OPERATION SMILE / CARE IN ACTION
Care starts
with listening.
In 2025, I joined a two-week Operation Smile outreach in Xinjiang, contributing interviews, media work, and support for families.
care, in the small details.
Xinjiang, 2025 / Listening comes first
the smallest gestures matter
a shared effort, a human connection.
2025 / XINJIANG / TWO WEEKS
LISTEN / CONNECT / COMMUNICATE ↓
FIELD NOTES
One outreach. Many ways to care.
01 / THE MISSION
Two weeks. A shared purpose.
Operation Smile is an international medical NGO that provides free cleft lip and palate surgeries to children in underserved communities.
I joined the team in Xinjiang for two weeks in 2025. Families, medical staff, and volunteers each brought something essential to the same effort.
XINJIANG, CHINA / 2025
The outreach team / Xinjiang, 2025
A shared effort / Inside the medical workflow
Between appointments / A quiet moment on the ward
02 / MY ROLE
Making room for care.
As a Volunteer Interviewer and Media Contributor, I did more than hold a camera. I helped coordinate surgery schedules for families who had traveled days to get there, while observing how the team worked together.
01
Listen
Interviewing people and paying attention to the experiences behind each story.
02
Coordinate
Helping organize surgery schedules for families arriving at the outreach.
03
Document
Creating documentary and promotional materials to share the outreach with others.
Care happens between people / A moment of reassurance
A small detail / Light in the ward
sometimes, care begins with being there.
These moments made me think about what support looks like — in the room, in a conversation, and after a family goes home.
03 / BEYOND THE LENS
Care, in clearer words.
Documenting the experience made me want to contribute to practical solutions. Working with the medical team, I helped with an AI-assisted pediatric e-prescription project — translating complex care instructions into accessible digital formats for parents.
With the medical team / Working together
200+
Rural children reached through the team’s system.
COLLECTIVE PROJECT REACH
empathy meets a practical idea.
CARE IN EVERYDAY WORDS
03
Less jargon. More understanding.
AI-assisted pediatric e-prescriptions
I worked with the team to help make care instructions easier for parents to understand and use in a digital format.
01
Accessible language
02
A usable digital format
03
Shared with parents
OPERATION SMILE / THE FILM
Watch the story.
Created to bring stories from the outreach to donors and future volunteers — and to help the experience reach beyond the room.
HARRIS ZHANG / MEDIA CONTRIBUTION
Stories that travel beyond the room.
A film can connect families, medical teams, volunteers, and people who want to support the work.
XINJIANG / 2025
Operation Smile outreach Full film · 3 min 56 sec
a story worth sharing.
04 / BRINGING MEDIA EXPERTISE TO CHARITY
Giving a story a wider reach.
As an Event Assistant at my family-owned media agency, I learned to coordinate schedules, draft promotional materials, and produce AI-assisted videos for artists and NGOs. I brought that experience to Xinjiang: organizing the work and shaping stories for donors and future volunteers.
01
Plan with care
Schedules, logistics, and the communication that lets a team focus.
02
Shape the story
Interviews, documentary material, and clear promotional writing.
03
Share it thoughtfully
Stories that connect the outreach with donors and future volunteers.
The room beyond the frame / Xinjiang
Media can help care reach further.
a bridge between people.
WHAT I TOOK HOME
I learned to make care more understandable.
The experience showed me how empathy, communication, and a practical idea can work together — and how my media skills can support a shared purpose.
listen closely. make it clearer.
One story, among many.
Back to my stories ↗