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Dental Tribune Untited Kingdom Edition

C ycling for Dentaid again After their Dentaid Devon Coast to Coast family cycle ride in 2009, James and Freya Harris (aged 11 and 9) decided to attempt a spon- sored cycle challenge in 2011 for their two favourite chari- ties, Dentaid and the Fisher- man’s Mission. After hearing about a friend’s Dad cycling the 874 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End, they decided to see if they could to- tal the same distance in a year from their home and around the country. Their parents generously agreed to spon- sor them for 20p per charity per mile and so, in January 2011, they set off, logging all their cycle rides and by June had already reached the target 875 miles, and now have completed 1,540 miles! Their cycling has taken them as far North as the banks of Loch Lomond, and South to Falmouth, visiting Holy Island in Northumbria in the East and Blackpool in the West. Perhaps the endurance cycling in Devon and the beautiful Exe estuary has given them plenty of stamina to complete such a challenge. In October James and Freya presented a cheque to Andy Jong for £308 for Dentaid and spent a day volunteering at the Dentaid headquarters, seeing first-hand what happens to your generous donations - al- lowing aid to be sent abroad. They had a busy day, packing instruments to be sent to Bangladesh, mail- ing Dentaid brochures and DVD’s, helping to move files to utilise storage and re- vamping aid pictures with more recent project photos. They only stopped for a short lunch break, but both came away asking if they could come and help again. A short video was made asking the children a few questions about their challenge and volunteer- ing at Dentaid and this can be seen on Dentaid’s Facebook page. So watch out Jacqueline and Rob in the office, the ‘A’ team will be back! Essex schoolboy organises charity evening for Dentaid Fenil Gandhi is at school in Essex and has applied to study dentistry at university. His mother, Parul, a dental nurse, told him about Dentaid and he decided to organise a fundrais- ing dinner for the charity. Pa- rul contacted the Dentaid staff for an aim for the evening’s fundraising and they decided to support a new Ugandan pro- ject in the Ssese Archipelago to provide 12 portable dental chairs and instrument kits for outreach clinics in the rural villages. 120 students, friends and local business people attended the event at Southend High School. It was hosted by Parul and the delicious three-course Indian meal, (supplied at half price by a caterer/friend of hers) was served by students wearing Dentaid T- shirts. A variety of talents were dis- played – musical theatre, Bol- lywood dancing, street danc- ing, and singing – all by the school students. A raffle was held and the donated floral ar- rangements were sold to raise more money. A total of £1001 was raised! Thank you, Fenil and Parul! One of Dentaid’s volun- teer speakers, dentist Rowena da Rocha, gave a PowerPoint presentation about the SHED (Ssese Health Effort for Devel- opment) project and another aspiring dentist, gap year stu- dent Priyanka Patel, gave a first-hand account of her re- cent India Trek trip with Den- taid in September. Youngest member of the India Trek team Priyanka was the young- est member of the team that went to India in October to trek through the West Bengal Mountains and to spend some days assisting at a Dentaid project in Kolkata. She writes: “I went on the trip to try a new experience and to get a different perspec- tive on life, and this volunteer work did just that. From see- ing how hard the tea pickers of Darjeeling tea worked for as little as 100 rupees a month and with the sights of people sleeping on both sides of the road, it really hit home as to how much we as a country take for granted things like the NHS. “As soon as we set up the dental clinic we had children and parents waiting eagerly outside the door to be treated. Not having any dental qualifi- cations, I was apprehensive as to how much I could do; but it was great to see that I was able to somehow converse to a variety of people that spoke a completely different language, and to others that didn’t speak or hear at all. “Seeing the appreciation from the people that I was in- forming about how to brush, what foods to avoid etc, was so fulfilling and gave me such warmth to know that I was a part of helping peo- ple to have a better quality of life by improving their oral healthcare.” DT Youth with a purpose! Four young people raise funds for Dentaid in different ways About the charity Dentaid has just heard that the first consignment of four portable chairs and kits has arrived safely at SHED in Uganda. Do look at our website…. You will find full details of current and completed projects; how to donate equipment; volunteering opportuni- ties at home and abroad and much more on www.dentaid.org Freya and James on their way Helping to sort instruments in the Dentaid workshop Sending out the latest Dentaid newsletter. Dentaid office Parul and Fenil Gandhi Dancing Rakshita Rawal Priyanka Patel 13FeatureMarch 5-11, 2012United Kingdom Edition 13