Palestine December 2022
On the 21st of December 2022 a group of 11 dentists from around the UK set off to provide essential dental care for orphan and impoverished children across the West Bank Of Palestine.
For the majority this was their first dental aid mission add to that the hostile setting and its safe to say there were a few nervous volunteers. Dental Aid Networks mission co-ordinators always ensure they provide a safe environment for their teams and part of that is providing all the information needed to keep everyone safe. This comes in the form of an orientation pack emailed out to all the volunteers. The orientation packs gives an overview of the mission, answers a lot of questions and provides useful contact numbers. Coupled with the mission ,Whatsapp’ group it is an invaluable tool to put everyone’s mind at ease.
After a couple of days of acclimatisation, teams of volunteers were simultaneously dispatched to 4 major cities across the West bank.
Our aims were:
1. Education
2. Urgent/emergency care
3. Restorative work.
Our team was divided into 4 and each team worked for 5 days in the cities of Nabulus, Jenin, Salfeet and Qalqilya in local clinics. Under the mentorship of our Paediatric specialist we were able to treat over 400 children. We also distributed gifts to all the kids. A hugely successful mission with all our volunteers feeling grateful but exhausted.
We hope to return to Palestine in late 2023.
