Long-term partner of our work in Peru is Dr. Alberto Bardales. In 2006 he founded the organization Qorito in Lima and has been operating cleft patients ever since. The “Casa Qorito” was opened in May 2018: Under one roof, patients are offered holistic care with speech therapy and functional therapy, a dentist / orthodontist and a psychologist. There is a garden for children to play in, and parents can exchange ideas and network in a cozy waiting area. From the beginning, Qorito has set itself the goal of not only helping patients from the city, but also creating contact points for cleft children that are accessible to families from the difficult-to-reach Andean regions. Dr. Bardales regularly organizes missions to these regions, for example to Puno, Cajamarca, Huánuco, Arequipa. He also has his interdisciplinary team at his side for these missions.
Our project in neighboring Bolivia also benefits from the experience of the Qorito team. Dr. Bardales promotes the exchange of knowledge between the two teams and is involved in the training and further education of surgeons.
At our second project site in Cusco, a city in the Peruvian Andes and once the capital of the Inca Empire, Dr. Mario Cornejo runs another small cleft project. In his private clinic, he operates about 20 to 30 cleft patients annually.
Sylvia Luedkte Haas manages our two South American projects pro bono and is the contact person for project coordination and exchange between the project partners in Peru and Bolivia.