PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Every parent dreams of the moment their child first calls their name with confidence. Yet, for the thousands of children born with a cleft lip or palate, these simple milestones can feel like immense hurdles. Beyond the physical difficulties of feeding and breathing, these children often face speech impediments and social stigma that can overshadow their early years.

Aligned with Pigeon’s brand promise to “Celebrate Babies the Way They Are,” our long-term partnership with Smile Asia goes beyond monetary donations and sponsorship of specialised nursing bottles for cleft lip and palate for babies. We believe in being present and purposeful in everything we do. Each year, our team members volunteer on medical missions to witness firsthand the life-changing impact of Smile Asia’s services.

ACTIONS

During a typical seven-day surgical mission, a team of approximately 35 credentialed medical professionals¹ — including surgeons, nurses, anesthetists, pediatricians, and dentists — travels from around the world to a partner country.

In this one week, more than 100 lives are transformed¹ through corrective surgery. This program is more than a medical correction; it is a collaborative effort to empower children to overcome physical barriers and embrace a future filled with confidence and possibility. The Pigeon staff members volunteer on the ground alongside medical professionals to assist with patient management, logistics, and on-site operations. By managing these essential tasks, our team allows surgeons and nurses to focus entirely on medical care, while our staff gains a deep, firsthand understanding of the challenges these families face.

Learn more about each stage of the Medical Mission via the link here.

This year, our team member joined the Smile Asia Medical Mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh (23-30 June). Their presence on the ground allowed us to witness the immediate impact of our partnership with Smile Asia and the profound “rebirth” of the children treated.

Certification of appreciation presented on the 2025 Smile Asia Medical Mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh

RESULTS

The partnership between Pigeon Singapore and Smile Asia is measured far beyond the number of surgeries performed; it is seen in the tangible restoration of a child’s quality of life. The expertise of Smile Asia’s volunteer surgeons effectively ends the cycle of malnutrition and speech isolation. By reconstructing the lip and palate, the surgery restores the foundational functions of eating, breathing, and speaking.

A profound symbol of this transformation is the Rebirth Certificate – a certificate given to each child when they gain the ability to speak their own name with confidence. Learn more about The Rebirth Certification via the link here. For our team, participating in these missions is a transformative experience that reshapes our understanding of corporate responsibility.

“In Singapore, the cleft cases are all well-maintained as the babies get proper treatment and care from day 1 of their birth. As such, I seldom get a glimpse of a baby with cleft.  However, during the mission, I not only got to meet them but to interact with them and their families.  

Through story sharing, one can really feel the unlimited love of parents / caregivers to the children and their hopes for the children to be able to go through mission surgeries and then lead a more normal life.
I also learnt that every member in a mission had an important task to enable such a mission to be a successful one.

I hope Pigeon Singapore could take ownership in designing feeding products that babies with cleft would require during pre and post surgeries to better serve the needs of patients & medical team ” — Pigeon Staff Volunteer

 ¹ Smile Asia (n.d.). EXPLAINING A MEDICAL MISSION [Online]. Smileasia.org. Available at: https://smileasia.org/programmes/missions/.