A life-altering experience in Morocco for Princeton High School senior
By: Rachel Silverman
In a small hospital in Meknès, Morocco, Ashley Roome fell in love.
It was there that Ashley, a senior at Princeton High School, watched a 13-month-old baby undergo surgery for a cleft lip. Ashley consoled the fretting parents, who traveled 11 hours by foot to get there. She rocked the baby in her arms as he emerged from anesthesia. And she hovered over surgeons as they performed the 45-minute operation.
Ashley says the experience was life-altering.
"They nicknamed him ‘Ash,’" she said. "Words can’t even explain it."
The mission to Morocco one of 24 Operation Smile projects each year treated 164 individuals for facial deformities including cleft lips, cleft palates, burns and a slew of rare facial aberrations.
Operation Smile, which began in 1982, provides similar services all over the world.
Here in Princeton, Ashley heads the organization’s local chapter at Princeton High School. Leading a group of 40 members, Ashley tries to raise funds to send back to the parent organization.
"The reason we’re doing all this fundraising is for the kids," she said.
Although she found the trip to Morocco enlightening, Ashley said she can’t help but be discouraged by the statistics.
"Two out of three patients are turned away," she said. "It still constantly upsets me more kids can’t get the surgery."
She is also moved by the disparity between health-care services in the developed and the developing worlds.
"In the U.S., the majority of people get it fixed right after birth," Ashley said. "There, it’s considered a luxury there to have surgery done."
But rather than focus on the grim reality, Ashley takes a proactive, positive attitude.
"It’s my driving force all the way," she said. "It just puts so much stuff in perspective."
So next year, while many of her peers are college-bound, Ashley will venture back to Africa to help orphaned children with AIDS.
But for now, Ashley and her clubmates have their hands full literally. A pumpkin pie bake-a-thon, taking place at Blue Point Grill, hopefully will raise thousands of dollars, Ashley said.
The bake-a-thon is an annual event for Operation Smile. The club takes orders for pumpkin pies in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, then bakes as many pies as it has orders for and delivers them a few days before the holiday. This year, the pies will be delivered Saturday and Sunday.
At $10 a pie, Ashley said the money is not only going to good causes, but the secret pie recipe, honed by Blue Point Grill chefs, is something you won’t want to miss.
"Oh yeah, they’re good," she laughed.

