Sierra Leone Smiles!

This is me in my dental scubs at the Mercy Ships Freetown Dental Clinic at the Hope Centre. The Hope Centre is a local building, sourced in each country that the Africa Mercy visits by the advance team, many months before the ship arrives. The Hope Centre in Freetown is only about 5 minutes walk from the ship and as well as housing the Dental Clinic, it also accommodates recovering patients who have been discharged from the ship and patients awaiting surgery who have travelled a great distance. More on that side of the Hope Centre in another post. I work each Monday from
 8-12 sterlizing instruments. There is a lot of down time as I have to wait for the autoclaves to do their thing and for things to soak in solutions. I get to chat to the day workers and watch what is going on around the place. A few weeks ago, I even got to assist. I kept apologising to the poor patient but she didn't seem to mind. Whilst in Freetown the dental team will treat thousands of locals as well as travel to prisons, orphanages and upcountry Sierra Leone. They do an amazing job and I am proud to be part of the team!!

The sterilizing room-ta da! It is very hot and a little bit rustic. We use generators for power and the water supply can be hit and miss but we make it work.

Instruments ready to be scubbed by yours truly. I think it is way cool when the dentists accidently leave a tooth in there-lol!! I've gotten quite used to the sight of blood now.

Scubbing away looking just a bit hot!

The Dental Clinic! The big table down the middle holds all the instruments and surrounding, are portable, fold down dental chairs.

A patient ready to go!

While the patients are waiting in the waiting area, no time is wasted! Here, Ghanese crew member, Comfort Yeboah teaches oral hygiene. Comfort also prays with the patients and offers counsel. She is very passionate and has a soft heart!

Ouch-in goes the needle! One of the disturbing things about the job is the screams-sometimes they can haunt you, especially the children. Most people from developed countries have been to the denstist many times in their lives and are used to the smell and the masked intruders are, whilst not welcoming, at least familiar. Not so much in West Africa.

Margaret-our Day Volunteer sterilizer.



Mercy-Day Volunteer Dental Assistant. She always has a smile!



This is Dag from Norway. Dag was the Chief Dental Officer on the Africa Mercy for three years. Recently he, his wife Jorid and their three kids, Linde, Bendik and Fride returned home to Norway. It was a sad loss to the ship and to the Dental Team.

Some patients waiting ouside the Clinic.

Each Monday and Thursday are screening days. Locals line up, sometimes for days. It is a very sad situation as so many people miss out. Some of them have travelled from great distances to be seen and have severe dental issues. We do our best but a few times, when we first arrived, the screenings had to be cancelled due to crowd agitation. The guy in front in Roger our Chief Security Officer.

This is Gini, the Head of the Dental Team screening some patients.

Each Monday I leave the Clinic to walk back to the ship for lunch. In theory it is only a five minute walk but to me, sometimes in feels like a thousand miles. The heat, the smells and the desperation. You see, a person from Mercy Ships in scubs is somebody's saviour. To the locals I represent a doctor or maybe a surgeon. It is the longest walk home as I am continually confronted and begged for medical and dental assistance. I hear so many stories, I am shown photos. Last Monday right after I walked out the gates I heard the familiar call to come, "sssttt sssttt, picanni (child)". A lady approached me with her limp baby boy. I was horrified as my first thoughts were that the baby was dead. The baby was alive but she shoved her baby's large, swollen testicles towards me. All I could do was to say I was sorry and that I was not a doctor or nurse. I was very disturbed by my inability to offer any solution so I asked a doctor on board (some of you will know Dr. Ken Anderson) what it could have been. I was greatly relived to hear that it was most likely a hernia and not life threatening. He told me that if I see her again I could take her name and number and place her on the ship's hernia waiting list. I will be looking out for her!!

Working at the Dental Clinic gives me a deep sense of satisfaction, like I have been called to a higher purpose. It is hot, dirty and the job can be repetitive and boring but to know that so many are being relieved of their pain and suffering makes it all worth it.