Dental project for the children of Soibada

Product Description

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Donations are 100% tax deductible

Supporters

What is the Soibada dental program.

Education is the key to health.

Help us teach the kids in Soibada about the importance of good oral hygiene and tooth brushing!

Together we can eliminate dental pain that is obstructing these children from fully engaging in school.

Friends of Soibada is a Northern Beaches based not-for-profit charity that supports the local people of Soibada in their efforts to achieve sustainable development. Soibada, like many villages of Timor Leste, was ravaged by Indonesian occupiers following the referendum for independence in 1999. In an act of revenge, the Indonesian occupiers destroyed much of the infrastructure that was integral to community functionality including medical infrastructure. This has disrupted the ability of Timor Leste’s government to provide equitable and holistic health care.

But there’s a problem

In Soibada there was almost a complete lack of oral health education and practices across two separate reviews by a Friends of Soibada representative. In October 2023, Registered Nurse Eli and two Timorese dental nurses visited the primary schools in Soibada to provide education about oral health and determine how many students had dental cavities.

The results were shocking.

Of the 196 students seen, 84% had at least one dental cavity and 37% of this group had a serious cavity causing constant pain. These children were severely limited by this affliction which distracted them from their schooling and took away from their life.

Here’s what we’re doing about it

Kose Nehan project

The Kose Nehan project, directed by Dr Martin Hall and Dr Bradley Chistian (dentists), is aimed at giving communities in Soibada the power to make wise health choices. This is achieved through school-based education about tooth brushing and oral hygiene to students, as well as educational sessions for parents and teachers.

In Soibada, the Kose Nehan project was implemented in October 2023 seeing 253 toothbrushes given to students from years one and two all over Soibada. Additionally, multiple education lessons on toothbrushing and good oral hygiene were completed by Timorese dental nurses. 164 students were also treated with Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF), a cavity arresting agent that will help limit cavity progression until the students adopt good toothbrushing practices.

The key to the project is twice daily toothbrushing which is led by the teachers within the school. This toothbrushing is completed to a fun song which helps to gamify the activity and eventually, with repetition, will become a well implanted habit within the Soibada community.

With your help, we hope to expand this project over the entire schooling system in Soibada and ensure that there are frequent visits to the village by dental nurses who can reiterate oral hygiene principles and reapply SDF.

You can join us

We desperately need your support to ensure that this project is continued for the long-term. The number one concern of the schoolteachers in Soibada was that they would be abandoned by you, the people who support them, leading to poor follow up and an inability to continue the project.

You can help us through donating to this project:

$1 AUD will buy a toothbrush and toothpaste for a child.

$30 AUD will fund a monthly audit of the dental program within Soibada’s primary schools by a Timorese dental nurse.

$ 100 AUD will fund a Timorese dental nurse to visit for a day who can:

And here’s some amazing perks for supporting us that you can’t live without

Through donating, you are giving dignity back to children who have been robbed of it by a forgotten war.

Don’t turn your back, brush your teeth, and go on with your day.

You know that you have more than enough…

These children need your support.

Any donation is providing freedom to children in Soibada through education.

We want these kids to take their health into their own hands, but they need a hand up, not a handout, to do this.

All donations are tax-deductible. Every donation made to this campaign is directed in its entirety to the health care teams of Soibada and the Soibada community to assist in the continuation of the Kose Nehan project.

Jill Buckfield

10 months ago

$100

Anonymous

1 year ago

$500

Stuart and Cate Holman

3 years ago

$100

Jennifer Blunden

3 years ago

$300

Drish & Beth

3 years ago

$98

Aisling TW

3 years ago

$60

ORLA AND SHAWN TEAHAN THOMSON

3 years ago

$120

Colin Thomson

3 years ago

$991

Leigh Hedstrom

3 years ago

$300

Michelle Snowball

3 years ago

$100

Melody Casey

3 years ago

$60

Marie McLeod

3 years ago

$120

Nanna Thomson

3 years ago

$199

Anonymous

3 years ago

$125

Cherish Hedstrom

3 years ago

$100

Amy Miles

3 years ago

$240

Dunn Family

3 years ago

$100

Rob Stokes

3 years ago

$120

Terry and Madeleine Koo

3 years ago

$90

Judith Lowe

3 years ago

$60

Tamara Sloper

Elijah Thomson

Kerry Goodrick