For many, the pre-Christmas season would not be complete without an Advent calendar. Small treats or loving gifts sweeten every December day. But another thing can also be hidden behind the doors: good deeds! The 24 Gute Taten ("24 Good Deeds") charity Advent calendar makes sure of that: every day, a charitable project from the fields of health, environment, education and many more is presented and supported with the proceeds from the sale of the calendars. This year, one of the projects presented once again is one by Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe!

Trust is the indispensable basis of our work. Without the trust of our donors, not only would our work be impossible, we simply could not exist as an association. We are always aware of this, and this awareness guides us in our daily work. We are therefore proud to announce that Deutsche Cleft Kinderhilfe e.V. has just passed its annual audit and is entitled to carry the DZI Donation Seal 2022/23 for another year.

This Saturday, October 1, is "Foundations Day". This day was created by the Association of German Foundations to raise awareness of the important charitable work of foundations in Germany and Europe. We, too, are pleased to be able to count many foundations among the supporters of our work, in addition to numerous companies and many, many private donors.

On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, we remember those who have it less good than we do. Ten percent of our world's population live in extreme poverty, with less than $1.90 a day for clothing, food and medicine. People with clefts are often affected, their "stigma" an obstacle in everyday life. Many "normal" things such as friends, health and education are hard to achieve for them. A vicious circle - but with an escape?

Dharati's family lived in the poorest of circumstances. As landless farmers, they could not afford cleft treatment for their daughter. Dharati had to live with the health and social consequences of her untreated cleft for years. It was only when Dharati was already five years old that her parents noticed a poster offering free surgery for children with cleft lip - a lucky coincidence for Dharati and her family!

The twins Wilian and Yeison were born in 2013 with bilateral cleft lips and cleft palates. Their family makes their living with farming. Like many Quechua-speaking residents in the remote mountainous regions of Peru, they are poor. They could not have afforded to pay for their sons' treatment on their own. Thanks to our donors and the doctors of our Peruvian partner organization Qorito, the twins can now live a life without cleft.

To treat children with cleft lip and palate in northern Pakistan, our Cleft Pakistan team drove 1,600 kilometers from Karachi to the city of Dhodial in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. 38 patients received surgery for their clefts. For them and their families, this is the start of a new life.

DCKH cleft lip and palate project country Pakistan is currently suffering under disastrous floods. As much as a third of the country has been hit. Millions have been forced to flee and lost their homes, crops and livelihoods. We are deeply saddened and hope for quick relief for our friends and project partners in Pakistan and all their compatriots.

After a surgery hiatus of several months, we have good news from our project country Afghanistan: Our cleft surgeon in Mazar-e-Sharif is working again! She has already provided free surgery for nine children with cleft. We hope for many more cleft surgeries in the coming months and that we will be able to resume our work for cleft children in Afghanistan at full capacity and all project locations soon.

The parents of our cleft children are always full of gratitude. When their child is born with cleft, they often do not know what to make of the malformation, much less that it can be treated. And even if they do - most of our little patients come from the poorest of backgrounds. Their parents could never afford the operation. It is an unimaginable happiness for them to learn that their children can receive qualified treatment, and free of charge even. This wonderful, touching film from our Bolivian aid project captures these special moments of happiness.

This film, made for our Pakistani partner organization, the Al-Mustafa Welfare Societey, by the father of one of our patients, shows scenes from our work in Karachi. From here, our senior surgeon Prof. Ashraf Ganatra treats cleft children from poorest families. He operates the children from Karachi at the Al Mustafa Medical Center. In order to reach the many needy families living outside the city, he also regularly heads out to local provincial hospitals to treat cleft patients there.

As a baby, Dat fell victim to an unqualified surgery. Probably inexperienced doctors severed important arteries during his palate surgery in Vietnam. The result: a large hole in the palate that massively affects the boy's life. We brought him to Germany to get reconstructive surgery. An individual case that due to the financial and human cost must remain an exception. In this video, we want to draw attention to the risks of "safari surgery" as opposed to sustainable development aid.