Campus
Help for the land of the defective smile
As a comparatively small NGO, we are very dependent on the support of private individuals and companies. We would like to present a particularly impressive example of this…. from the field of dentistry.
Happy children’s smiles with sparkling white teeth: This warms our hearts in many photos of the Smiling Gecko Campus and is unfortunately anything but the norm in rural Cambodia. As a result of malnutrition and a lack of hygienic options, the teeth of even the youngest children are often already severely damaged. This was also noticed by Christian Lüscher from the technical service of the “Center for Dentistry” at the University of Zurich, who visited Smiling Gecko on a private trip to Cambodia. Without further ado, he organized two fully functional dental chairs for us, which were being replaced with new ones at the university. This was a real stroke of luck for us. Because with the help of a friend from New Zealand, we were then able to create the conditions for being able to treat our children on campus in the future.
And we’re even luckier. Thanks to the great commitment of a group of dentistry students at the University of Zurich in the last year of their master’s degree, as well as to a number of qualified dentists, who touched us deeply with their outstanding commitment to our school children.
Our thanks go to Jan, Katarina, Kübra, Larissa, Lily, Luca, Marco, Michelle, Sangavi, Sophie, Thang Phong, Tobias and Yves. It was these 12 who traveled to our campus in August and September 2022 to treat our children’s teeth free of charge and at the same time to do important educational work in the field of dental hygiene at our school.
A short film shows some members of the group in action.
But the commitment went even further. Because even before their stay in Cambodia, the group was tirelessly on the road to collect donations in kind from dental companies and practices, which became the basis for our work. All this was and is very impressive.
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More pictures and further background information on the project can be found on the group’s Instagram account, which can be reached via this Link. The companies that have supported the group (and therefore us) are also mentioned there. We would of course also like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks for the latter.
We are very happy about the initiative. That’s why we’re giving everyone involved a bright white smile that will hopefully last for a long time.
