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Social media with purpose. How Peak to Plains helped train dental therapists in Tanzania, and why this is only the beginning.
- Chris Barrow
- 1 day ago
- 1 min read
I'm back from Africa, and you would have to have been living in a box not to see all the content that has been posted.
The next time someone comments that social media is a modern day curse, I'll remind myself that, so far, it has helped us to raise over £80,000 to provide urgently needed training for dental therapists in Tanzania.
On Monday some of the cyclists from Peak to Plains were able to visit day one of the volunteer programmes (they are still out there today and some will be for another 10 days).
After two very long and bumpy bus rides, we found ourselves in the Misungwi district.
Some stats:
District population - 500,000
Dentists - nil
Dental Therapists - 3.
And the Bridge2Aid volunteers (including a wonderful team from Henry Schein), in collaboration with THEDI (a Tanzanian NGO) are there now, training the next batch of therapists, to bring the total to 7.
It's a start.
Without YOU, without your volunteering, generosity and donations, this training would not be possible.
The CDO for Tanzania was with us on Monday and Dr Baraka Nzobomet with us all, Colin and I had a chance to chat with him briefly and he made it clear that he is 100% behind this project and wants to roll it out across the whole country.
That is going to take years, a lot more volunteers and a lot more money.
Without the responsible use of social media, that will be tougher.
The journey has begun.
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