Shortly after returning from her second medical mission with Operation Smile, Nicola Jo Bruns sat down with Arleen Stone to talk about her life as a journalist and radio producer and what it means to be an activist.
“I think everyone is an activist,” explains Nicola Jo Bruns (24), producer at CapeTalk, an activist for equality and volunteer for Operation Smile South Africa (OSSA).
Nicola Jo Bruns (24) lectures Broadcast Journalism part-time at Stellenbosch University’s Journalism Department while also working as a producer at CapeTalk. PHOTO: Arleen Stone
Bruns has proven herself an avid activist and journalist since she took to Twitter to report on the 2015 #FeesMustFall movement while studying journalism at Stellenbosch University (SU).
Standing in front of the 2018 SU journalism class, where she now lectures part-time, Bruns talks non-stop about her recent trip to Madagascar.
Instead of telling them about the beautiful island, she spoke about the hundreds of facial reconstruction surgeries she was a part of.
In 2017, Bruns became involved with OSSA, a non-profit volunteer medical services organisation that provides free reconstructive surgery to children and adults born with cleft lips, cleft palates or other correctable facial deformities.
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Bruns was introduced to the Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) by her boyfriend, Bryan Bergsteedt (25), who got involved several years before. Bruns and Bergsteedt met while both studying at SU.
Since Bruns joined the organisation, she has completed two trips to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar, witnessing 300 surgeries as a volunteer Patient Imaging Technician. This role required her to interact with patients and document every surgery for research purposes.
“It has changed the way I wake up and look at the world every morning. I am immensely privileged and I will never take that for granted ever again.”
According to Bergsteedt and Bruns’ parents, they could not be prouder.
“The determination and excitement she has when coming back from these missions and eagerness to share her experiences, are the best parts,” explains Bergsteedt.
Bruns during one of the many surgeries she documents as part of her work for Operation Smile. PHOTO: Provided
Bruns’ mother, Joanne Bruns (57), says Operation Smile combines her daughter’s love of children, eagerness to help and her love of travel.
“I think Nicola is happiest when she is making other people happy,” says Joanne Bruns.
After returning from her mission in Kinshasa, Bruns wrote on Facebook about the first time she left the comfort of the producer seat at CapeTalk’s breakfast show for overflowing operating theatres.
She recalls several accounts of her interactions with patients:
The first operation she sat in on was for a seven-month-old baby boy.
“The little baby had no idea of the bearing the 45-minute surgery would have on his life, his parents, his health and his future. He will grow up with the ability to smile, eat and interact normally,” Bruns writes.
Bruns with one of the many infants who received facial reconstructive surgeries from Operation Smile. PHOTO: Provided
On the third day of surgery, Bruns met a 19-year-old who braved the operation without any family members to support him.
“When he looked into the mirror for the first time with his new smile, his eyes glistened. Later the same boy found a translator in order to tell me that he is never going to stop smiling now that he could do it without looking scary.”
Bruns gave a 32-year-old women lipstick after she had woken up from surgery. It would be the first time she could apply lipstick to her full and complete lips.
“It is the tiny things we take for granted in life,” Bruns writes.
“Operation Smile has taught me that the small contributions that you make in life, for which you should need no recognition, reap the most rewards.”
Bergsteedt also talks about Bruns’ selfless contributions.
“Nicola went from being afraid to go into surgery, to asking a local gynaecologist in Congo if she was able to watch a caesarean section operation on the birth of twins,” Bergsteedt explains.
After finding out that mothers never get to see the birthing experience in the DRC because it is too expensive to hire photographers, Bruns photographed the entire procedure and had photos printed for the mother at a local internet café.
“Nicola really goes all out for people in need, and those who have not had the privileges she was born with.”
Sean Robson (39), communication coordinator at OSSA, says with Bruns you know that you will get commitment and hard work.
“She has more than just passion, she has determination. She is always willing to help. It’s great to be able to place South African volunteers of that calibre on international missions.
Bruns during class interactions with the 2018 honours class at the SU Journalism Department. PHOTO: Arleen Stone
“For us the likes of Nicola Jo Bruns is the type of young people affecting change in this country and outside of it that we would like to see get more involved,” says Robson.
However, having a full-time job means Bruns often has to decline travel opportunities. But as she explains, it is not all about the work done abroad as there is a need to advocate for donations and contributions within South Africa.
It is through her work as a journalist and producer at CapeTalk that she furthers her role as activist, just as she did as a student.
Bruns’ parents say they have always supported their daughter’s right to make her own choices.
Bruns says she enjoys interacting with all the patients she documents. PHOTO: Provided
“She is easy to support as we tend to learn more from her than she does from us,” Joanne Bruns laughs.
Nicola Bruns is currently completing her master’s degree in journalism but says OSSA has opened her eyes to new possibilities.
Bruns says she will continue to fight for equal rights and opportunities wherever she can. PHOTO: Arleen Stone
“[Operation Smile] has made me redress my goals in life and possibly look at a future working solely in the NPO sector,” says Bruns.
“I want to continue being a part of a team that makes sure that no child in any community should have to live with the pain and isolation caused by a correctable facial deformity.”