About a week ago an NGO called "Sonrisas
Peruanas" (Peruvian Smiles) came to Huallanca. Sonrisas Peruanas is a Non
Profit Organization that travels to remote areas of Peru to help Peruvian
children living in poverty with dental hygiene and prevention. Since their goal
is to teach children about dental hygiene and prevent cavities and decay, they
teach kids how to care for their teeth, give out tooth brushes and tooth paste,
and do fluoride treatments to protect kid’s teeth. This is not just any NGO, it
is an NGO that is very special to me because it was started by my boyfriend
(he is a Peruvian dentist) over a year ago and it is fact because of his NGO that we met 9 months ago. This was the first time
Sonrisas Peruanas came to Huallanca and it was also the first time that my
boyfriend's first visit as well. Since I knew everybody in my small town would
be watching and gossiping about the gringa's boyfriend, I wanted to wait a
while until he came for a visit.
Three dentists from Lima and one local dentist from Huallanca came with the NGO and we did two different dental campaigns on two
different days and were able to help about 150 kids in Huallanca. The first day
we went to one of the schools where I work (in "the forgotten
neighborhood") and the second day we help an open campaign in a different
neighborhood. It was a big success for the kids and a lot of fun! We were able to put a lot of sustainability into it by bringng the local dentist to the campaings and having her meet the moms and have them sign up for dentist appointments. Seeing the dentist in Peru is free if you have insurance the Peruvian government (which is also free)! Even though seeing the dentist is basically free, people don't ever go because they are not in the habbit of it and don't see the importance. The only reason people really go is to get teeth pulled because they have neglected caring for their teeth. Most Peruvians don't even own a teeth brust and will have to get many rotted teeth pulled in their life time. This is something that Sonrisas Peruanas is trying to change!
Here are some photos of the first campaign we
did in the school:
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| With Pammela, one of the dentist. |
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| The first campaign at the school. |
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| Excited to have their goody bags with tooth brushes and tooth paste! |
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| Jer talking with the moms about taking their kids to the dentist. |
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| Playing games with the kids after the campaign. |
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| :) |
Here are some photos of the open campaign we did the second day:
And some photos of us just hanging out in my cute little town:
To learn more about Sonrias Peruanas visit their awesome website!!: sonrisasperuanas.com
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