Kenya Medical Outreach

Greetings to all,


Kenya Medical Outreach has really had a full year of surprises and excitement as we walk this journey we are on in Kenya. Back in February we established a wonderful relationship with Operation Smile that has enable several children with cleft lips and pallets to get evaluated and surgically corrected. All of this occurred through agencies being willing to network. According to Operation Smile, it is difficult to get the information out to the people in the rural areas, so KMO volunteered to post the information posters in Narok South and North to encourage people in healthcare areas such as dental offices, doctors offices and hospitals to refer these children to a city called Nakuru where a medical outreach was to be held to repair the cleft lips free for the children. This sounds so easy for parents to get the children to the evaluation site, but many face challenges of no money for transport or many are afraid of the unknown involved in the surgical process, so sometimes the child has no way to receive treatment. One story that relates to the above is parent seeing the problem of a cleft lip as a priority for the surgery even though we actually had a 13 year boy with a cleft lip cleared to go for an evaluation and the parents refused to let the child go even though the child wanted to go have the procedure done. So thankfully a neighbor volunteered to not only cover the cost of transport to the evaluation site, but accompany the child as well. As it turns out, the boy was evaluated and the cleft lip was repaired and Operation Smile said now let him return to his village and be a testimony of what can be done to help people with this condition. Also the boy said he could not wait to get back to his village and tell everyone including two others with cleft lips how easy it was to get the area treated. So hopefully the two others that did not receive treatment this time will so in August.One family had 3 children with cleft lips and all three were evaluated and surgically repaired within a weeks time and went home. As they boarded the public transportation one said he could wait to get home to show people how good he looked. Please realize that here in Kenya many children with this condition are killed at birth, abandoned or the parents have no financial resources to have the corrective procedure done so the child usually dies some time after birth depending on the severity of the condition or they are ridiculed and ostracized by the other children and community as well. So these children have been given hope in the change of appearance and a big boost in self esteem.
Then the next great adventure was involvement in donkey rescue. Here in Kenya, the donkey or punda as it is called in Swahili, is a major work animal, but unfortunately ignorance, abuse and lack of fundamentals on adjusting the work load of the animal cause many avoidable injuries. So in mid March we rescued a donkey that had over 17 noted injury sites and brought him to our house to recover. The local District Vet Jerry Ole Kina played a major role in treating him and helping counsel us on how best to assist in Paul’s (the donkey) recovery. We named him Paul from the apostle Paul in the Bible because of the many beatings he experienced. Penny and Paul have become good friends especially since Penny provides plenty of carrots, kale, corn and lets him graze any green grass we can find. As a matter of fact, the donkey follows her around like a dog and brays often to get her attention. Valentine the Scottish Terrier senses the loss of attention from her master, so at times we have some competition. Hopefully we will find a good owner and new home for Paul soon since his injuries have just about healed and we are hoping to use the funds from selling him to put in an account for future rescues of animals in the Narok area. We have identified four additional animals that need immediate intervention from the harm caused by the harsh hand of man, so again hopefully we can still be involved in this arena .
As many of you may know that water is a enormous topic of discussion and need in the continent of Africa. Frequently the water is polluted or contaminated so there is major need for intervention not just for accessible water, but for clean water. In January we experience a 75% drop in rain water and this trend continued through the next few months and caused a severe drought in the area. Many cows, goats, sheep and dogs have died because of the lack of water and grass to sustain them. Then the conditions got so bad we appealed to friends in the USA for help to mobilize a food relief effort to cover 4 extremely needly areas in the district. The answer came quickly with many generous donations that allowed us to feed approximately 7,000 people. It was very interesting how God used our past experiences to assist us in moving forward in this big task. At my home church ,New Covenant Fellowship, Penny and I occasionally worked in the pantry to feed the poor and one of our jobs was to line bags up and stuff the bags with the goods and the Africans marveled at what a system we used to expedite the bagging process. Each bag had beans, corn, a grits like flour,oil and salt which should last a family of 7 for 3 weeks.All the villages we visited the people were so appreciative and some of the children kept asking is this really our food and after answering them several times they finally helped their mother carry the food to the house. One of my favorite stories occur at the 3rd village at the first house we visited. Jerry the Vet helped us with this project too and his knowledge of the back roads assisted us greatly in navigating the area. Anyway we pulled up to this house and Jerry went and knocked on the door and usually the first question that would be asked is how many people live in this house and the woman replied why? Jerry said because we need to know how much food to give you and she just looked at him and proceeded to tell her story. The night before she told her daughter to go to her room and pray because we have been without food for a few days and only God can hep us now. So the daughter did go pray and had a dream that someone came and knocked on the door and said hi I am here to give you food and that is exactly what happened the next day-God heard their prayers and gave them food. A big thanks to all that gave toward the food relief project it was a great help. In addition to the food relief, our KMO Missions Coordinator Pam Smith mobilized intercessors to pray for rain and pray Psalms 65 over the area and within the first week we had 5 measurable inches of rain in Narok. Some areas such as Morijo are still in great need rain and food and as funding continues to come in, we will give aid to that area. Also we made an appeal to the UN to assist in the areas and we have heard via email from them that aid will come for at least 6 more months.
Another problem in the area was an outbreak of rabies with not just dogs and cats but donkeys too. After talking with the District Vets we discovered that due to a lack of funding the Vets had not been vaccinated against rabies themselves, so through generous giving all Vets were vaccinated and sites were selected to move in and deal with the rabid dogs and do a mass vaccination of animals in several villages. Many people in the area have died from rabid dog bites, so many stray animals have been put down because of this outbreak. So again because of donations, we were or actually you were able to help deal with a real serious problem in the areas. We have many stories of dog bites, but this one seems to be ever present in my memory. A boy got bit by a rabid dog and the family took him to a doctor and then he didn’t get any better. So the father took him to a certain church with the thoughts that the boy had a demon and it needed to be exorcised from him, but prior to taking him to the church he bit every family member. The boy then ran from the area really crazy acting never to be seen again exhibiting extreme symptoms of rabies.
Currently KMO-Narok and KMO-USA are preparing for what looks to be an adventurous undertaking by visiting 3 different sites to do medical and dental camps and a program at one site called Walk with Jesus. At one location called Sakutiek, the people are so excited that we are coming to provide help in so many areas and are gearing up to Walk with Jesus. So please continue to partner in whatever dimension you can by praying or supporting us in these endeavors and thanks so much for all your love and concern for us and the people of Kenya.



Blessings,KMO-Missionaries
Dollie Sauls and Penny Martin

The Opportunity of a LIFETIME!

Our patient, Yoniko "Tina" Washington was chosen to represent India at the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships in Los Angeles, CA last month!

She did this against many hurdles which needed a strong will, dedication and hard work to overcome. She was the second youngest to compete and she was the least experienced of her competitors.

Tina is 16 and lives with her family in Duluth. She trains at the Atlanta Ice Forum in Duluth

In January 2008, Tina won the Silver Medal at the "Fifth All-India National Figure Skating Championships". The event was held in Shimla, India at a natural ice rink near the Himalaya mountains. Ice skaters from 12 Indian states participated, as well as skaters such as Tina who live outside of India, but are of Indian descent.

Medaling at the Championships opened a whole realm of possibilities for Tina. She was invited to skate at the 2008 Four Continents competition in Goyang, South Korea.

Tina did compete in two of the 2008 Junior Grand Prix events - Courchevel, France and Sheffield, England.

In February, she passed the Senior Free skate Test, which is the highest level test given in the United States.

Tina also got the most dependable volunteer award last year from First Alliance Church Northdruid Hills Rd, plays violin, sings on the worship team and has all A's in School!

Check out Tina's Video on Youtube! Way to go Tina, we are so proud of you!

Have a story you would like to share with Suwanee Dental Care?

Email andrea@Suwaneedental.com

Parters in Peace Award

Dr. Williams, of Suwanee Dental Care, received the Partners in Peace award from the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry’s Charitable Foundation this month. This award was given to him in honor of his outstanding contribution to the Give Back A Smile program, for battered and abused women.
Dr. Williams had the privilege of giving a smile away to Charlotte Jackson who says “I will forever be thankful to Suwanee Dental Care, Dr. William B. Williams and the Give Back A Smile Program for changing my life forever." Read more about Charlotte’s story at our website www.suwaneedental.com. Give Back A Smile, has donated over $4 million in cosmetic dental services to survivors of domestic violence since its inception in 1999. We are honored to be a part of such a tremendous program!

The Velo Project

The Velo Project starts in May. Join us on our blogs and Andy Velo blogs for up to date and continuous progress reports as we completely make over Andy's face. This budding country music star, movie idol, and sports hero of North Gwinnett High School and now the college campuses of Georgia and the surrounding states, will be doing a total cosmetic makeover in the next year. Watch the stages unfold and the progress here and in other social media (facebook, myspace, suwaneedental.Com, etc). We will unveil some of the secrets of dentistry and some of the mysteries of moving teeth through bone, lasers and how they cut bone and tooth and gums, simple wisdom teeth impaction techniques, dental "chill with the pill" sedation and more and more.

The Velo Project will be especially meaningful to teens...log in weekly.

Before

Sincerely,
Bill Williams, dmd, magd
Suwanee dental care

Have you had your oral cancer screening yet this year?

I want to encourage everyone to have an oral cancer screening this year. Did you know that Oral Cancer claims one life every hour according to the Oral Cancer Foundation? Early detection is the key and has an 80% to 90% survival rate.
With a new technological development called the VELScope, Our doctors, at Suwanee Dental Care can screen the entire mouth to find anything under the surface that may be invisible to the naked eye. Oral Cancer often cannot be seen or felt without these special techniques. By the time a lump is found or pain is felt, advanced stages have set in and the chances of survival are very low.

Oral cancer can form in any part of the mouth or throat. Most oral cancers begin in the tongue and in the floor of the mouth. Anyone can get oral cancer, but the risk is higher if you are male, over age 40, use tobacco or alcohol or have a history of head or neck cancer. Frequent sun exposure is also a risk for lip cancer.

Symptoms of oral cancer include

• White or red patches in your mouth
• A mouth sore that won't heal
• Bleeding in your mouth
• Loose teeth
• Problems or pain with swallowing
• A lump in your neck
• An earache

We are dedicated to your health! Please take Oral Cancer seriously and ask us about your screening for 2009!

Andrea
Suwanee Dental Care
770-614-7300