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They arrived into Lima late Wednesday night and traveled on to Cusco Peru Thursday afternoon. Immediately, your lungs know you have arrived into Cusco. The oxygen is scarce at 12.000 feet. Observing the trekkers pull their luggage across the airport parking lot with a 3% grade huffing and puffing I intuitively knew they were second […]

Last Wednesday, July 1, 18 individuals set out on a trip to traverse the famed Inca trail to Machu Pichu. They will trek for four days and camp on the side of a mountain for three nights. They will walk through rainforests, orchid fields and climb higher than the clouds to the summit of dead […]

Over the next two weeks, 26 adventurous individuals embark on a journey of a lifetime—to hike the famed Inca Trail to Machu Pichu. Their purpose: to create awareness about the hundreds of thousands of children in developing countries who suffer as social outcasts because they have been born with clefts. After they complete the four-day, […]

At 44 years old, Meranie had lived with her bilateral cleft lip her entire life. To provide for seven children, her husband works in the fields while she sells oranges on the side of the road. Meranie traveled four hours from her village in northern Haiti to the mission site, not for surgery for herself […]

When we first met Debora and her family she was only three months old and her family was forced to leave the only home they knew in their small remote Mexican village because of Debora’s cleft lip. You see, in developing countries, there is a common belief that children born with cleft lips are cursed […]

Edwardo Gutierrez is a jovial, friendly and brave 10 year old boy from a small farming town a 1/2 hour outside of Cusco, Peru called Pucyura. He is the oldest of 3 children and is in the 4th grade. He loves Spyder Man, puzzles, computers and playing on the family farm. At the hospital, Edwardo […]

Deleth Ares- Deleth is a nine-month old boy who lives with his mother, father and twin sister in Cusco. Both Deluth and his sister were born with a cleft lip and palate. It was very difficult for the young parents when their baby twins were born, both with cleft lips and palates. The mother believes […]

We met Yino and his family, and they were easy to distinguish by their bright, traditional clothing. They traveled four hours by foot and another two by car. Seven-month-old Yino has never had a surgery before, and his family was very anxious in the waiting room. Although no one else in Yino’s community has a […]

Day 4 Inca Trail Trek Today was the last day of their 4-day trek. After three days of no-tech tranquility or torture (depending upon how one is wired) they will pass through lower elevation mountain passes covering 15 kilometers. The trekkers will break camp and part ways with the porters and cooks who have tended […]

Day 3 Inca Trail With the most difficult challenge of the trek behind them the trekkers settled into a natural rhythm on the trail. It was an early morning start with a gradual 2-kilometer hike up to ruins of Runkuracay, a small circular ruin occupying a commanding position of the Pacamayo valley below. From Runkuracay, […]