Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my fund raising page.  If you saw the email commercial, I hope you enjoyed it - I thought it was very creative!!  Thanks again, Tommie!

OK, let me give you a little background into this project so you can have a better idea of the potential magnitude of this project - the difference it can make in the lives of refugees throughout the world! 

First of all, here is our task:  as a guest of the Tanzanian Red Cross, develop and deliver a program in which we teach the local medical personnel in the Tanzanian refugee camps to perform emergency dental procedures, along with teaching general prevention techniques - nothing like this has EVER been done before!!

Worldwide, millions of people call a refugee camp their home.  Some actually choose to stay in camps because their life is safer there than in their home country;  others are forced to stay because they will be killed if they try to leave.  Tanzania has just short of 500,000 refugees currently, seconde only to Pakistan. There are certain resources that refugees are provided in the camps.  Although very minimal, they include plastic sheets for a roof, rice flour and water, minimal medical services, education for the children and instruction how to survive in a refugee camp.  Notice the absence of dental services! 

Every day people die from infection originating from a dental source.  Last year, one little boy who fell victim to dental infection, captured the heart of a priest in Tanzania and the wheels were set in motion to begin this project.  I will be part of a team - the first ever - to go to the refugee camps and teach the local medical personnel to perform emergency dental procedures.  It is a combined effort of Health Volunteers Overseas and the Tanzanian Red Cross - again, the first time ever!  The problem with us teaching them these procedures is that when we leave they won't have the necessary equipment to perfrom the procedures.  My intention is that we raise enough money to be able to leave two camps with the equipment needed to perform emergency dental procedures.  Further, that we design a pilot program that can be reproduced in refugee camps throughout the world.  My logic here is - if we can do it there, why not everywhere!!  My dream is that this project is so successful that the "powers that be"  realize that dental services are indeed pertinant to one's health, and in the future, provide the resources necessary to deliver the services!

Now you can see that this project can impact millions of people around the world - today and into the future.  Please help and be a part of this lasting contribution to human beings throughout the world - help us provide some dignity and relief to their suffering - donate today!!

Donating through this website is simple, fast and completely secure. It is also the most efficient way to donate for this project.

Many thanks for your support -- and please don't forget to forward this to at least five other friends who you think might want to donate too - every dollar is another step towards our goal!!