Volunteering in Madagascar, for example, puts into perspective what we can do to improve the oral health of those living in extreme conditions. Imagine malnourished patients compromised with hygiene and health situations, where the only decisive therapy is tooth extraction. In this context, the volunteer experience becomes a light of hope.
An Association like Change ETS is dedicated every day to improving the dental situation at its health center, as well as covering various specialties such as obstetrics, surgery and ophthalmology. Since its inception, it has tried to act on a field of extreme importance for health, that of dentistry, which interacts closely with the nutritional status of the population. This is a very difficult journey for economic reasons, going to the dentist is expensive, for social reasons, it is more important to think about work and send your children to school than to think about treating their mouths. But also for cultural reasons, because the Malagasy aesthetic sense is decidedly different from the European one, being toothless even when you are young is not as serious or marginalizing as it would be in Europe.
The journey of a dental volunteer is therefore not without challenges, both for the reasons just mentioned and for malfunctioning equipment due to power outages or difficulties in finding spare parts. It is then that a part of the professional rediscovers the creative and sometimes inventive capacity to overcome obstacles that in an Italian dental practice would be classified as insurmountable obstacles. The added value of the reality of volunteering is the daily discovery that these difficulties are amply rewarded by patients' smiles and thanks, demonstrating that even a small gesture, however difficult, can make a difference in people's lives.
This is the reality that Paolo Ceribelli and Marta Ceribelli, father and daughter, have encountered. They worked tirelessly for 15 days, despite a thousand difficulties and were able to treat 182 people with hundreds of different services.
Thank you!
