Dr David Chong is expecting to see big smiles on children’s faces when he leaves Lima, Peru, to return to Australia after a two-week mission to carry out reconstructive surgery on young people born with facial deformities.

David will be visiting Peru as part of Operation Smile, a private, not-for-profit organisation that offers free surgery to children and young adults in developing countries who have been born with conditions including cleft lip and cleft palate. A Consultant Plastic Surgeon at The Royal Children’s Hospital, David has spent his annual leave volunteering in developing countries with Operation Smile two or three times a year for the past seven years.

“The first two to three days are screening, we see all the kids, then there are five or six days of operations and one to two days of training,” David says.

“It’s so rewarding. I’m very, very fortunate to be able to do something that can have such a profound impact on a child’s life in a 90 minute operation. It’s something I’m very proud to be affiliated with. I miss it if I don’t do it at least two or three times a year.”

As well as performing the life-changing surgery, David says up skilling locals, where feasible, is a key part of the project, with the aim being to ensure locals will continue to be able to access surgeons trained in performing the procedures after the Operation Smile team has gone.

“It’s not possible in all countries, but there are countries like the Philippines where we used to send volunteers years ago, and now they are sending volunteers to other countries in their own right,” David says.

“When I first started, the volunteers were mainly Americans and Canadians, now there are people from everywhere; African countries, Asian countries. It’s like a global family that’s continuing to grow.”

Globally, a child is born with a cleft lip or palate every three minutes with 10 per cent of these children dying before their first birthday.

David leaves for Peru on Saturday 10 May and will return to Australia on June 2.