DATE: Sunday, November 16, 1997             TAG: 9711140130

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   37 lines

LAND OF SMILESWHEN A NORFOLK-BASED TEAM TRAVELED TO THAILAND TO PERFORM FREE FACIAL SURGERY, THEY GAVE NEW MEANING TO THE NATION'S SLOGAN.

OPERATION SMILE, the Norfolk-based group that provides free plastic surgery for children whose families cannot afford such care, recently made its first trip to Thailand.

The October mission was funded with proceeds from the inaugural $1 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, which the organization won in the spring.

The medical volunteers treated more than 150 children with cleft lips, burns and other serious facial deformities.

Since 1982, Operation Smile has performed more than 40,000 such operations in the United States and abroad.

As it does in all the countries it visits, Operation Smile trained Thai doctors, who pledged to continue the effort by treating two children a month.

The trip added another meaning to Thailand's tourism slogan, ``The Land of Smiles.''

On the final day, Thailand's former prime minister, Anand Panyarachun, hailed the volunteers.

``In the land of smiles there are still people who cannot smile,'' he said. ``Operation Smile can . . . change the lives of children who are social outcasts.'' ILLUSTRATION: STAFF COLOR PHOTOS BY TAMARA VONINSKI

Dr. George Politis of North Carolina...

Of 363 children and young adults, only 155 were accepted...

American and Thai doctors work side by side...

A woman holds a baby while waiting...Thailand...

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