OPSA – “Giving children a face they can live with.”

In October of 2017, Ariel was able to visit Pakistan with the charity OPSA (Overseas Plastic Surgery Appeal) to observe the vital work they are doing operating on young children with facial abnormalities. Children like Arfat, above, who had life changing surgery as a baby thanks to OPSA.

Ariel Bruce and her colleagues are supporting the charity. Ariel gained valuable insight ‘on the ground’ in Pakistan where the work is being carried out. Using second hand and recommissioned surgical equipment, the medical team from OPSA train local doctors to carry out often life saving operations that are common place in the UK.

OPSA is a UK registered charity based in Hull, Yorkshire, and the OPSA team travel to Pakistan from the North East of England, joined by other doctors from Northern Ireland and Turkey, twice a year to carry out these much needed operations and train local doctors.

Children come from hundreds of miles away to receive truly life changing surgery which they would certainly not have access to without the existence and support of OPSA. Without such corrective surgery these children would never learn to talk or feed properly, which can lead to being ostracised by their families and by society as a whole.

Ariel and her team have been spreading the word about the good work that OPSA carries out. OPSA is supported by journalist Katie Adie and actors Stephanie Cole and Debra Stephenson, who are OPSA ambassadors.

There is much work to be done; OPSA’s aim is to raise a further £20,000, which will enable it to open another operating theatre in Pakistan, thereby helping many more children in the area.

For more information about OPSA and the great work that they do please click here – OPSA Charity Website.