DTUK1410

May 24-30, 2010United Kingdom Edition Bukumbi Bound Over the last few months Dental Tribune has been preparing to visit Tanzania with charity Bridge2Aid to renovate a community centre in the village of Bukumbi. Here are some of the pictures... H aving returned from the mission to Bukumbi to help breathe new life into a community centre for the local people, I have been wondering how best to share mine and the team’s experiences with you, the readers. I have much to share, but I think that there have been enough words for now. So, here are just a few of the images from an unforge- ttable experience helping to make a community’s life just a little bit better: 1 – This is what faced us when we first arrived at the centre. Thirty years of cooking smoke, grease and dirt had to be scrubbed off the walls before we could begin to paint. 3 – Mark, myself, Julie and Andrew T tak- ing a break. 4 – Margaret, Jo and myself speaking with care worker Kibibi during one of the chil- dren’s activity sessions. 5 – Len contemplates at least five more days up a ladder... 6 – Yours truly very excited that there is paint on the walls – no I hadn’t been drink- ing but the paint fumes were strong! 7 – Some of the residents at Bukumbi. These ladies were part of the income generation group who made items such as baskets and jewellery for sale to eager customers – we may have wiped them out of their stock! 8 - The volunteer team and Bukumbi residents before the official ribbon cutting ceremony of the community centre. A very happy and emotional day for everyone involved. 9 – This blackboard was the culmination of at least eight coats of blackboard paint! Karibuni is Swahili for ‘Welcome’. 10 – One of the finished rooms. Hard to be- lieve that just ten days previously those walls were blackened with smoke damage. DT 2 – Armed with cold lake water, Vim and an awful lot of steel wool we began our first day’s scrubbing. This was taken at the end of the first day and you can see the differ- ence already! We had so far to go though. Pictured L-R: Rachel Purdy (B2A), Mark In- man (GDP), Len Camporeale (Henry Schein Minerva), Cornelius O’Mahoney (Schulke UK), Andrew Thurston (Schulke UK), Yours Truly!, Jackie Entwistle (Schulke UK), Julie Taylor (Schulke UK), Nicola Furniss (Schul- ke UK), Margaret Carleton(NHS Manches- ter), Jo Inman (practice owner), Fay David (B2A), Andrew Scott (Schulke UK). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 8