Tuesday's Report - Part 2

After visiting the dump Tuesday morning, the medical team headed back to its clinic site at the school. I had been measuring height and weight the previous two days, but on Tuesday I got to be a dentist! OK, I didn't actually get to be a dentist. I did, however, get to help our dentist, Judy.

Visiting the dump first thing Tuesday morning put us a bit late in arriving at the work site. There were already a lot of people waiting for us. The scene was definitely the most chaotic we had encountered thus far at our clinics in Vietnam. We needed to move people through quickly, which is why I had the opportunity to help the dentist out. After a quick lesson on what I was looking for in the "patients'" mouths, we were off and running.

I learned a lot from our dentist that afternoon (and more so since) -- not so much about dentistry (I'll stick to the law), but about how what you see in the mouths of these children and adults reflects the difficulty of their lives -- both in the conditions which led to their dental problems and the fact that these problems, which could be remedied so easily with the proper care, will cause them ongoing pain and, in the case of infection, illness. I looked into the mouths of young children whose teeth were all rotten, broken, stained, and missing. I looked into the mouths of the elderly, who often had only one or two remaining teeth.

It was sad to think that the people of this area, particularly the children, have this additional struggle to deal with. They already lack enough food and any clean drinking water. In addition to fighting the battles that accompany hunger and polluted water, however, their bodies have to fight the infections in their mouths. Even if children have all the food in the world, they can't grow if they won't eat because of the pain and they can't thrive if their bodies are busy fighting off an ever-present infection. There are so many things that we take for granted that would make all the difference in their lives.

Another of my "duties", however, was to "paint" the children's teeth with flouride. It must have tasted awful, because they all walked away grimacing or spitting, but it was wonderful to feel like maybe that care will result in even a small improvement in their health down the road. I'm very grateful to have had the chance to participate in this aspect of the medical team's work.

Once we were done for the day and packed up the clinic, we headed back to the hotel for a quick shower and hit the road. We drove to Dong Thap Tuesday evening, arriving around 8:30 p.m. It was a bumpy bus ride, complete with two ferries, but it was great to see more of the delta region.

While in Kien Giang for three days, the Catalyst team gave out 75 bikes to children (not just for "fun", but to get to school, to the market, etc.) and distributed food to 75 families. We saw 550 people through the medical clinic and the construction team built two houses. It was amazing.

I'll miss Kien Giang. We spent Wednesday and Thursday in Dong Thap (more on that later), but there was something very special about the children of Kien Giang.