PEEBLES dental staff have recently returned from a trip to Kenya where they gave expert treatment to children in a rural orphanage, most of whom have never seen a dentist.

Sara Gilmer and her colleague Carolina Landivar, from the Rosalind Kerr Dental Surgery made the trip to the village of Nyumbani, in Nairobi, where they stayed for two weeks hoping to make a difference to the lives of the children there.

Sara said: “I am pleased that the trip was so successful, with the majority of children in the village being seen. A few unfortunately missed out because of exams or illness, and with the exams things were a bit trickier.

“We had to revolve round their schedule, so we had very early starts followed by long periods of quiet and ending with later nights than expected, but we achieved what we had set out to do and that's the main thing.

“We even managed to screen some of the "Grandparents" and staff in the Village and the younger children in Nyumbani home which we didn't expect to have time to do.”

Sara herself took ill for a few days as she was bed ridden with tonsillitis. But Carolina and another two dentists where able to cover for her to make sure the children didn't miss out, and Sara was straight back to work as soon as she was healthy again.

The Peebles duo teamed up with one dentist Lucy, from Nairobi, for the second week of their trip, who made a special promise to her Peebles colleagues.

The nearest dentist for the children is a six hour drive away and they wouldn't visit unless they were in serious pain, explained Sara. So, she was thrilled to hear that Lucy agreed to continue with the work they started in Nyumbani, after the three of them set up records for every patient there.

“We both (Sara and Carolina) hope to return but won't be for a while unfortunately. I hope to continue to raise money for the village now that we are back home, so that we can send any equipment and materials that Lucy may need to carry out any form of treatment the patient requites."

Nyumbani children's home is a refuge for HIV/AIDS-affected children and provides life-saving care and a loving home to more than 120 HIV-positive children in Kenya.

As well as providing unique dental treatment, Sara and Carolina wanted to do as much good as they could in the short time they were there. They took suitcases full of donations that the Peebles community had provided.

Sara said: "A huge thank you to those of you who have donated. A total of 620 pairs of underwear, 32 bras, 8 undershirts and 11 pairs of shoes - that's what we managed to give to the children."