Born with a cleft lip, Nandini Arakoni
underwent three surgeries to correct the malformation.
The Naperville, Illinois, teenager
feels lucky that she was able to undergo treatment
and wants to give the same opportunity to
underprivileged children around the world.
Nandini and her friend, Sanjana Gangadharan,
both sophomores in high school, founded
an organization called Side by Side Smiles to sell
bracelets for $5 each and raise money for Smile
Train, a charity that provides corrective surgery
for children with cleft lips
and palates.
So far, they’ve raised
$4,200, which will pay
for 16 cleft palate surgeries.
Their goal is to raise $100,000 and pay for
400 surgeries.
“It’s really impressive to see how little it
takes to make a change in the world,” Nandini
told India West. “Every $5 we receive is two
percent of a surgery.”
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? Please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]