Olds dentist Dr. Jared Ord and his wife Lindsay Ord, a registered dental hygienist, are in their second week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where they are helping kids in need of dental care.
The couple left Olds on Feb.12, on the humanitarian trip to the east African county where there is widespread need for medical and dental care.
Since arriving in Addis Ababa, Lindsay has been very active blogging about the trip. With her permission we reprint some of her comments so far:
• We are staying in a house in Addis that is rented by Canadian Humanitarian. The house is in a walled compound with razor wire across the top, and armed guards working 24/7. I actually feel quite safe. It isn't fancy, but it is clean, and sufficient for what we need. It has plenty of room, and there will be a group of kids coming to us at the house to receive medical and dental exams later this morning.
• We have already seen 25 children from one of the communities and done examinations, cleanings, and planned any fillings for later in our visit. We have also given toothbrushes and used our “big teeth” and oversized toothbrush to demonstrate proper brushing. They thought that was pretty awesome.
• Everywhere we go, there are people who are missing teeth -- it makes me wonder if they came to the point where they ended up pulling them on their own, just to get out of pain.
• I could tell as I worked on some of these kids that they were in a great deal of pain, but there was not one complaint. They were very stoic, and allowed us to do what we needed to do.
• Once we had completed the home visits, we went back to the center to meet this group of kids. I was so amazed and inspired by how happy they are. They live in absolute poverty, yet they are happy and have a future.
• As we drove around the city, there were many many shocking sites. There are large packs of dogs roaming at large, and one of the things that affected me the most, was when we were stuck in traffic at one point, a group of kids around 10 years old came flocking up to our van and started reaching in. I wasn't too worried because they were kids, but I didn't realize at first that they were all high.
• The ironic part of it all, is that these are happy people. At home we whine and complain about things, but we have no idea how truly blessed we are. It will be hard to ever take for granted again, the things that I have been blessed with. The most important things that we, as a human race have, aren't things, but the relationships that we have with those that we love.
Check out Lindsay's blog at http://oldsethiopia.blogspot.ca.
