Rugby ball smiles for second Vodacom Smile Week

Helping them celebrate were some of their South African rugby heroes whose 153 try-scoring successes during the 2008 Vodacom Super 14 tournament have raised R1,53 million for the Smile Foundation. The rugby players joined staff, sponsors, media and well-wishers to create a memorable party for all the children in the ward today.

This will be the tenth Smile Week hosted by the Smile Foundation, and the second to be sponsored by the Vodacom Foundation. Ward 275 of the Johannesburg Hospital will be host to 38 children who will receive free world-class reconstructive surgery for facial anomalies such as cleft lip and/or palate or some form of facial paralysis, abnormality or injury. Thirty-three of the children are from Gauteng; one each from KwaZulu/Natal, Namibia and the Eastern Cape, and two from Botswana.

Mthobi Tyamzashe, Chairman of the Vodacom Foundation, says: “The Vodacom Foundation has a soft spot for children whose health problems threaten their prospects of reaching their full potential. In so many cases, timely intervention can completely transform their lives, and we are privileged to be part of efforts to make this happen for the 38 children who will benefit from operations to be conducted during this particular Smile Week.”

Marc Lubner, Executive Chairman of the Smile Foundation, added: “The shortest distance between us is a smile but can you imagine the anguish at not being able to offer that smile? The Smile Foundation addresses both the physical and physiological effects of facial disfigurement on children faced with this anguish. Special donors who take the time to truly understand what we do help us to change the lives of these children and their families forever. The Vodacom Foundation is one of these special organisations and their involvement extends way beyond just a monetary contribution. We salute all of those who come together to form the partnership that makes South Africa great, child by child, smile by smile.”

Kerishnie Naiker, a trustee of both the Vodacom Foundation and the Smile Foundation, added her gratitude to the Vodacom Foundation for its contribution, following her invitation to Vodacom to witness reconstructive surgery of a child who had suffered third degree burns. As a passionate supporter of philanthropy, she added that such decisions should not made solely around board room tables.

The project is part of the Vodacom Foundation's support for quality health care. This is the second R2-million contribution from the Vodacom Foundation towards the Smile Foundation's Smile Weeks. The first Vodacom Smile Week was conducted in October/November 2007.

In addition to the surgery, the Smile Foundation provides holistic secondary care and therapy for the children, youth education and community awareness. Medical personnel from the Johannesburg Hospital, its Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the Wits Medical School will generously contribute their expertise to radically change the lives of the children to be operated on.

Other major projects in Vodacom Foundation's quality health care support programme are Sight for You, providing cataract operations to disadvantaged elderly South Africans, and the Walter Sisulu Paediatric Cardiac Centre for Africa that performs corrective cardiac surgery on underprivileged children.

On behalf of: Palesa Chabula
Executive Head: Corporate Communications
Sponsorships, Foundation and Customer Centricity
Vodacom Group (Pty) Ltd
Tel: 011 653 5661
Cell: 082 997 1677
E-mail:

Smile Foundation:
Moira Gerszt
Chief Operating Officer
Smile Foundation
Tel: 011 783 3024
Cell: 082 445 4994
E-mail: