>> dr. magee: on the lower lip, but better to have a scar, than to have a lower lip where it comes up like that. [ child crying ] [ speaking in foreign language ] >> the lower? >> dr. magee: on the lower lip. [ inaudible ] [ voices in background ] >> maggie cote: i can't wait to see the mom's face. i can't imagine if this was my child. [ beeping ] i don't know what i would have done. [ beeping ] [ voices in background ] [ speaking foreign language ] >> kimberlin's mother: oh how cute! [ music ] oh how cute! oh, thank god! she came out precious. just precious. [ speaking foreign language ] i'm writing these short lines because we're really thankful. first of all, with god and with operation smile. with wonderful people, thanks for helping me in the most important day of my life. keep with this mission. with god's help with what you do, a lot of kids will be eternally thankful. always yours, olivia nieto. >> roma downey: luis jose is very content when his turn comes. but his dad is very nervous. ope

dr. bill magee: a child is the only language that we all have in common. it really doesn't matter what your race, your color, your creed, your culture. what matters is that we all use our energies, and our talents. we've got the tools, we've got the hands, we've got the bodies. now we just need all of us to participate and then the world really will change. i was talking to sut's mom before surgery, and she told me that, after surgery, no one will call him sut anymore, because sut means hair lip. from now on, she said, he'll go by his real name, which is thanh, and that means blue sky. i told thanh after surgery, from now on, the sky is the limit. he's a great kid. >> [foreign language]. >> are you going to be a doctor now? [ speaking in foreign language ] [ children ] [ music ] >> roma downey: son is getting ready to go into surgery now. of all the moms i've met here, i feel truly connected to son's mother. even though we don't speak the same language, she's so expressive and she wears her heart on her sleeve. >> he's going to be so beautiful. >> dr. bill

dr. bill magee: operation smile began when my wife kathy and i were asked to go on a medical mission to thephilippines to take care of children who were born with cleft lips and cleft palates. >> kathy magee: well, in the philippines, we turned away 250 children and we always had hoped that we would be able to take care of those kids. and we went back. we gathered a group of our friends and we did that. we took care of those children. >> dr. bill magee: that decision literally changed the course and the direction of our lives, our family's lives, our values and, i believe, our purpose in life. >> roma downey: this little guy's name is son. he's two years old. he was born with both a cleft lip and a cleft palate, which is an opening in the roof of his mouth. his mom is very worried. son has difficulty eating and often chokes on his food. [ child crying ] they don't have enough money for rice, much less to afford this surgery. she never, ever thought he might have this chance. she says she wants him to be handsome. the hardest part is, operation smile can't possibly operate on all these child