Trips

Over the past 30 years,  I’ve helped create and led some of the world’s best surgical charities including Smile Train, WonderWork, BurnRescue, FirstStep, 20-20-20 and Operation Smile.  1+ million miles of travel took me to refugee camps in Somalia, leper colonies in Uganda, caves in Inner Mongolia, the war-torn streets of Afghanistan and Gaza, and hundreds of slums and villages in Africa, South America  and Asia.  In these Godforsaken places, I witnessed hundreds of medical miracles. I’ve seen crippled children stand up and walk. Severely burned children be rebuilt and reborn. And children who were born blind, open their eyes and see their mom for the very first time. I’ve met modern-day, good samaritans whose selflessness took my breath away. Mothers who walked for weeks with sick babies on their backs. Peasants who adopted babies they found on trash heaps. Heroic doctors and nurses who devoted their lives to helping the poor. And courageous children struggling with horrific medial problems.   These trips, these people, these experiences restored my faith in humanity.