FOR A GOOD CAUSE:

Four-year-old Jesus didn’t speak much English, and 17-year-old Maya Ben-Ezer didn’t speak much Spanish, but they didn’t really need to.

The little boy awoke after having his ears operated on in a hospital in Barinas, Venezuela, and recognized Maya immediately as the Huntington Beach student who saw him through the many stages of his surgery.

Maya is one of two student volunteers on a mission with Operation Smile, an international organization helping children in need of corrective surgeries for cleft lip, cleft palette and other facial abnormalities.

The other student is Newport Beach resident Andrea Friedman, 17, Maya’s friend and fellow student at Tarbut V’Torah High School in Irvine.

In spite of feeling squeamish about observing the procedure, Maya went in to the operating room anyway. She wanted to be there for her friend from start to finish. Maya said being able to follow patients from surgery to recovery was an incredible experience for the two girls.

“We got to feel every part and experience every part of the mission,” she said.

“I was scared to be in the room, let alone be right there at the table,” said Andrea. “But I had to do it because that would never happen here.”

Maya and Andrea helped raised $17,000 for Operation Smile in just six months by hosting parlor meetings in their homes.

They attended a student leadership conference and training workshop in Ireland in July, then left for Caracas, Venezuela Nov. 6. There they met up with a team of Venezuelan doctors and traveled to the hospital in Barinas.

Approximately 200 kids arrived each day, where a screening process for choosing the patients took place. Part of Maya and Andrea’s job was to help with the screening applications, play with the children while they waited for surgery and be there for the families to help ease their anxiety on the day of their child’s surgery. The doctors see about 30 patients a day, depending on the type and length of the surgery.

The screening process prioritizes surgeries based on need.

Andrea said this was a life-changing experience for her.

“There are great causes and problems all around the world, but this was actually reachable,” said Andrea. “Especially since the majority of the patients were children. We could relate.”

SUE THOENSEN may be reached at (714) 966-4627 or at sue.thoensen@latimes.com.