated and all funds go directly to performing the procedures. No funds are utilised in the administration of the Operation Restore Hope Australia missions.

Pearl Ventura and Tess Oliva, representatives of the Filipino community of St Therese’s Parish Church, Mascot, present Dr Darryl Hodgkinson and Mrs Hodgkinson with the proceeds of their fundraiser for Operation Restore Hope Australia.

The Olympic and Paralympic Volunteer shirts donated by Dr Howard Roby, who was involved in the Games, proved a very popular item in the Silent Auction at the Operation Restore Hope Australia Fundraiser held in Sydney.

A happy afternoon was had by al at our Arizona Party in November. This major fundraiser for Operation Restore Hope Australia's 2001 mission saw supporters entertained by a colourful Philippines dance troupe. Raffle prizes and a silent auction added to the excitement. Keen competition for the various auction items was in evidence, and we raised almost $7,000.00.