NAME: MAGUNDAYAO, ALLEN KYLE O.

COURSE & SECTION: AB FOREIGN SERVICE 201

FULL NAME OF THE COURSE: INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (INON08F)

PROFESSOR: MR. JUMEL G. ESTRAÑERO

CONQUER THE UNIVERSE WITH A SMILE: THE COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS OF MISS

UNIVERSE ORGANIZATION AND SMILE TRAIN IN RAISING AWARENESS ABOUT
CLEFTS

I. INTRODUCTION

Two of the most common birth defects nowadays are Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate. This
happens when the tissues in lip or mouth of the infant are not formed properly causing an opening
to the upper lip. According to a medical review by Friedman (2019), these malformations occur in
U.S. in a proportion of 1:700 babies every year. Both defects may or may not be developed at the
same time and most cases of cleft lip and cleft palate occur with Asians, Latinos, or babies with
Native American descent. Boys have more chances of developing cleft lip than girls while girls
are much likely to develop cleft palate than boys.

At a very young age, children born with cleft lip and cleft palate have to deal with
discrimination and prejudices due to their birth defects. Living a normal life would not be easy for
them. Children diagnosed with these birth defects face difficulties in breathing, hearing, eating
and most especially, their speech. It is saddening that in some parts of the world, these conditions
are stigmatized. In a study conducted by Kimotho (2020), particularly in Kenya, the mothers who
gave birth to children with cleft lip and palate are often blamed by their husbands. Some even
label the babies as “mlemavu” and “kiwete”. Both correspond to being a “disabled person.” Worst,
in their cultural beliefs, children born with these conditions are said to be cursed by the evil spirits.

On a positive note, many organizations are working together to raise awareness about
cleft lip and cleft palate as well as free cleft surgery and care. Miss Universe Organization and
Smile Train, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing free surgeries for children with clefts,
collaborated to use their platform and influence in spreading the good news for families who
cannot afford the burden of large hospital bills in exchange of normal lives for their children. In
this study, the researcher will figure out the efforts of the MUO and STO and how effective these
organizations in serving their purpose.
 II. BODY

Starting 2016, the two organizations sealed the deal of becoming charitable partners. To
promote the vision and mission of Smile Train, the winner of Miss Universe is assigned to be an
ambassador for Smile Train Organization. Each Miss Universe titleholder did a wonderful job in
cooperating with the STO during their reign. In an article published by GMA News Online (2016),
Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach had the chance to visit the interact with the beneficiaries of
Smile Train. It was also mentioned that the collaboration was made in hopes of raising awareness
about children born with cleft lip and cleft palate and their everyday challenges. It was also
revealed in the article that near to 5,000 babies are born with clefts in the Philippines.

In a report made by the Smile Train UK (2017), Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere was
able to visit the local partners of Smile Train in Haiti on behalf of the Miss Universe Organization.
During her visit, she was able to speak in a joint welcome dinner and press conference about the
organization’s presence in Haiti – one of the regions in the world with a need for surgeries in
clefts. She was also able to witness a cleft surgery firsthand.

Miss Universe 2017 Demi Leigh – Nel Peters also had an opportunity to attend the United
Nations General Assembly as a representative of Smile Train Organization. The former Miss
Universe shared photos through her personal Instagram account speaking on behalf of STO to
raise awareness about surgical diseases just like clefts. (Channel 24, 2018)

In an article published by Smile Train PH (2017), a group of Miss Universe delegates

participated in a workshop meant to empower children with clefts. The candidates were able to
speak with the patients about their challenges and ambitions and how Smile Train changed their
lives. In which, they were able to reflect in a private Q&A in Manila Hotel.

During her reign, Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray was able to visit Brazil together with
Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst and Miss Teen USA 2019 Kaliegh Garris for a charity event. The
three beauty queens participated in an artwork – making event together with the beneficiaries of
Smile Train Organization. (Rappler, 2019)

According to a report from Manila Standard (2020), Miss Universe 2019 Zozibini Tunzi
and Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst hosted an online card – making activity through the official Miss
Universe Instagram page. This effort was to raise awareness about cleft lip and palate and to
spread smiles around the world on behalf of Smile Train Organization.
 Even after her reign, Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray has continued to work with the
STO. Inquirer.Net (2020) revealed that the Filipina beauty queen initiated a fund-raising event for
her birthday wherein it garnered P350,000 directed to Smile Train to help the children in need of
operation. Gray is also an active ambassador of Young Focus foundation, an organization in the
Philippines that helps underprivileged children and youth to have access in free education as well
as proper nutrition.

Figure 1. Cleft Surgeries Performed by Smile Train

In the Annual Report by Smile Train (2020), it was revealed that more than 1,500,000
beneficiaries were given free cleft repair surgeries and care. There are also more than 90
countries that are being sponsored by Smile Train to help give the children born with clefts a
chance to live a healthy and productive life. Most of the beneficiaries who received free treatment
hailed from India – a country where more than 35,000 children are born with these kind of birth
defects. (PR News Wire, 2019)

To support the abovementioned statements, the researcher conducted a survey using

random sampling method. The survey-questionnaire contained questions about awareness of the
two organizations as well as the tackled birth defects and are answerable through a dichotomous
response (Yes or No) . 50 respondents participated in an online survey answered through Google
Forms. The results are the following:
 QUESTION YES NO
1. ARE YOU AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING BIRTH DEFECTS?
1.1 CLEFT LIP 44 6
1.2 CLEFT PALATE 40 10
1.3 ARE YOU
AWARE THAT AN INFANT 41 9
MAY OR MAY NOT
ACQUIRE BOTH DEFECTS?
Table 1. Awareness of Respondents to Birth Defects

Table 1 is subdivided into three questions. Question 1.1 revealed that 44 out of 50 (88 %)
respondents are aware of Cleft Lip while 6 of them are not (12%). Question 1.2 stated that 40 or
90% of the respondents are aware of Cleft Palate while 10 or 10% of them are unaware. Lastly,
Question 1.3 resulted to 41 or 82% of the respondents being aware that an infant may or may not
acquire both defects while 9 (18%) of them are not aware of it.

2. ARE YOU AWARE

OF THE MISS 48 2
UNIVERSE
ORGANIZATION?
Table 2. Awareness about the Miss Universe Organization

Table 2 showed that 48 out of 50 respondents are aware of the existence of Miss Universe
Organization while 2 of them are not. These are equivalent to 96% and 4%, respectively.

3. ARE YOU AWARE

OF THE SMILE 29 21
TRAIN
FOUNDATION?
Table 3. Awareness about the Smile Train Organization

From the 50 respondents, 29 (58%) of the sample population are aware of the presence
of Smile Train Organization while the rest (21 or 42%) are not.
 4. ARE YOU AWARE
ABOUT THE
PARTNERSHIP OF 23 27
MISS UNIVERSE
ORGANIZATION
AND SMILE TRAIN?
Table 4. Awareness of the respondents about MUO-STO partnership

In Table 4, it was tallied that 23 (46%) of the respondents are aware of the partnership
between the Miss Universe Organization and Smile Train. Meanwhile, 27 (54%) of them are
unaware of the partnership of both organizations

5. ARE YOU AWARE

THAT SMILE TRAIN
IS GIVING FREE
CLEFT REPAIR 25 25
SURGERT FOR
CHILDREN BORN
WITH CLEFT
LIP/PALATE?
.Table 5. Awareness about the free cleft repair surgery and care provided by Smile Train

Table 5 illustrated that 25 responded “Yes” to the question about the free cleft repair
surgery and care by Smile Train while the remaining 25 responded “No”.

6. ARE YOU AWARE THAT MISS

UNIVERSE ORGANIZATION IS
HELPING SMILE TRAIN TO
PROMOTE AWARENESS ABOUT 28 22
CLEFT LIP/ PALATE AND FREE
CLEFT SURGERY AND CARE?
Table 6. Awareness about the MUO-STO partnership to promote awareness about clefts
and free cleft services

Lastly, Table 6 revealed that 28 out of 50 respondents are aware about the efforts of Miss
Universe Organization in promoting awareness about clefts on behalf of Smile Train. The rest of
the sample population (22 or 44%) voted “No”.
 III. ANALYSIS

With the abovementioned statements, MUO and STO has served their purposes with the
agreed partnership. From the 2015 title holder up to the present, Miss Universe Organization has
never failed to send a delegate to represent the Smile Train Organization in charity events and in
an even more important meeting like UN General Assembly. The visitations made by the Goodwill
ambassadors year after year to the local branches of the STO made a significant impact in fulfilling
Smile Train Organization’s advocacy of expanding the world’s knowledge about clefts and the
stigmas surrounding it as well as their presence to each region. Since the inception of the Smile
Train and the recent partnership with the Miss Universe Organization, STO’s platform has
expanded. Therefore, allowing them to reach countries like Haiti and India, two countries who are
really in need of Smile Train’s service of free cleft repair and care and where many children are
born with cleft. The close partnership of the two organizations reach to an extent that even after
the reign of a titleholder, the initiative to raise funds for the STO was done. With the help of MUO,
the Smile Train was able to perform more than 1,500,000 million surgeries since its establishment.

As per the table, positive notes can be drawn from Table 1 since many are aware or have
a prior knowledge when it comes to birth defects such as cleft lip and cleft palate demonstrating
88% awareness for cleft lip and 90% for cleft palate. This maybe due to the fact that cleft lip and
cleft palate are more common to Asians, Latinos and Native American descent as per Michael
Friedman. Also, the researcher can tell that the Miss Universe Organization is more known than
the Smile Train wherein 48 out of 50 respondents are aware of the MUO while 29 out of 50
responded “Yes” to the question “Are you aware of the Smile Train Organization?”. Which makes
sense since the sample population came from a pageant-loving country. The imbalance in the
awareness for both organization gives more reason as to why Smile Train needs to strengthen
their partnership with Miss Universe Organization. Having a wide reach, influence, and big
platform, the MUO can surely help STO to reach their objectives. While most of the respondents
are not aware of the partnership between the two, most of them are still aware the Miss Universe
is promoting Smile Train Organization rating to 56% positive response. One factor could be Smile
Train Organization was always involved in the video documentaries produced by the Miss
Universe Organization whenever titleholders are doing final walk as well as the news articles on
the Internet about the activities of the titleholders during their reign. Lastly, the respondents have
an equal response to the question about Smile Train’s free treatment and care gaining 50% “Yes”
and 50% “No”. With these, the organization needs to come up with better strategies to make their
presence felt at least in the Philippines.
 IV. RECOMMENDATION

The Miss Universe Organization, using their experience to reach an international

audience, has had a great start working together with Smile Train but more can be done in terms
of awareness of both organizations. Although it is very apparent that the influence of each of the
former Miss Universe title holders has had an a great impact in raising awareness of Smile Train,
more can be done by the Miss Universe organization by traveling to even more countries and
focusing on the awareness effort and the fundraising efforts to provide a budget for doctors to
perform the corrective surgeries. Also, Having an actual spokesperson who has been a first hand
recipient of Smile Train’s efforts could work side-by-side with the reigning Miss Universe to have
more people understand how helpful the surgeries have changed their life since their own surgery.
Lastly, since the Miss Universe Organization has strongholds in over 90 countries and territories
in the form of National Directors, more can be done in encouraging the National Directors to start
the initiative in forming local Smile Train-related projects in their respective countries. This would
at least bring awareness to more communities and eventually may lead to more donors willing to
fund cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries for the underprivileged.

V. CONCLUSION

It is no doubt that Smile Train has started an international organization that has changed
many lives around the world with simple yet effective surgeries to fix cleft lip and cleft palate
deformities for children. Based on the analysis gathered by the researcher, it is clear that
respondents who participated in the survey were aware that cleft lip and cleft palates were
possible birth defects. There was a overwhelming difference on the awareness of the respondents
regarding their knowledge of the Miss Universe Organization compared to the Smile Train
Organization. This information proved ideal as the recognition of the Miss Universe Organization
partnered with the Smile Train Organization indeed brought more awareness to a larger audience
and in turn has even more potential to raise funding for the children who suffer from cleft lip and
cleft palate.

From the time that the Miss Universe Organization began their partnership with Smile
Train in 2016, each of the Miss Universe titleholders have had success in working hand-in-hand
with helping to raise money for Smile Train and also working to witness the surgeries and meet
with the patients up close and personal. The simple yet heart filled efforts of both organizations
are the perfect example of dedicated people working together for the good of humanity and the
future. Since the Miss Universe Organization and Smile Train Organization have only
strengthened their bond since the beginning of their partnership, this proves that their objectives
and purposes have been successfully met and that an extension of partnership would be of even
more success to spread awareness of cleft lip and cleft palate. This would potentially draw even
more donations toward the worthy cause. Some say that a smile can go a long way in life. With
The Miss Universe Organization and Smile Train Organization, a smile gives more meaning to
life especially to the lives of those in need.

VI. WAY AHEAD

Looking forward to the near future, the Miss Universe Organization has dedicated a
continuing partnership with Smile Train based on their results since 2016 when the Miss Universe
Organization began working with Smile Train. As more success stories come about from the
recipients of Smile Train’s surgeries, more people will be aware of how vital it is for children born
with these defects to have the corrective surgeries not only for the physical outcome but also for
their general health. The Miss Universe Organization, alongside their reigning queen, have a great
platform to use their brain, beauty and heart to bring more involvement with the international
community so that even more children may avail of the services that Smile Train offers, especially
those in less fortunate living situations. At the current rate that both international organizations
are working, there is no doubt that more children will not need to face discrimination based on
their cleft lips or cleft palates and that they could see the silver lining to living a healthier life not
only for themselves but for the future generations to come. As time passes, the two organizations
will continue to progress because of the awareness they bring to the world and the international
influence they can potentially bring to much larger scale.

To Mr. Jumel Estrañero, the stranger we never regret to meet, thank you for all the hard
work and perseverance you put in our class just to give us quality learnings. Thank you for pushing
us and making us realize our full potential. I, myself, admit that I’m still not at my best. I will
continue to improve myself as I achieve my goals in life. May God Bless you with enough strength
and courage to face whatever life has to offer, to whatever fear you need to conquer. Again, thank
you for this semester. May God guide you in your way as you serve the Filipino people.
 VII. REFERENCES

Channel 24. (2018). Demi Leigh Nel Peters speaks at the UN General Assembly. Retrieved on
June 12, 2021 from: https://www.news24.com/amp/channel/the-juice/news/pics-demi-
leigh-nel-peters-speaks-at-the-un-general-assembly-20180921

Friedman, Michael. (2019). Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate. Retrieved on May 26, 2021 from:
https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/cleft-lip-cleft-palate

GMA News Online. (2016). Pia Wurtzbach promotes charity for children needing cleft surgery.
Retrieved on June 11, 2021 from:
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/content/553451/pia-wurtzbach-promotes-
charity-for-kids-needing-cleft-surgery/story/

Inquirer. Net. (2020). Catriona Gray helps raise over P350,000 for kids with cleft palate lips.
Retrieved on June 15, 2021 from: https://entertainment.inquirer.net/361271/catriona-gray-
helps-raise-over-p350000-for-kids-with-cleft-palates-lips

Kimotho, Stephen Gichuhi & Macharia, Fiona Nduta. (2020).Social stigma and cultural beliefs
associated with cleft lip and/or palate: parental perceptions of their experience in Kenya.
Retrieved on June 10, 2021 from:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-020-00677-7

Manila Standard. (2020). Beauty Queens craft cards for cleft patients. Retrieved on May 28, 2021
from: https://manilastandard.net/index.php/mobile/article/321676

PR News Wire. (2019). Miss Diva Universe 2019 uses her platform to raise awareness for smile
train India and children with clefts. Retrieved from June 4, 2021 from:
https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/miss-diva-universe-2019-uses-her-
platform-to-raise-awareness-for-smile-train-india-and-children-with-clefts-
810266243.html

Rappler. (2019). Catriona Gray visits Brazil for Smile Train Charity Event. Retrieved on June 1,
2021 from: https://www.rappler.com/entertainment/pageants/photos-catriona-gray-visits-
brazil-smile-train-charity-event

Smile Train PH. (2017). Miss Universe Candidates Visited Smile Train’s Local Programs In The
Philippines And Saw Firsthand How Cleft Surgery Changes Lives. Retrieved on May 24,
2021 from:https://www.smiletrain.ph/media/press/miss-universe-candidates-visited-
smile-train%E2%80%99s-local-programs-philippines-and-saw
Smile Train UK. (2017). Miss Universe Iris Mittenaere visits local partners of Smile Train in Haiti.
Retrieved on May 26, 2021 from: https://smiletrain.org.uk/stories/miss-universe-iris-
mittenaere-visits-smile-train-local-partners-in-haiti-uk