MAKE A DIFFERENCE: HELP PEOPLE WITH CLEFT LIP AND PALATE
PURPLE LEVEL | PRIMARY 4 STUDENTS
Campaign by: Gavin, Josiah, Jun, Megan, Nathen, Ryan, Solon, Sophia, and Yui Wing
WHO WE ARE
We are students who attend JEMS Character Academy and we are in Purple Level. This year, we have been learning to grow in our empathy and compassion for people with Cleft Lip and Plate in our community.
We hope you will enjoy our website, and grow in your compassion towards people who are in need too!
The more we understand, the more we can be compassionate!
From: Gavin, Josiah, Jun, Megan, Nathen, Ryan, Solon, Sophia, and Yui Wing
WHAT WE LEARNT
"Cleft Lip and Palate is a hole or a split in our lips and the roof of our mouth at birth. CLP is also a common birth defect, because it affects 1-2 babies out of 1000."
-Gavin
"Cleft Lip and Palate is actually most common amongst Asians"
-Sophia
CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS
Children with Cleft Lip and Palate face many needs and challenges. For example:
"It may be hard to eat food, talking and hearing can be hard, and they might get bullied because of their looks"
-Solon
"Some people with cleft lip and palate can’t drink, eat, talk properly, and they feel sad because they look different."
- Yui Wing
Luckily, Cleft Lip and Palate is a very treatable condition, and can be easily fixed through surgery. Babies can receive surgery between 1 and 15 months of age, and can undergo follow-up surgeries if needed.
After surgery, speech therapy is often the next step in recovery. Patients will usually see speech therapists to help them with producing speech, sounds, and overall pronunciation.
"If you have cleft lip and palate you should go to a speech therapist or a doctor. A speech therapist helps people to speak properly. You can also go to a doctor for surgery to take away your cleft lip and palate."
-Jun
"Parents, friends, and family’s support help kids go through CL&P. Speech therapy and surgery also help. When you support kids with CL&P they will get much more confidence!"
-Megan
"The speech therapists would help the mental health and would help them speak more clearly and be understood. Surgeons would help with physical health and would apply surgery to the lip or palate. "
-Ryan
EMPATHY & COMPASSION
Treating those with Cleft Lip and Palate with respect and dignity as with any other person can help them build their confidence and sense of belonging.
"If I had a cleft lip, I would want to live in a normal world where everyone treats me the same. If I ever met someone with cleft Lip and Palate, I would show empathy and compassion by standing up for them."
-Josiah
"If I was born with a cleft lip and palate then people will laugh and tease me which I will find terrible. You will have to understand them and make them proud so they will be happy again. I will encourage them by saying everything will be alright."
-Jun
"If I had CLP, I would want to live in a normal world where people won’t bully me and be friends with me by my character. I can personally show empathy and compassion towards those who have CLP by donating money so they could have enough money to do surgery and don’t bully them because they are different."
-Gavin
"I would want everyone to treat me like a normal person, and quickly get my surgery so I wouldn’t suffer. I would buy them a Travis Scott meal from McDonalds, and then add them on discord and be friends with them."
-Solon
"I would show empathy and compassion by telling them to not listen to bullies, don’t bully them and tell other people to not bully them either."
-Sophia
"If I had a cleft lip and palate I would want a positive world and I would want to be treated equally. I will show empathy and compassion to those with Cleft lip and palate by treating them how they want to be treated. "
-Ryan
"I learned that kids that have Cleft Lip & Palate are just as same as kids that don’t have it. If I see a kid who has CL&P, I would go over and say hi, maybe even make friends with them! They are unique. Treat them like how you treat others. Nothing is wrong with them. "
-Megan
" Don’t bully them and help them when they are in need!"
-Yui Wing
HOW YOU CAN HELP
1
Get Informed
Learn more about Cleft Lip and palate by reading through our website.
2
Build Relationship
If you you see someone with Cleft Lip and Palate, get to know them and grow in empathy for them.
3
Share What You Have
Donate money towards projects that really focus on helping those with Cleft Lip and Palate in our community, like HKACLP (see below).
4
Inform Others
Help us raise more awareness by
informing more
people about Cleft Lip and Palate. Help us
put compassion into action!
MEETING OUR GUEST SPEAKER
We had an amazing opportunity to interact with, learn from and ask our own questions to Ms. Almus Lau, who represented the Hong Kong Association for Cleft Lip and Palate.
From this memorable experience, we gained a deeper understanding of people with Cleft Lip and Palate, their experiences, challenges, and life goals, and thus deepen our empathy and grow in our compassion towards them in our community.
FUNDRAISING: HKACLP
JEMS Character Academy has partnered with Hong Kong Association for Cleft Lip and Palate to teach children to have more empathy and compassion towards those with Cleft Lip and Palate our community. HKACLP's mission is to support and build a network of Cleft Lip and Palate patients and families through providing heath services such as speech therapy and emotional counselling, organising educational talks, workshops and more.
We want to raise $10,000 HKD to help those with Cleft Lip and Palate in our community. We will then use this money to support HKACLP in their efforts to provide necessary health services to those with Cleft Lip and Palate, build familial and community support networks, and educate the public.
Go to https://www.simplygiving.com/jems-p4-2021 to help fundraise!
