Boosting the Self Esteem of Children with Cleft Lip, Palate

2021 Children’s Day Celebration

For Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft lips and palate foundation, its objective is targeted at improving speech capabilities of children born with Cleft Lip and Palate. This year, to commemorate Children’s Day, Sunday Ehigiator reports that the organisation, through its Sing and Smile Club, is using heart-compelling songs as therapy for the children, as well as create more awareness about CLP

Children’s day is a commemorative day observed globally on different dates. In Nigeria however, the day is marked on May 27 of every year.

Brief History

According to Wikipedia, the International Children’s Day was first declared in the year 1925, at Geneva during the World Conference on Child Welfare. On November 4, 1949, June 1, was established as the International Day for Protection of Children by the Women’s International Democratic Federation in Moscow.

In 1954, Children’s Day was proclaimed by the United Kingdom to encourage all countries to institute a day, firstly to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children and secondly to initiate action to benefit and promote the welfare of the world’s children.

That is observed to promote the objectives outlined in the Charter and for the welfare of children. On November 20, 1959, The United Nations adopted the ‘Declaration of the Rights of the Child’, and chose the same date as ‘World’s Children’s day’ to commemorate the declaration.

Children’s Day Celebration in Nigeria

In Nigeria, Children’s day is annually celebrated every May 27. It was established as a holiday in 1964. It is a public holiday for primary and secondary school children.

Due to the large size of the country, only a few groups of children (schools or other organisations) are selected to march past in a parade. The children are usually given treats such as an outing or doing some jobs that adults would normally do.

In some situations, primary and secondary school children compete in military parades for a prize which will be given at the end of the competition.

Spiral of Silence among CLP children

As the ‘Spiral of Silence Theory’ developed by German survey and Communication Researcher, Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, in 1960, connotes that unpopular group(s) of individuals develop a fear of isolation due to people’s perception of them.

This fear consequently leads them to remain silent instead of voicing their opinions in public, even when they have opportunities to do so. This has been the fate of children born with Cleft Lips and Palate (CLP) during every children’s day celebration In Nigeria.

Due to sequence of abuse and discrimination they constantly face mostly due to their facial appearance, especially before having an oral and maxillofacial surgery and the way they talk, which is often made jest of by other children, and the society they found themselves, they hold back or are held back by their parents or guardian, from participating in the children festivals, as other kids would do.

The Sing and Smile Club

Constituted by children born with CLP, volunteers from various walks of life, and Smile Train partners, The Sing and Smile Club is the latest Smile Train initiative aimed at continuing a speech therapy process for CLP children through singing, also with the aim of boosting their self esteem and confidence as they socialise and interact often with other stakeholders above mentioned, and the general public with a noticeable smile.

According to the Programs Director of Western Central Africa, Smile Train, Mrs. Nkiruka Obi, “the Sing and Smile Club is an initiative that has been designed to complement the speech therapy treatment services for our palate/speech patients and this also helps to incorporate the psycho-socio components to their treatment.

“And what we found out was that, it has not only brought the family together, but it has also built a level of confidence for the children to network, make friends and interact.

“It has also brought the whole people in the cleft eco-systems, such as partners, doctors, and even our volunteer journalists, GSK employees, Smile Train employees together, and it has been an exciting time.”

Celebrating CLP Children

On the Sing and Smile club, Mrs. Obi noted that, “Today has been so exciting. As we celebrate our children on this special day of the Children’s Day in Nigeria, we are celebrating this day with the Sing and Smile Club of Smile Train, at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).

“We have sung, we have celebrated, and we are so excited to be celebrating children born with CLP in Nigeria on this great day when we are also celebrating every other Nigerian child.

“In the spirit of the universal health coverage of leaving no one behind, Smile Train knows that children born with CLP are all part of our community, and that is why we have taken it upon ourselves to celebrate them, and we are doing that as part of the spirit of the children’s day celebration in Nigeria.

“Every child, including children born with CLP, deserves to be celebrated today. So I want to wish the children a very happy children’s day celebration. God bless our Nigerian children and all the children worldwide.”

CLP Awareness in Nigeria

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), each year, more than 200,000 children are born with CLP in the world, one in every 500 to 700 children. Also, at least, 19,000 children are born with the condition yearly in Africa, 12,000 of whom are in West Africa and some 6,000 in Nigeria.

A 2016 study by the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) also reports that 35.3 per cent of respondents believed that CLP was an act of God; about 5.9 per cent believed it was due to an evil spirit, while 9.8 per cent of the respondents thought the condition was due to wicked parenting.

This according to Mrs. Obi shows the level of awareness about CLP among Nigerians.

“Nigeria is still coming up in the area of awareness, there is still a lot that hasn’t been addressed, and that is why we still hear cases of cleft children being stigmatised.

“CLP is as a result of a failure of fusion in the process of gestation. As of today nobody can pinpoint the exact cause, because a lot of factors are interplaying, it could be environmental or even genetic.

“Research is ongoing to determine the exact causes, but for now, cleft is still a medical mystery. It is just a congenital defect, meaning that children can be born with it.“There is no spiritual issue to it, CLP children are not evil spirits or witches. And as today, the solution is right here at our doorstep by a simple surgery that would last for about 45 minutes and free, all paid for by Smile Train.

“So let us not stigmatise the child, let us not traumatise the family, because they have a CLP child, let us all be good ambassadors and advocate for the cleft child, and let us work together to ensure that no child born with cleft in any part of the world is left behind but given an opportunity to live a full and productive life.

“I believe that with this celebration, and also in the spirit of the universal health coverage of leaving no one behind, we should ensure as patriotic citizens that we include children born with CLP even in the celebration,” she said.