We first met Yeasin, his mother and grandmother in February 2018 at the Comprehensive Cleft Centre supported by CLEFT in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His story is, unfortunately, not an unfamiliar one. Like many people in Bangladesh, his parents worked in garment factories - probably making clothes for UK shops, earning little more than £70 a month. They live in a galvanised iron, single room shack in a shanty 'town' and desperately wanted to have a baby. Yeasin was born in September 2016 with a cleft lip and palate. Sadly, when his father saw him, he left home.

When Yeasin first came to the Cleft Centre in Dhaka, he weighed only 8kg at the age of 17 months. Because of the very difficult social situation and his failure to thrive, we repaired both his lip and palate in the same operation. When his father saw Yeasin after the operation, he moved back into the home though tragically, soon after, he died (cause unknown).

Earlier this year, we saw Yeasin again, a year after his operation. He is apparently developing normally and talking well. His mother is not now working but she is smiling!