About

About Smile Foundation

Every child deserves a secure sense of self – the very foundation from which their greatest potential can be reached. This is why we at Smile Foundation are deeply passionate about making a difference in the lives of South African children living with facial conditions.

We believe that making a real difference is about bringing the right people together at the right time. In doing so, our non-profit organisation is able to facilitate expert surgical intervention and pre and post-operative care for children living with facial paralysis, cleft lip and cleft palate, craniofacial abnormalities, as well as ear, nose and hand conditions and burn wounds.

Our contributions go beyond funding children’s surgery and recovery. We also invest in the infrastructure of the public healthcare system through purchasing medical equipment, upgrading the Departments of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery’s existing facilities and sponsoring academic skills programmes for surgeons, nurses and other medical personnel.

To achieve these goals, we enthusiastically raise funds through our corporate and private donors. We also reach out to communities to share an understanding that children with facial conditions and burns can be helped.

Our vision

We help children live a life inspired by confidence and possibility, No matter their circumstances.

Our mission

We transform the lives of children affected by facial abnormalities and severe burns through the best possible surgical and psychological care.

One call from Madiba changed everything.

Thabile Malambo Manyathi persistently wrote to Nelson Mandela asking for help to take her child Thando (pictured) overseas to receive a highly specialized procedure to correct the Facial Paralysis she was born with. As fate would have it, Thabile’s plea found its way into Madiba’s personal pile of letters. After reading her letter, Mandela reached out to Marc Lubner and asked if he could help secure surgery for the young child.

Inspired by Thando’s story, the Lubner family decided to instead invite Dr Ron Zucker and Dr Craig Van Der Kolk to South Africa to transfer their skills and expertise to a number of surgeons in the country. George Psaras, former Head of Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Witwatersrand, was the first surgeon in South Africa to learn this specialized skill.

After more surgeons in South Africa became equipped with the skills to operate on children with facial abnormalities, the Independent Newspaper group joined forces with the Lubner family to found the Star Smile Fund. With more and more happy endings, the news of the Star Smile Fund spread far and wide, and the demand began to outgrow the supply. So, in 2007, we expanded our resources and relaunched as the Smile Foundation.

Since then, the Smile Foundation has helped provide Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery to more than 4000 children living with facial abnormalities. For us and the children we care for, joy is always possible.