I had two AMAZING oppurtunitys to use my newly acquired skills to serve people in need. First was in South Dakota on a reservation. I went with two other fellow students and three of our faculty to work for a week in the dental clinic on one of the reservations in South Dakota. We were able to clean the teeth of over 200 hundred children and a few adults. This was the experience of a life time. We stayed on the reservation for the entire week and was able to take in the amazing culture. We ate dinner with the elders, saw beedwork and jewelry made by the locals, hike the moutain you see above (Bear Butte), and even participated in a sweat lodge. For anyone who doesn't know a sweat lodge is a hut sealed off with hot rocks and water. Sweat we did. I was only able to last one round. The air becomes so thick you can barely breath unless you put your face to the floor. Needless to say I had to leave before I had a panic attak. The experience as a whole was very rewarding and something I will never forget. In some ways I feel that I may have benifitted from the experience more then the people we provided care to. Hopefully some day I may be able to return with the orginization we went with to serve these people again.
My second oppurtunity was to volunteer at the Connecticut Mission of Mercy. It was a full day and a half from 5 am to 5 pm, and 5am to noon that provide free dental care to anyone who showed. There were tons of dentist, dental assistants, hygienist, and people from the community who volunteered their time to this event happen. It provided dental care to around 1,200 people and 500,000 dollars worth of dental services provided. It was utterly amazing to see something like this take place. Everyone had a part to help the day run smoothly. I mostly escorted patients, and provided oral hygiene education to patients that showed. It was nice to see how much the services were appreciated by those who came. Its sad though to see that one of the supposed richest states in the nation needs to have a event like this to treat those with out dental insurance. It breaks my heart ecspecially when I see little kids with toothaches. I love volunteering my time to events such as these, however I hope one day it doesn't have to be that way.
2 comments:
Once again, you are amazing. I am so happy that you are so successful and doing so much with your life. Hunter is such a fool to let you go. I'm glad you got to have those incredible experiences!
Hello,
I came to your blog just by chance while looking for "Bear Butte" on the internet. Great, that you had such a good experience in South Dakota! Did you know that Bear Butte as a sacred place for the Native Americans in this area is threatened by the development of more and more bars and establishments around the place?
You can find more information and the link to an online petition to protect Bear Butte here: http://www.protectbearbutte.com
Greetings from a fellow European (Germany),
Astrid
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