When baby Shahid was born, the midwife gently told his mother Shahida to look at his face.
Her joy as a new mother turned quickly to heartbreak—Shahid had a cleft lip and palate.
In that moment, Shahida felt a silence inside her, filled with questions:
Why my baby? Had I done something wrong?
Her husband Mohamud, a metal factory worker, wasn’t shown the baby right away.
When he finally saw his son, he cried.
He wondered if a solar eclipse or something they’d done in the past had caused this.
Their interfaith love marriage—Shahida is Hindu, Mohamud is Muslim—already made them feel like outsiders. Now, neighbours whispered painful things.
Yet not all voices were unkind. Shahida’s father-in-law said softly, “Allah gave him to you like this. Allah will lead you to a solution.”
At the hospital, doctors told them that surgery would only be possible when Shahid turned 15 months and weighed 10 kilos.
But then, a chance encounter changed everything. A labourer on the street, seeing Shahid, shared that his own son had been born with a cleft—and healed—through Operation Smile. He gave Shahida a number to call.
That one act of kindness opened the door to a world of hope.
Shahid didn’t qualify for the first program due to low weight, but Shahida never gave up.
After gaining strength, the family travelled 8 hours to Durgapur, where Shahid received surgery.
When they returned home, Mohamud cried again—this time with gratitude. Their community was stunned by Shahid’s transformation.
Today, Shahid is a thriving, joyful toddler. Shahida now walks proudly beside him, thankful every day for the people—many she’ll never meet—who made her son’s smile possible.