Kathy and I have had a wonderful time in South America for the past 5 weeks. We are thankful for all of the new friends we made in the OSF Dental Campaign. We had our 'debriefing' meeting today with Vladi..... Leander and Christian.  Vladi told us that Mike can count on them for his March Dental Mission. If Mike needs the help, there are 5 or 6 dentists that will assist Desana. We would like to thank Leander for all of the help she has given us and continues to give us. She really speaks the language just like a Peruvian. Leander is from the UK and is the founder of My Small Help ..... a charity based in the UK that is helping children in Nepal. Leander is also the Executive Director of Casa Hogar del Sol, a Peru based organization that has been helping children in the Sacred Valley. The founder of Casa Hogar del Sol is Carlos Gibaja.

We were so happy to get this report written by Andrea Valenzuela Frantischek .... one of the dentists volunteering for the OSF Campaign.

Andrea Valenzuela Frantischek

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We arrive day 21 of Julio (July 21st) at the Province of Yura, Department of Arequipa, altogether with a called NGO AYCA (aid to Andean communities).

Together, day 22 of Julio and thanks to the support of Desana Inc., we worked in the District of City of God, pertaining to Yura. In this site, we received two hundred children with many problems of oral health. This town, as well as other so many of the environs do not count on potable water what to a great extent makes difficult the hygiene of the inhabitants of this locality, reason why must be supplied by the municipality who give water in containers, the one that is not sufficient for them.

The 2010 OSF Dental Campaign is currently in Pachar...... a small community close to Ollantaytambo. This is week #2 for these dentists from Spain, Argentina, Peru, Chile, and Bolivia. This group of professionals work hard durning the day and still manage to have a little Peruvian fun at night. This campaign organized by OSF is attempting to treat as many people as they can in the four week period.  Dentists cycle in and out as the campaign continues. In all, there will be over 30 dentists that will donate their time to this campaign.  By the way, Pachar is the neighbor to Paucarbamba, the location of the Spring Desana Dental Mission hosted by Dr. Michael Houk..... Desana Board Member.

When we are in Cusco, we spend a lot of time in the 'main square' (Plaza de Armas). Today Kathy took this picutre of a little girl 'working' in the main square. Her mother sells penny candy in the square to earn her living..... for her and this beautiful girl.

We are getting ready to re-join the Dental Campaign .... we took the week off as the dentists continued to work in the southern part of Peru. The next stop for the campaign will be around Ollantaytambo. We will spend two days in Pachar and one day in Pire (highlands communities close to Ollantaytambo).

Here is a link to a map of the area.