Covid-19 and KIDS Update

COVID has made international volunteer dentistry very challenging these days.

And while we may not be actively volunteering abroad, we’re working hard behind the scenes to plan safe trips once we get the greenlight to travel! Since the onset of the pandemic, we have had to suspend all of our volunteer trips. This has been very difficult, as we have great traditions -- Guatemala 9 years in a row, Philippines 10+ years in a row, and more. Trips to Cabo Verde and Colombia were cancelled as well. We have used this time to try to fundraise, improve our clinical systems and sterilization protocols, support our local communities in the US by donating supplies and volunteering, and to plan our future trips.

We are in the midst of planning more trips however– and are working out logistics under the new realities we face. Stay tuned for more info about our upcoming trips to Ethiopia, Azerbaijan and Cambodia. One reality we face is that we’ll likely have to examine and treat less children on our mission trips, as we have to respect social distancing between children in the schools we visit. Thus, it may become more expensive and time intensive to treat the children we see, so we will need to fundraise now more than ever!

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Guatemala 2021

We have been to Guatemala 9 years in a row now, often visiting the Mayan Highlands area around Nebaj, where we work with local Mayan families and schools to educate, treat, and examine the community’s children.

We were very sad to cancel our 2020 trip due to the pandemic, and we may have to cancel 2021 as well. While we are getting our vaccines here in the US, many in Guatemala have not received any vaccines yet. There are great disparities in healthcare and wealth in Guatemala, and it is likely that many of the poor communities may not receive the vaccine at all.

As such, our plans are in limbo for this year, but we have been in touch with our local Guatemalan friends, who have been keeping us abreast of the situation on the ground. There have been many curfews and stay-at-home orders in place, and the communities have been through some difficult times. Like many other communities in Central America, the Guatemalan people have been very resilient and strong in times like these, and we can’t wait to return to working with them on the ground soon.