One World One Smile, a nonprofit organization based in Dar es Salaam, is successfully continuing in its quest of providing and improving dental health care and oral hygiene awareness to underprivileged communities across Tanzania. They do this through the medical dental clinics, which are simple commercial vans that allowed them to transport equipment as well as auxiliary staff across broader areas in Tanzania in a limited time span.
The support of Twiga Cement, Precision Air, Real 2 Reel and Coca-Cola aided One World One Smile to partner with the Sisters of Charity of St. Charles de Borromeo to organize a medical camp in Ndala Hospital, Tabora where a team of maxillofacial and dentists from Spain performed cleft palate surgeries in children and provided dental health care to the general public. This is the first time that One World One Smile along with the Spanish volunteers that consisted of four maxillofacial, one dentist and two journalists went to Ndala Tabora.
“This is the first time that we engaged in such a sensitive area, cleft palate. The volunteers played a vital role, they brought a wealth of invaluable experience and results to our dental medical clinics,” said Benalal. “Without the steadfast dedication of their personnel, we could not have possibly treated the number of patients or the severe cases that have been done. We treated over 160 patients and saved over 30 lives. It is a pleasure to have such a strong team of foreign volunteers with us.”
The work that One World One Smile is a true representation of a foundation dedicated to improve the dental landscape in a country where a toothache can kill. It is rare to find a foundation that works 365 days a year to ensure that dental health care is accessible to the most deprived population and their sponsors were excited about supporting their cause.
“As sponsors, we strongly believe in giving back to the community as much as possible. One World One smile is one of our latest initiatives. Ensuring that dental health, being a very common problem in more than 40% of the Tanzanian population gets to those who have little or no access to dental care. It is said that a smile goes a long way therefore we are proud to be part of spreading healthier smiles. Apart from frequent freighting of medical equipment and offering free seats to international volunteering doctors” Azda Nkullo, the head of marketing and corporate communications was quoted.
“All the volunteers were enthusiastic, the team worked together to keep track of the logistics, coordinate efforts, and effectively use supplies. It was about coming together and getting the mission done through both quality of care and service to our patients.” said Benalal, “We would like to thank everyone who supported us especially our sponsors Precision Air, Real 2 Reel, Twiga Cement and Coca-Cola”
