Alumnus hikes across Southeast Asia for smiles

While training with his U.S. Marines Corps Reserves battalion in Senegal during the summer of 2007, he saw poverty like he had never seen before. 

He witnessed families dressed in rags digging through trash in search for salvageable items, and women transporting gallons of water on foot from faraway water sources because of the lack of running water in their village. At that point, he knew he wanted to spend a year exploring the world.

Now, Sgt. Winston Fiore, an IU alumnus, will hike across eight countries in Southeast Asia for one year.

Beginning in Singapore on Sept. 24, Fiore will walk 5,000 miles across Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand and Laos during what he’s calling the Smile Trek.

“The inspiration came to me in Africa,” Fiore said. “It was my first time in that part of the world. I witnessed these customs, and I realized how little I saw and how much I needed to do.  Coming from Bloomington, it was an eye-opener to see how much poverty existed. After I witnessed the poverty, it made me realize that I wanted to spend a year walking and tie it in with a good cause.”

Fiore decided to work with the International Children’s Surgical Foundation to raise money and awareness for children living with cleft pallette. During the course of the hike, Fiore said he hopes to raise $25,000 to fund facial reconstructive surgeries. 

“ICSF is really remarkable,” he said. “Cleft has really hit hard in a lot of the developing countries. Southeast Asia is one of the regions in the world with a high birthrate of cleft.”

Each cleft surgery costs about $240 and takes doctors only about two hours to complete. However, this minimal cost remains out of reach for most families in the developing world, Fiore said.

“Cleft is one of those causes that such a small amount of money makes a huge difference,” he said. “It is such an easy fix.”

This summer, Fiore motorcycled from Los Angeles to Miami and back to Bloomington to speak at Rotary clubs in an effort to raise money and awareness for his trip. Fiore left July 6 and completed his cross-country ride Sept. 13.

During his summer motorcycle ride, Fiore flew to Lima, Peru, to witness surgeries being completed by the foundation.

“It was so inspiring to (see) the surgeries firsthand,” he said. “ICSF tackles more complicated facial deformities. Most organizations turn away kids with more complicated facial deformities. ICSF doesn’t do that. It is so amazing and inspiring to see the kids being worked on who have had such deformities.”

After the surgeries, many children may still have slight scars and deformities, but their faces are completely functional, Fiore said.

“I appreciate the fact that this charity works on these kids, even if it is not as cool-looking when completed,” he said. “These kids still need help. I want to make sure every kid who can be treated is.”

Ninety percent of each surgery is being funded by Rotary donations, and individual donations are sponsoring the other 10 percent of costs. If Fiore reaches his goal of $25,000, 100 children will be able to have cleft surgeries.

Fiore said he plans to hike on average 20 miles a day  and will hopefully be able to travel 25 miles some days.

“Good discipline is something I picked up in the Marines,” said Fiore, who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 with the Third Battalion, 25th Marines. “I get up early and have the steadfastness to keep going over a large period of time.”

After serving two years with the Marines in 2004, Fiore enrolled at IU as a transfer student in 2007. He graduated from IU in 2009 as a theater major.

“IU had the most student volunteers for Katrina relief during Christmas break,” he said. “I knew this was a school I wanted to be a part of. IU sent student volunteers before anyone else.”

A similar spirit as the IU student volunteers has been the motivation to hike for a cause, Fiore said.

“Not a lot of people are willing to do this overseas,” he said. “I thought why not raise money for Asian kids? There is certainly a need in the U.S., but for other causes. That spirit has led me to this cause.”