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Arrived in Mirpur

Day 2 of our Kashmir dental aid mission and we have arrived in Mirpur. The main government hospital of Mirpur will be our base from where we hope to treat close to 200 orphan children. Today marked the 10 year anniversary of the tragic earthquake in Kashmir that resulted in all these children being orphaned.

The children had organised a commemoration ceremony attended by 500 guests. Since the earthquake, Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust (KORT), have taken over the care of the children and transformed the once bereft children into confident, talented and exuberent bright young things.

They recited versed from the Quran, read poetry, sand and gave a dramatic performance that brought tears to our eyes. Local ministers and celebreties praised their talents, their spirit and gave thanks to KORT for their hard work. The DAN team was invited onto the stage to speak and our message was simple -> we are honoured to be invited to Kashmir to help such amazing children. May their futures be as bright as the smiles on their beautiful faces.

Tomorrow we will visit the KORT centre to give the children and teachers educational seminars on oral heal prior to commencing the treatment days.KORT anniversary

Kashmir 2015 – The Journey Begins

It is a pleasure to be working with the Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust (KORT) for our dental aid trip this year. KORT is dedicated to helping the orphans of Kashmir, whose lives were torn apart following the devastating earthquake on the 8th of October 2005. We are planning to provide dental treatment and oral health education for the children of KORT.

The DAN volunteers for this years dental aid trip met in Manchester airport so that they can fly out together. A few of the volunteers already knew each other but it was a great opportunity for everyone to have a chat and get ready for the week ahead and we got to carry out the first test of our selfie stick.

DAN Kashmir team in manchester airport

Kashmir team in manchester airport

It was an evening flight to Islamabad on the 6th of October which arrived early on the 7th of October. On arrival the first stop was to visit a local dental supplies company who almost gave us the materials away when he heard about the mission. Following this we managed to get some sight seeing around Islamabad and some down time.

Dental Chairs for Gaza

The Dental Aid Network team handed over a cheque for £20,000 to Interpal today for the funding of 2 fully equipped dental chairs in Gaza, Palestine. Thank you to all of our donors and supporters over the last year who have been incredibly generous. The team flies out to Kashmir tomorrow to continue our dental aid work. Keep us in your prayers!

Interpal cheque

Kashmir dental relief October 2015

The DAN team have been busy planning our next trip over the past few months. We are pleased to announce that we will be leading a group of dentists to Kashmir and will be working in collaboration with KORT (Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust) during October 2015. If you are a dentist or know of any that may be interested then please pass on this attached flyer.

Thank you

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Back home

We are all back home now and are getting ready to start back at work in a few days but it is fair to say that our hearts are still with everyone that we met during our trip in Palestine. The hospitality we received from everyone was amazing and it was a truly amazing experience to have the opportunity to help the children we treated. The trip has been a life changing one for everyone involved.

The donations received from our friends, family and colleagues was overwhelming and greatly surpassed our needs and expectations which has left us with a substantial surplus of funds. We have several ideas how we can utilise these funds ranging from setting up a free dental clinic in the region to purchasing dental chairs for people in Gaza. We are all going to get some rest and will reflect upon the past couple of weeks before the DAN team meet up to decide the best way forward and we will ensure to keep everyone up to date.

We would like to extend a big THANK YOU to everyone that has helped us during our first successful trip.

What a week

Khuram tired

It is amazing how fast time has flown by during this amazing week and the picture above sums up how we all feel – absolutely shattered but we are all delighted with the week we have had and we are sad that it is over.

During the week the DAN team of 10 dentists worked on over 200 children aged from 5 to 16. We treated children with disabilities, medical problems, learning difficulties and orphaned children from local schools and orphanages. Naturally many of these young patients were nervous having dental treatment carried out as most of them had never received any dental treatment before. The team coped very well and was supported by local dentists who had donated their clinics and support staff for the week to DAN. We carried out a wide variety of essential dental treatment including fillings, scalings, extractions and most importantly delivered preventative advice which was complimented by the oral health packs.

At the Qalqilyah clinic we had great fun with the children and even managed to find time during our short lunch breaks to play football with them. In addition to dental treatment in the clinics we also managed to secure an operating list under general anaesthetic for those children requiring multiple extractions. This was kindly organised by a maxillofacial surgeon at the Rafidiah Hospital.

First day of Clinics..!

This was the first day that the DAN volunteers were working in the 3 clinics in Nablus, Salfit and Qalqilyah. It was a very busy day with seeing 120 children between us. It was mainly check ups today so that we could create treatment plans and book the lovely patients back in for treatment during the week. We did manage to squeeze in a couple of treatment too.

It was a long a tiring day for everyone involved but we are already looking forward to day two!

First day in Jerusalem

Aqsa at night

The team started the morning visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque at the time of early morning prayers for Muslims. Inside the Al-Aqsa complex there is also the beautiful Dome of the rock both of which are extremely important locations for Muslim people. Close by can also be found the Western Wall which is one of the holiest sites for people of the Jewish faith and also the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where it is believed by some that Jesus Christ was crucified and also where He is said to have been buried and resurrected. After breakfast the team spent the rest of the day on a guided tour around Jerusalem soaking in the amazing sites.

 

 

Unfortunately Ferhan and Attiq spent the whole day trying to cross over from Jordan into Jerusalem and were kept waiting for 8 hours. They were finally allowed across after all of the dental materials and equipment was  seized by the Israeli authorities. Jerusalem is an amazing place with a rich history and despite the ongoing conflicts in the region it is very tranquil for visitors.

 

Midnight meeting

At midnight the team all sat together for a crisis meeting to figure out our next steps Two local dentists read about our trip on the DAN Facebook page and joined us for the meeting. One of the local dentists donated 9 brand new high speed handpieces – how amazing is that!

All we need now is some slow speed handpieces and we are rocking!! The day has gone from feeling robbed and angry to being blessed and utterly elated.

Lost luggage found in Amman & team arrived in Jerusalem

It was a very long wait at the Allenby bridge border crossing into Jerusalem – 8 hours in total!! But the DAN team has thankfully arrived at our hotel and getting ready for some rest. Unfortunately one of the volunteers was not allowed to cross and so has had to return to Amman. It is a very sad state of affairs in this region and we hope that peace will eventually prevail.

On a brighter note Ferhan has managed to locate our delayed luggage at Amman airport and will hopefully join us tomorrow.

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