We're about to head to Vanuatu!

Hi everyone (or 'halo' in Bislama - the language of Vanuatu)

This blog has been created to document our journey as we head to Vanuatu (at 6am tomorrow!) for a volunteer Dental Project. Rotary District 9500 (SA/NT in Australia) has coordinated a Vocational Training Team of three dentists, a dental hygienist/therapist and dental assistant to assist Vanuatu with their oral health. We are all very excited to be going after much hard work from the committee, especially Chair Jacqui Ateyo, and our Team Leader Dr Viv Valladares.

Tonight Viv's Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Elizabeth, is hosting a Farewell Dinner for before we depart. We will present some information about ourselves to the guests. A lot of work has gone into getting to this point, including coordinating with the team in Vanuatu to bring equipment and materials and organising brochures, business cards and uniforms. Rotary District 9500 also hosted a lovely training weekend to help brief and prepare us for the weekend away.

Vanuatu has a high rate of dental decay and a lack of dental services. Australia has one dentist for every 1910 in the population, compared to Vanuatu which has 1:34900. Hopefully our trip can make a difference to some of the issues related to dental decay by getting people out of pain and improving their quality of life.

Here is our team:

From left: Dr Agnetha Valladares, Michelle Johnstone (hygienist/therapist), Dr Viv Valladares (team leader), Alicia Colombet (dental assistant), Dr Susan Clift

We look forward to sharing our experiences with you!

Tata (goodbye in Bislama)
Susan