Cleft School Project: Teaching cleft children to live and to smile

For many years now the JAF Foundation has supported the children of this project in Hyderabad. They were all born with cleft or craniofacial defects and the remedial surgical interventions were provided by physicians from our project partner Cleft-Children International CCI. This treatment is a first, decisive step on the way to the children enjoying a life integrated into society and thus the basis for more.

The school was launched in 2009 as the ‘Hermann Sailer and Erica Schwob Cleft School Project’ and the “Stiftung Cleft-Kinder-Hilfe, Schweiz”. The original vision: to provide underprivileged or abandoned children access to education.
Today, the dormitory is home to 93 children – 1/3 girls and 2/3 boys – and one student recently started studying in the USA, where she will complete college in June 2019. On top of education and housing, the children receive proper food, regular speech therapy, orthodontic treatment, daily yoga practice, and a motivating environment. A key objective is to give cleft children the opportunity to learn to speak – to play, to acquire and nurture healthy self-esteem.