Dona Maria, 67, lived her whole life in Mossoró, Brazil, with a cleft lip that was never treated. 🥺 While other girls dreamed of dresses or trips, she asked for only one thing: to be able to paint her lips red someday.
In 2017, that day arrived. An Operation Smile medical mission brought free surgeries to her city, and Dona Maria was finally able to have the operation. When her lip healed, she took a red lipstick and put it on for the first time in 67 years.
Laine Paiva, a volunteer photographer for the organization, was so moved by her story that she organized a photo session just to capture that moment. The result is this image: a woman who, after seven decades of waiting, was finally able to see herself as she had always dreamed. 💋