Dental Link Tanzania

Dentists and Friends Charity Dinner for Musoma, Tanzania 2017

Venue

Royal National Hotel Russell Sq, London, WC1H 0DG
(nearest tube Russell Sq 2 min walk)

Date/Time

Friday May 19th 2017
6.30 – 7.15pm: Cash Bar
7.15 pm: Dinner, Raffle and Auction for fundraising

Dress

Smart casual

Tickets

£35 per person
Make cheques payable to Dental Link. Send to PO Box 72307, London, NW7 0HQ.
Or pay online: Dental Link, Sort Code 30 98 91, Account 01668226

Co-ordinators

Dr M K Vasant MBE, Dentist in London
Graham McClure, CEO of Go Make a Difference in Tanzania

Lake Victoria Disability Centre Musoma, Tanzania and Dental Link June 2017

Where is Musoma?

On the shores of Lake Victoria 100 km from Kenya border and 100km from Ndabaka Serengeti Gate.

You can get there from Nairobi by road. It is an eight hour taxi ride through a scenic area which includes rift valley. Alternatively, you can fly from Dar es Sallam directly (three flights a week) or fly to Mwanza (more choice) and then 2.5 hrs by road.

What is the project about?

There is 13 % disability rate in Mara Region of which Musoma is the HQ. Dental Link bought a land of 7.5 acres to re-site the Lake Victoria Disability Centre (LVDC) about 4 years ago. LVDC was set up by Dennis Mahina, a local Musomian about 15 years ago. He is currently the director of the centre. Primarily LVDC has provided vocational training for disabled adults to make them employable and also an opportunity for disabled children and orphans to attend school. Medical and Dental services are provided free of charge. In future, it is anticipated that a small fee will be charged for the locals who can afford to pay.

Since Dental Link's involvement LVDC boasts 12 buildings at the site already- similar quality to the Dental Link house below, although most are double the size. Thanks to the Dental Link and other partners from Germany, Netherlands and New Zealand. LVDC also runs a school for orphans and needy day students. Currently, there are 36 residents and 70 day-students. In addition, there are training workshops for Metal work (which includes making wheel chairs out of bicycle parts), Carpentry, Sign Writing, Sewing, Sign Language (for the deaf), Nursing training, Prosthetic limbs and much more. We are due to start dental training in June 2017 for the locals to carry out safe extractions and ART restorations. Unfortunately, as in many third world countries fizzy drinks are cheaper than water! Current practice of extractions by untrained witch doctors leads to septicemia and deaths- victims include many young children and even babies.

Where do I stay?

There is some fairly good accommodation (one hotel has a swimming pool) costing around £15 to £25. Food is very cheap there and of fairly good quality. The next Dental Link project includes building accommodation for volunteers on site. This will take about 12 months.