Chbar Chros Community School Visiting Dentist

Earlier this year, CamKids hosted a group of four Australian dentists and 10 Cambodian dental nurses and assistants to work at CamKids’ Chbar Chros Community (CCC) School clinic and Krang Tatann village in Kampong Speu province for two weeks. The dental team also continued on to provide treatment in Takeo province.  

This is an annual dental health trip led by Dr. Hugh Sharpe which supplements the regular visits by CamKids' dental team and provides treatment for more complex dental problems than can be dealt with at our regular visits. In the two Kampong Speu province locations, a total of 570 patients were treated – mostly from areas where people could not afford to pay for dental care at private clinics. In Takeo province, 500 people were treated and most patients received three or four different treatments (fillings, extractions etc).

This work by Dr. Hugh and the team, was hugely appreciated by the communities and these annual visits will greatly improve their dental health. Dr. Hugh also delivered donations to villagers such as cooking oil, clothes, toys, toothpaste and toothbrushes to everyone who received the treatment.

Dr. Hugh said “after my experience last year with children and villagers in the rural community in Cambodia, I wanted to ensure that we also worked on problems rather than treatment which is why I brought quality products from the UK and the USA.” He also hopes that next year the dental trip will be able to visit other communities in different provinces in Cambodia. Dr. Hugh has already imported various items of dental equipment, included a generator which can work with mobile dental units.

CamKids, on behalf of the children who received treatment from the dental team, would like to give a huge thanks to Dr. Hugh, the team and everyone involved in this project.

Volunteering for CamKids

We have just received this short report from Ali Miller, a volunteer at our school in Kampong Speu. 

I have recently returned from volunteering at CamKids. I am studying nursing at university and I had wanted to volunteer for a while but never knew where I wanted to go. 

I heard about CamKids in Cambodia and immediately decided it looked perfect. I had never been to Cambodia before and knew it was a country where volunteering work would be put to good use. I volunteered at the school in Kampong Speu for a month and it was one of the best experiences of my life. 

The school was fun and the kids were definitely my highlight. They were great fun and always eager to learn. It also was also great to experience living with Cambodians and learning their culture. I was able to use my nursing skills when the medical team came to visit, which has really boosted my confidence in caring. 

Although I had a background in nursing before I came, CamKids offered a lot more than just medical experience, including teaching and experiencing new culture and meeting new people. I would definitely recommend volunteering at CamKids to anyone! Ali Miller 

If you have nursing, dental, teaching or similar skills and would like to volunteer for CamKids, please email contact@camkids.org.