Our group included medical professionals from the National Guard, active duty Air Force, Marines, and the Navy Reserve. In conjunction with the Moroccan military we provided six days of medical and dental treatment to the Moroccan people. Each day we would go to a different village and as you can see we posted an American Flag next to the Moroccan flag in recognizing our unified efforts.
Here I am seen assisting the dentist extract several teeth. Unfortunately, in these small villages, most of the children have poor hygiene and the result was a lot of tooth decay. We were able to fix some of the teeth but 90% of the time the decay was so large that we had to pull the tooth. Accompanying the decay was a lot of infection, which inhibited the anesthetic from working as well as it should.
Assisting.
These are our counterparts from the Navy.
These were our linguists. One from the Moroccan military, one from the US National Guard, and one Moroccan civilian. We encountered, French, Arabic, and Berber.
Here one of the members of our team is seen blowing bubbles to entertain the children waiting to go into the Dental clinic.
All of our work was done out of this bus. This is how we moved all of our team and our equipment.
This is an old Moroccan Fort that could be seen from one of the villages we were at.
The last day of our deployment we had a chance to go down and see the Atlantic Ocean. Here we are heading down to the shore.
The Moroccan governor set up the opportunity for us to ride camels. It was a little bumpy.
Me in front of the Atlantic shore.
The city council of one of the little villages treated us to a meal at a restaurant with a traditional Moroccan meal. The meal was cooked in what is called a tianjin. It is a large ceramic pot that is cooked over a fire and then placed in the middle of the table. Bread is served and every one eats out of the same pot. The meal was lamb with dates, olives, and onions. It was really good. The dessert was fruit. I have to say the fruit in Morocco was the best I have ever tasted. The oranges, pears absolutely incredible.
Mr. N
6 comments:
Pretty cool stuff, Mr N -- it's nice to see what you got to do to help the Morocan people. We've never really gotten to see you performing your dental duties before -- (the anesthesia not working so well sounds really painful). Thanks for serving and sharing!
OUCH! Pulling teeth and riding a camel; neither one look very comfortable! But congratulations on a job well done! I'm glad you were able to help those children and the people of Morocco. I think it really makes us appreciate the wonderful and GREAT country we live in when we see how others live! We are truly blessed!
ok, i really have no idea about the movie, but I saw a movie once with a lion and a garden so I'm gonna guess "Secondhand Lions." Really have no idea, though. The whole dentist thing looks like what my uncle as mission pres. in samoa was recently going through. like the pictures look the same. My sister went down, and sang for the poor people getting dental work done. Sounds weird, I know, but my sister is a really great singer. She actually sang for an austrian ambassador while there.
Baby L is darling!
movie guess: Secondhand Lions
fun!
you'll be seeing plenty of the shore coming up! hope things are going smoothly.
Despite my complete FEAR of dentists, I prefer the comfort of my dentist's office to a bus. I'm glad you shared some pictures from your experiences there.
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