Donay’s smile creates wave of change

INSTEAD of crumbling after years of bullying, local learner, Donay Van Der Merwe, chose to stand tall, using knowledge as her strength and informed her peers about cleft palates.

She has never looked back.

The first two years of her school career were close to bliss, but in Grade 3 the bullying started.

This carried on for two more years and her family decided to step in and contact Operation Smile.

A representative visited her school and informed them about cleft palates.

From that moment, her school life changed and did a complete 180 as the bullying ceased.

“The children at school started looking at me as a normal human being and came to me afterwards with a lot of questions,” smiled the confident 16-year-old.

Since that moment she chose to support the non-profit organisation as often as she could.

She is now an ambassador and hosts regular fund-raisers and promotes its life-changing work.

Now a Grade 11 learner at Curro Hillcrest, she is able to contribute more towards the work done by Operation Smile.

Through her work, she has raised enough funds to cover the cost of three operations.

“Loving people has always been in my nature. It has always been my mindset to be involved in outreach and supporting organisations,” she said.

Donay was invited to take part in a 10-day mission in Mombela.

“It was difficult for me get involved but it was also amazing at the same time. It was 10 hardcore days,” she said.

As a volunteer, she helped screen and interact with the patients.

“It was also the first time the organisation had a “cleft” child taking part in a mission. It meant more to me than I can describe as the mothers didn’t know what their children would look like after the operation. Being there myself they could see it and many could not believe the transformation their children would undergo.”

She described the mission as an emotional roller coaster as her heart broke when people had to be turned away. She chose to rather focus on calming the patients who were accepted for the operation.

“On the first day we arrived there was child wearing a Spider-Man costume, he had a heart condition, but we quickly nicknamed him Spidey. I was lucky enough to witness his operation.

“There may have been a language barrier but many of these children are severely bullied and leave school but for me, the happiness came from knowing they would be going back home to lead a happy, normal lives.”

She later joined hundreds of like-minded young adults at the International Student Leadership Conference in Italy.

Donay pushed herself out of her comfort zone, stood on the stage and spoke about her journey to a packed auditorium.

“I was quite nervous and I don’t know what came over me. I encouraged everyone to embrace the way we look and what we are.

“Even though I’ve had the surgery it is never going to go away and it needs to be embraced. My parents taught me to love me for who I am,” said a smiling Donay.

For her future, Donay aspires to continue to help others reach their full potential.

“The most powerful thing you have in life is yourself. My motto in life is that you can’t complain about the world if you don’t try and change it for the better. I want to show people that being who you are is enough.”

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