CAMBODIA DENTAL MISSION 2012

The people of Cambodia that I have met are beautiful. By that I mean they are honest, kind and hard working. On several occasions we have bought fruit in the village markets only to be chased down the street and given money back or extra fruit because they felt we had overpaid. Things are very cheap here, a can of soda is only 50 cents. A kilo of mangos is only $2.
Today we treated orphans at the People's Improvement Organization. The leader, a Canadian of Cambodian origin, received a humanitarian award from CNN. When the old dump in Phenom Penh was closed the government moved the families who relied upon the dump for recyclables to sell, to new housing. The housing can be seen in the photos below. It consists of a small concrete rectangle about the size of a one car garage. Sadly, no support services were provided for these families, and their means of support disappeared. They have no refrigerators, or modern conveniences and daily survival is a struggle. PIO educates and provides support for these displaced families. Many of these children had cavities in every one of their teeth. Interestingly, the big cavities don't hurt, the newer small ones that have a live nerve close by are the most painful. The children often refused treatment on the most decayed teeth. We did what could to improve their oral health.
On a much lighter note, we have enjoyed our evenings, dining as a large group in Thai, Vietnamese and Cambodian restaurants. We have all become close friends very quickly. Tonight will be special as we celebrate one of the volunteers birthday Tomorrow we'll see more "children of the dump."