Vodacom Foundation

When 8-year old Bavilynne* takes the field with the Springbok rugby team at the beginning of the SA vs Italy match on Saturday 26 June, she will no doubt have one eye firmly fixed on her hero, Schalk Burger.

For Bavilynne clearly remembers big-hearted Schalk when he visited her at the Johannesburg Hospital in May 2008 as part of Vodacom's Tries for Smiles campaign.

She was one of 39 disadvantaged children who received corrective facial surgery courtesy of the Smile Foundation and Vodacom Foundation during the 2^nd Vodacom Smile Week.

Photos of the huge Springbok lock cuddling the diminutive Bavilynne in his arms did much to make the public aware of the project and of the needs of those children with facial anomalies. Her framed photograph of the two of them is a prized memento of her meeting with the player she describes as "my ‘Bok".

The little girl, an avid rugby fan, was born with one normal and one misformed ear. The operation was conducted in four phases from May 2008 to February this year.  

Today, Bavilynne is a happy, well-adjusted youngster who loves to play netball and hockey and whose outgoing personality helps her make friends easily. She is grateful that the teasing from other children that plagued her earlier years is something of the past, now that her ear has been reconstructed.

Since 2007, some 170 children have received corrective surgery to repair various facial anomalies from Vodacom Foundation funds through one of its partner organisations.

The project is linked to Vodacom's Tries for Smiles campaign, through which R25 000 is donated by Vodacom for every try scored by a South African team in South Africa during the Vodacom Super 14. The campaign is also extended to tries scored by the Springboks in South Africa during the Vodacom TriNations and incoming Springbok tours.

Since Tries for Smiles began in 2008, almost R9 million has been contributed to the projects supported by this campaign.

*Surname withheld to protect the child.