I'm off to Rwanda again, October 16th I will be setting off from Vancouver to Amsterdam, then on to Nairobi and ending in Kigali, Rwanda. It will be a quick trip (7 days in Kigali) but jam packed with a lot of work to do in a short time.
I, along with a gentleman from Canada I have only met via e-mail, Dan, and Rwandan Techs, will be installing dental equipment that has been donated from NAIT ( Northern Alberta institute of Technology) Hygiene program. More important than the actual equipment installation, is training local Technicians to install and maintain this equipment, there will not be enough time to install all the equipment that has been sent, so the responsibility will fall to the local Techs.
The driving force behind this project is Dr. Drew Cahoon from Alberta, I have worked with Drew on the Mulago Dental school modernization in Kampala, Uganda and in Kigali, Rwanda last year, at the Kigali Heath Institute, where we installed dental carts and gave a training class on basic maintenance. Drew has worked tirelessly for quite a few years, to improve the quality of dental care in East Africa. Outside the main cities, dental care consisted of extractions performed by individuals that may or may not have had any training. Drew has been part of a program to train and qualify PHDs (Public Health Dentists) to perform basic procedures over and above extractions, and to refer more complex cases to full fledged Dentists.
http://rrdental.org/ This is a link to the organization Drew is associated with.
I first met Drew after I had been part of a team from Victoria, who had built and equipped a Dental clinic at Mengo Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. Drew saw what we had done at Mengo and asked me to help out with the Mulago Dental school, where we replaced 20 OPs of old and inoperable equipment, with new equipment purchased in Canada. On a later trip to Kampala, to check on Mengo and Mulago, Drew asked me to help out with the project in Kigali.
I generally don't get involved when used equipment is send, usually when used equipment is donated, it is when a Dentist is replacing old and broken down equipment that he/she can't work with. I believe developing countries do not deserve to be the recipient of the west's cast offs. If they are to get passed the dependent relationship with the west, they must be able to become self sufficient not relying on handouts, with up to date equipment and skills, that is an attainable goal. Although I did not have the opportunity to look at this equipment before it was loaded in the container, it is from a training institute and is generally well maintained.
I would appreciate your prayer support for this project, there is a lot to do in a very short time.
Blessings Jeremy
