In just over a weeks time in November, I will be giving up 2 weeks of my time and my income to travel with a small team of volunteers to Kenya in order to provide dental treatment for poor and rural communities by offering treatment for acute pain relief and oral disease.

We will be working in a very basic hospital in Nairobi and setting up clinics in the Masai Mara areas, utilising schools, community halls, basic health centres and outdoor clinics.

My 13 year old son, Ben, who is currently in Year 9 at Kingsley school will also be travelling with me and will be assisting the doctors with health checks, acting as my dental nurse during extractions and dental treatment, cleaning instruments and helping to set up the rural clinics and transport and unpack essential medical and dental equipment. He is looking forward to this wonderful opportunity and is very committed as he has had to endure 11 different vaccinations in preparation (often with nasty side effects).

This will be a huge challenge for both of us and we are prepared to work very hard during our two weeks, often working 12 hour days.

We will take all the dental and medical equipment that we need, including necessary medications and will treat over 200 people per day (as a team) for pain relief and treatment of oral disease mainly by extractions. Many of the clinic locations will not have electricity, no running water and no toilet facilities. Yet again, these are things that we take for granted in the UK.

Patients will walk for miles to each temporary clinic and we will not leave on the day until all the patients are treated so often incurring very long working hours.

As a dentist who has been working for 20 years in the NHS and private sector, I would love to utilise my skills and experience by offering dentistry to these communities and people who have the greatest need. These people (including children as young as 18 months old) cannot access dental care or acute services in Kenya due to cost or geography and often are in pain for many years.

I am fundraising to help to pay towards our travel, transport of medical equipment (plus medicines) setting up the clinics and also to provide oral health aids such as toothbrushes.

Thank you so much in advance!

Thank you for your kind help!