Zute Lightfoot Works with Operation Smile to Document Cleft Lip Patient Recovery

Working for free never sounds appealing, but sometimes you have to treat it as an investment, so to speak, especially if it’s regarding the kind of work you want to do. For example, when Zute Lightfoot first got in touch with Operation Smile nearly a decade ago, he found out that while they liked his work, they couldn’t pay him at first. Once he learned that dozens of people — like doctors and other medical professionals — also volunteer their time to help others through OS, he jumped on board.

I have been working with Operation Smile since 2011 when I was based in South Africa. Initially, I contacted them. I had been working as a press photographer and I wanted to work on longer photo stories in the NGO sector looking at issues on healthcare, education, and human rights. Operation Smile got back in touch and liked my work.

Initially, I had misgivings about working for free. But when I learned more about the organization it made sense. Operation Smile is a volunteer-based outfit, so I joined in that context. After a few assignments, we made a professional arrangement as the regularity of assignments increased and Operation Smile wished to retain and build a core group of regular photographers.

Last year, Zute was asked to visit a surgical training rotation program in Rwanda for the site’s blog. Across four days, the photographer met with directors and residents to learn about their day-to-day lives and how they’re helping the less fortunate get access to advanced medical care.

All the medical team including the lead surgeons were friendly and highly professional. Most of the time I let them get on with it, but if I had a simple request in order to make a photo better they were happy to oblige where possible.

That is one of the enjoyable aspects of working with Operation Smile — there is a great team spirit.

Sometimes it is shocking and emotional to see large numbers of people in need of medical care. It’s humbling, especially when you discover how long people have waited, how far they have travelled, or what they have had to sacrifice as a result of their injury or condition. But often at the same time there is lighthearted feeling and a feeling of hope and happiness, as for many patients this is the first time they are receiving a comprehensive medical evaluation.

One of the big medical issues affecting children on the African continent — and in many other developing areas of the world — is cleft lip. Heartbreakingly, the children who suffer from this condition are subject to ridicule from peers and even family members.  

Over the last nine years, I have learnt that the exact causes of cleft remain unknown. Cleft lips and cleft palates are congenital defects that occur early in pregnancy. Scientists believe a combination of genetic and environmental factors, such as maternal illness, drugs or malnutrition all play a part.

One of those patients with whom Zute has struck up a friendship is Faustina, a lovely Ghanaian woman who for years suffered from cleft lip. Operation Smile prides itself as an organization that keeps in touch with the people it treats: the NGO doesn’t just administer medical care and then forget about the patients. As a result, Zute has met Faustina multiple times and has gotten a chance to see her grow as a person and gain the confidence that comes with a fresh, new smile.  

We first met Faustina when she joined the January 2018 mission in Koforidua, Ghana. She had come to the mission with her father Mohammed and she was shy and reserved. She spent of lot of time on her own at the patient shelter quietly sitting and watching.

She mentioned in her interview that one of the things that she hoped for after surgery was to have friends.

A year later, Zute met up with Faustina and saw that she was working as a seamstress. Faustina had clearly found a community that had embraced her and, resultantly, her disposition was perpetually cheery.

In 2019, it was hard to imagine that this was the same person and it was a real privilege to be involved in documenting her transformation. For the follow up story one year later we travelled to her village for several hours on a very bad road. We were an all-male, white, middle-aged crew and I had some concerns about how our presence would make her feel. I didn’t want her to be uncomfortable as the center of attention.

These concerns went out the window within seconds of our arrival. Faustina danced around our van and then gave us all a huge hug as we got out the vehicle and then dragged us in to meet her new coworkers at the local seamstress shop. Her confidence within herself and amongst others was totally transformed.

In catching up with Faustina, Zute learned just how intelligent, kind, and caring she is as a person. As mentioned, Faustina faced a lot of ridicule when she had cleft lip. The same people that mocked her then are now her friends — mostly because Faustina was the bigger person and forgave them for their wickedness.

I wish I had the wisdom she has when talking about people who were mean to her before surgery.

“I have forgiven them,” Faustina says. “But I’ve realized that they have this sort of guilt in them because of how they acted towards me before my surgery. And now that they have accepted me, deep in their minds, you realize that they have this sort of ill feeling of guilt in them. But for me, I don’t hold anything against them. I have accepted them as friends.”

These are the kind of people that Operation Smile hangs it hat on helping because they become ambassadors for the cause and bring new patients to the program to get treatment. As such, it seems like Zute and Faustina will continue to keep in contact as more and more young people get the help they need.

The Operation Smile local teams go to great lengths to keep in touch with former patients, often they become ambassadors for Operation Smile in their communities and actively seek out other patients with cleft and bringing them to missions. I am sure we will keep in touch with Faustina and check in her every couple of years.

Credits:
Operation Smile Ghana Patient Manager: Clement Ofosuhemeng
Operation Smile Production Coordinator: Dr Alison Smyth
Video team: Oli Cohen & Justin Weiler
Operation Smile Managing Editor & Writer: John Streit

See more of Zute’s work at lightfootphoto.co.uk.

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