Guwahati, Nov. 25: An Australian couple have taken up a "mission" to raise funds over tea and informal get-togethers Down Under for the Comprehensive Cleft Care Centre under Mission Smile (formerly Operation Smile) here.
Derek and Trish Hume, a middle-aged farmer couple from Gympie, a town 250-odd-km north of Brisbane, had first come to Guwahati in May on a holiday.
That's when they decided to visit the cleft care centre and were impressed by how it was restoring smiles of patients.
"I had a short stint with Operation Smile Australia about a decade back and visited India twice during missions that focused only on surgeries. But at the centre here, it's all comprehensive, from pre-operation care, nutrition, surgeries to after-care and speech therapy," Derek, 59, told this correspondent today.
"That a cleft patient could lead a normal life after spending time at the centre is what impressed us. Moreover, there is a support system for the family as well. We didn't take long thereafter to decide to do our bit for it," he said.
The couple are on their second visit to Guwahati and have collected close to Australian $5,000 (about Rs 2.40lakh) since May.
"So far there have been 33 donations, not just money but in kind as well. We call the latter garage sales, where second-hand stuff (hardware, books, furniture) is dumped in the garage for sale," he said.
"All of it has been through face-to-face interactions. There is no Internet involved," he added.
The money has been donated to the Mission Smile authorities here. Asked about the means used to raise the funds, Trish said with a smile: "It was a personal connect with friends. We host tea parties during the course of which we brief them about the work done for cleft patients here and they are ready to shell out what they can."
Over 14,300 surgeries have been done under Mission Smile Assam till date. The cost of a surgery is about Rs 32,000.
"Our target was to contribute for about 20 surgeries. We are flying back to Australia tomorrow but we intend to keep this small initiative going. Only this time, we will focus on the nutrition of the patients," Trish said.
About 700 patients at the centre are yet to attain a level of nourishment for undergoing surgeries.
"This is the first donation to the centre by a family in their personal capacity. The process will be transparent as the donors will be in the loop as to where the contributions are used," Runa Rafique, senior manager (partnerships), Mission Smile Assam, told The Telegraph.