Spreading Smiles Past Events
Spreading Smiles has participated in the following events:
Costa Rica 2008 Trip:
[Dec 14, 2008 - Dec 21, 2008]
Please come to our Costa Rica Trip presentation held at UC Davis.
UC Davis Activities Fair:
[Oct 17, 2007]
10am-2pm, West Quad
Support Spreading Smiles by stopping by our table!
Bolivia March 2007 Trip:
[Mar 23-29, 2007]
In March 2007 Spreading Smiles went to Bolivia that was financed by the charitable contributions of local residents and dentists.
During UC Davis' 1 week spring break I decided to visit Trinidad, Montero, Guayaramerin, and Santa Cruz in order to do humanitarian dental work for the people. I had learned so much during my mission about the living conditions and the poor diet and dental hygiene of the people there. Most people could never afford to see a dentist during the length of their lives and they knew very little about caring for their physical bodies. An article was written about my trip in the local newspaper where I grew up so I decided to use this publicity to get dentists to finance my trip and they did, %100. I knew that more work would be accomplished if I brought more workers so I shared my ideas at school and got 6 other students to go with me, all pre-dental students at UC Davis and they were all very impressed with Bolivia and the humble, grateful people. We bought our tickets together and came down during the last week of March. I worked with the Bolivian Consulate in L.A. in order to get 1 piece of documentation with their seal and signature verifying the donations that we were bringing for the people. This paper was essential so that our belongings weren't seized for import tax evasion.
While the "other 6 gringos" gave dental exams (translation provided by the misioneros de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias) I instructed the large group on various medical and dental issues. Those who came to our seminars received the following: 4 hours of instruction about many health issues (niwa, puchichi, agua con limon, diet changes, how to treat a wound, pork parasites, food preparation, avoiding feces, whether or not to throw their sewage into the street to keep the dust down, malaria, dehydration, soda, and any question that they asked). The health discussions were held while they awaited their turn with the "gringos". When it was their turn they chose a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss and were ushered to the kitchen where they were tutored, one-on-one on how to brush and floss. After they were sparkling clean, they came back to the cultural hall where they received a full dental examination and personalized feedback and advice (as learned through extensive training from RDA's, DMD's and DDS's). They were then returned to the sink where they sterilized the process with mouthwash gargles. Then each participant, whether adult or child, chose a toy for their bravery or an article of clothing which we had collected for donation. Everyone left knowing how to take care of their teeth, even when their toothbrush loses it's bristles years from now. We helped over 1000 grateful Bolivianos, many of them had never seen a dentist before. The work in Guayaramerin went ideally thanks to the efforts of the LDS church who made fliers and gave them to out to the public in preparation for our arrival and they assisted us through the use of their church-buildings.
After a wonderful meal at the pension of the missionaries (we insisted on paying her double what she gets from the missionaries, and they asked her in advance) we stayed the night in the wonderful San Carlos Hotel and flew to Trinidad the next morning. Montero and Santa Cruz were equally welcoming and hospitable.
Upon return, we received much publicity- including public presentations, a website gifted to us, newspaper articles, and more than 50 students interviewing to go with us on the nest trip. We created an application process and careful screening to ensure that on the best workers and attitudes will be accompanying us. Red cross offered over 2000 hygiene kits for our next trip. I have financial donations coming in already for this next trip and things are rolling along very well in preparation for the next trip. We cut our list of travelers down to 26 motivated students. We have 5 other translators this year. We are bringing UCD students in the dental, medical, and nutrition fields. We will be holding many more fund raisers during school and the local newspaper is set to do another interview the moment we get back, meanwhile we are collecting even more donations. Before we come this year we will purchase our flights in November and receive training from Dr. ...(yet to be announced), MD/PHD, Dr. Paul Salitsky, PHD (sports psych- togetherness, mental toughness, teamwork) and Cheryl Taylor, RDH (humanitarian dental worker to 3rd world countries). We anticipate arriving Dec 16 or 17 and returning Dec 21 or 22, 2007. Recently Spreading Smiles collaborated with the LDS church here in Davis to compile humanitarian hygiene kits for those who were going to need it in Tegucigalpa Honduras during Hurricane Felix. We are all very excited and hoping to continue to help and receive support from The Consulado General de Bolivia. Most of our pictures can be accessed through www.spreadingsmiles.org under the "Photos from Bolivia" link. There are photos from the Honduras Hygiene Kit project, local seminars to schools, and then the rest are pictures are from our trip to Bolivia in March, and- you can view 90 at a time instead of 6 if you find that option above the photos. We are always praying for the Bolivia and for our friends there.
Red Cross Hygiene Kits:
The Red Cross has donated the following hygiene kits to our humanitarian trip:
They have been compiling them since Hurricane Katrina, and have donated 2,320 to the Spreading Smiles Bolivia Project.
These comfort kits include:
- one toothbrush
- one big tube of toothpaste
- 2 small body soaps
- a comb
- a disposable razor
- small shaving gel
- small bottle of lotion
- small roll on deodorant
- bottle of 2-n-1 shampoo
- a washcloth
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