Alora was 21 years old when she wrote to us. She lives in Garing Cebu, Philippines. Alora was born with both a cleft lip & palate deformity. She was unable to breast feed & as a baby her family fed her vitamins as they worried about her but she was still malnourished. At 3 she still couldn’t walk without support. Her family did their best to support her & make her strong. When she tried to speak people couldn’t understand her. Even her family had difficulty understanding her ‘gibberish’.
At 6 she started school but faced many trials as people couldn’t understand her & made fun of her. She endured many jokes from her classmates but her family were a comfort to her. She asked her parents to let her stop studying but they told her to continue & stay strong. In March 1999 when Alora was 9 they operated on her lip. She still had difficulty speaking & felt sad & angry. She was still victimised at school but graduated elementary school in 2003. In high school she was still shy & often jealous of other people’s lives & their boyfriends. She hoped that one day she would have a boyfriend too.
Sometimes she blamed God but then she thought he had a purpose for her. She decided she would move on with her life even if it was on her own. She felt it was painful for her to accept her life as a failure but that she must do that. She had crushes on boys at high school but one day she fell in love with a boy & he smiled back. It made her feel good even if she knew he had a girlfriend. Again she was teased when people found out she liked the boy & said she was ambitious to want him. She stopped attending school for a while. She tried to attempt suicide but then remembered God told her not to give up & it became an inspiration for her to move forward with her life.
Alora finished high school in 2007 but could not go to college or get a job because of her condition. She didn’t feel she could travel & stayed at home. In November 2010 her cousin phoned her & said there was a team that could operate on the cleft palate. She was very excited they could do the surgery in the private hospital. In February 2011 she attended the screening day & was operated on later in the week. She prayed a lot & knew god was on her side. The operation was a success & everyone was very happy.
Alora Palang – before and after
Afterwards she recalled the story of the ‘ugly duckling’ how they became a beautiful swan. She felt this was like her story & that her wish had been granted. She felt that you should never give up hope. She is thankful for the people in her life that never gave up on her – her family, her friends & the people who accepted the real her