Dental Tribune UK Edition, October 25-3, 2010, No.26 Vol.4

cals are enticed to the Mosque by a loud speaker. The first call goes at five am (ish) and I even- tually got use to it. We started our day early and after six hours of walking through the magnifi- cent Rif Mountains we arrived at Albergue De Azilane. It was the home of Abdul Carear, one of the most fascinating and happy char- acters I had ever met. We had home-made bread, sweet mint tea and cheese on arrival and Fruit of the Land – a traditional Moroccan Tagine consisting of a tiny piece of grisly meat and fresh stewed vegetables for dinner. Berber Tribe Day 4 After a, traditional breakfast con- sisting of four different breads and bees honeycomb, our char- ity expedition continued to- wards ‘God’s Bridge’; a natural arch built upon the Farda River through the dorsal limestone grounds. We were laden with honey and bread (well, actually it was stored in our rucksacks on the hardy Donkey we named Josephine). We continued trek- king through the Rif Mountains and various Berber settlements along easy shaded paths, which wound their way between small- holdings, tiny farmhouses, and numerous ancient mills that were still working amongst green crops and fields. As we got higher in the moun- tains, we glimpsed monkeys and found ourselves walking along a mountain path, which was one foot wide and sometimes nar- rowed to only a few centimetres, where it cascaded vertically hun- dreds of feet down to the village of Akchour! Scary! Dental Difference Day 5 Bab Beret is a small town that trades in one of Morocco’s big- gest exports, Hashish. We didn’t stop here, we drove through a cowboy town high up into the mountains, where some of us cycled 50km downhill into El Jebah, a little fishing village on the Mediterranean coast not yet ruined by tourism. A fish dinner bought from the fishing boats was served by Fwed, the guest house owner, on the spectacular roof terrace over- looking the smelly fishing port. At 9pm we were exhausted and ea- ger to start the next day: we were ever closer to making a dental difference for the Berber kids. Dental Difference Day 6 At 9am sharp we were taken to a school nestled in the Rif Moun- tains and met by Luc, the Belgian counsel to Morocco, who had been our go-between. He was a real gentle caring man who re- sembled Rene from Alo Alo. We were next introduced to an ex- treme humanitarian Dr Banani, the founder of a group of inter- national medics ‘Ranks of Hon- our,’ who travel to hard to reach villages in Africa to set up camp to treat all kinds of illnesses and disease. We were introduced to Den- tal Professor Tress from Mo- rocco and her team of young dentists, as supplies were un- loaded courtesy of Henry Schein and placed on an old wooden table. Around us small groups of excited but scared children assembled in the classroom. It was here where they were educated on brushing and caring for their teeth, which were mostly rotten. After a diagnosis with ur- gent dental treatment they were sent to get fillings or to have teeth pulled to prevent further dental damage. On further investigation we discovered about 20 per cent had a toothbrush at home; but how many of them actually used it was another question. The de- cay in some of the children was so bad there were just roots left which had to be extracted. I wanted to speak English to reassure the scared and in pain kids and put them at ease, but I found it difficult and often dis- tressing with the language bar- rier even though we had transla- tors. It was very upsetting for all of us, including the children, but we served our purpose. At the end of the most hum- bling of days, I presented a Sun- derland football shirt to Dr Bana- ni and to Luc a signed book. Dental Difference Day 7 We finally ended up in Marbella in a nice hotel; we had a hot bath and some serious memories to linger on forever. This delightful dental dif- ference trip was the tip of the iceberg. Overall, fifty Moroc- can kids, some of them Berber, were treated out of a school of six hundred; we had made just under a ten per cent difference. Our next objective was to fund a nurse who would visit the school weekly, educating the children on tooth decay prevention; for se- rious cases where children were in pain, we aimed to bring in a dentist from Chechaouen every month. I plan to go back next year to make a further difference. I got an awful lot from be- ing able to help some beauti- ful, beautiful children with their dental problems. To come to a country that doesn’t have any dental care at all and to do just a little bit, which to these people, probably felt a lot, means a lot to me. Hopefully for those children who’ve had the treatment, they will feel better from our efforts. This privilege does carry a responsibility, because once the Morocco air had been absorbed into my lungs, there was no cure. Like me, I hope you have become fascinated by the people more commonly known as the Rif- fians, who have been displaced for more than 700 years from as far away as Egypt and the River Nile - the possible meaning “free people” or “free and noble men.” Please note that Dental Mav- ericks is a non profit organisation and all time, money and resourc- es spent organising the Morocco Expedition, has been done so, for free, at our own expense. If you would like to help us make a den- tal difference for 600 Rif Moun- tain children, you can do so here www.castleparkdental.co.uk. If you have any further ques- tions please email me at mjoliv- er73@sky.com. DT The group gather outside for a group photo ‘It was very upset- ting for all of us, including the chil- dren, but we served our purpose.’ 11FeatureOctober 25-31, 2010United Kingdom Edition