Missions

Mission trips are the heart of what we do as an organization. We hope the information contained here will be a help to you in considering and pursuing ways to offer your dental expertise to the needy around the world. For a mission application, equipment availability of if you just have questions, please contact the CDS Home Office at 563-578-8887 or cdssent@netins.net

If you find a mission that you would like to be a part of, please contact the mission organization responsible for the trip.  CDS only advertises available trips and has no part in the planning of the trip. 

CDS can assist with a CDS member with their equipment needs. However, it takes a lot of preparation to have a successful mission trip. Mail and even phone connections often take weeks to get through. So when preparing for a mission trip, contact the home office first. Give us the time to help you. Remember, it takes six months to a year to plan a mission trip.

Contact the Home Office at 563-578-8887 for a CDS mission application.

The travel date of the mission trip you wanted may have already taken place. Many mission organizations repeat their trips.  You should contact them for future trips.

Trip Schedules

Urgent Request for Cambodia
Team members needed, Feb 19 to Feb 27, 2010.

Dr Frank Cho, a retired dentist from Bell, CA, and his wife Tina are on their third 3 year commitment to serve the people of Cambodia. Frank is a CDS member and has been encouraged and blessed by the CDS Board. In addition to teaching at the dental school, Frank has a practice in the capital, Phnom Penh. That practice serves the various missionary organizations in Cambodia as well as the local population.

A few times a year Frank and his office staff move their operation to a remote under-served or un-served area of Cambodia for a week at a time. Such an opportunity has presented itself in February of 2010. The work site is in Northern Cambodia close to the border with Laos. Frank’s Team has been there once before and worked in conjunction with YWAM, which has had a presence in that area for close to 15 years.

The plan would be to arrive into Phnom Penh by Feb 20th and then the Team would leave for Siem Pang Feb 21st. There would be 4 or 5 days of clinic and then a return to the capital Feb 27. In-country travel would be by vans or a small bus. Accommodations in the capital would be at a very nice hotel. Accommodations at Siem Pang would be at a guest house near the work site. The guest house is very nice with western toilets and a number of two person bedrooms.

If you wanted to stay longer in Cambodia, there are many interesting sites to visit: Angkor Wat, Angkor Tom, Killing Fields Memorial, French silk factory, Floating village on Tonle Sap Lake, Sihanoakville, etc. We have had dentists, assistants, hygienists, physicians, chiropractors, and nurses, and others make up the Teams.

Costs: In-country approx. $500.00. In addition, international airfare: at this point $1,100.00 from LAX or SFO.

Contact: In the USA: Dr Tom Love (510) 339-9581 or (510) 219-1271 cell. Email: fangman_13@sbcglobal.net

Guatemala


Excellent First Time Mission Trip

We are planning another trip to San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala for February 17 – 28, 2010. For further trip information, please contact Carl Miller, CDT at cdtmissions@sbcglobal.net

MI REFUGIO SCHOOL

We have dental mission trips to Guatemala three times a year in February, June and October. Trips can be for one or two weeks. The school serves children living in and around the city garbage dump in Guatemala City. At the school we have a fully equipped modern 2 chair dental clinic. The dental treatment provided is mainly restorative work with some oral surgery. Mi Refugio School is located 15 just outside Guatemala City. There is a dormitory on the campus for the volunteers. All meals are provided at the school.

Costs are airfare and $25 per day for food and lodging. Transportation from the airport and one day of touring are included.

For further information please contact Dr. Paul Engen at engen2@hotmail.com (847-742-1700) or at the Mi Refugio website at http://mirefugio.org/.

Amazon Hope Medical/Dental Trips
Schedule 2010

No trips scheduled for Jan, Feb or March 2010.

For more information on any of these trips, contact Robert Alexander with The Vine Trust at:

Telephone 01875 812252
Email robert@vinetrust.org
Web www.vinetrust.org

Vets With A Mission (www.vetswithamission.org) is pleased to announce its second of three trips for 2010 – Da Nang, July 14-30, 2010

This team will be working at several clinic facilities in the city of Da Nang, Da Nang Province, and possibly Quang Nam Province. The team will work a total of seven days. Hands of Hope International (www.handsofhopeintl.org) is one of the organizations that will benefit from the visit of this medical team.

Both medical professionals and non-health volunteers are needed on this medical team.

There are roles for everyone to play regardless of professional medical training or lack thereof. Viet Nam veterans their spouses and family members are given first-priority to participate on the team, however, non-veterans and non-medical volunteers are encouraged to participate! This team is limited to the first thirty (30) individuals who sign-up and confirm their participation with a non-refundable deposit of $100. Team members travel to San Francisco on July 14, 2010 (your expense but VWAM can assist in securing a discounted domestic airfare). The flight to Viet Nam is that night, shortly after mid-night (now July 15, 2010), and arrives in Saigon July 16, 2010. The team will overnight in Ho Chin Minh City in a 5 Star Hotel for two nights. On July 18, 2010 the team will fly to Da Nang. A total of twelve nights will be spent in Da Nang (at a 5 Star Resort Hotel) from July 18-29, 2010 with the team working Monday through Friday, July 19-23, 2010. The weekend of July 24-25, 2010 will be “free” for touring - a day trip to Hue on the 24th and a day trip to Hoi An on the 25th, or simply for rest and relaxation. The team will return to work for two days on Monday and Tuesday, July 26 and 27, 2010, and offer a half-day medical clinic for the employees of the Furama Resort Hotel (where the team is staying). The remainder of the day on July 29, 2010 and all day on the 29th are “free days.”

There is a farewell event on China Beach at the Furama Resort Hotel, in honor of the Viet Nam veterans on the team, the evening of Thursday, July 29, 2010. The team then leaves Da Nang for Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City the afternoon of July 30, 2010 and connects to a flight later this same afternoon for its return to the United States. You will arrive in San Francisco the evening of July 30, 2010 Friday, about 7:30 p.m. There is an optional overnight in San Francisco at the team hotel, but this is an additional expense. You may decide to remain overnight or continue on to your home airport on a “red eye,” if you wish.

The trip price of $3,399 plus $100 non-refundable deposit includes economy-class international airfare SFO-SGN-SFO, two economy-class flights in Viet Nam SGN-DAD and DAD-SGN, all airport transfers, all hotel transfers, all team work transportation by private bus or vans, all hotels in Viet Nam with daily breakfast, one team dinner or Bar-Be -Que, one team t-shirt, visa and processing.

If you are interested in participating, please send an email to Chuck Ward at vetswithamission@backroads.net to express your interest. If you have any questions, please email or contact:

Charles Ward, Executive Director
Vets With A Mission
POB 202 or 1307 Caldwell Street, 3rd Floor
Newberry, SC 29108
803-405-9926 Office/Fax
www.vetswithamission.org
vetswithamission@backroads.net
 

Kenya – Pediatric Dentist needed

We are looking for Pediatric Dentist to join a few of our summer medical mission teams to Kenya. There are always hundreds of children at every clinic. Please review the story below and kindly forward to your members for consideration.

Thanks
Steve James CRNA
President/Founder
Kenyarelief.org

New clinic next step at Kenya orphanage
Sunday, November 30, 2008

By STEVE DOYLE

Times Staff Writer steve.doyle@htimes.com

Cullman's Steve James looking forward to facility

Steve James got a not-so-subtle reminder last week why his humanitarian work in Kenya is so important. A hungry 3-year-old girl was left at the gate of James' Marindi Children's Home of Grace Orphanage, which has become a rare bright spot in one of the world's poorest places. Even though the 103-bed orphanage was full, James took the little girl in. Saving kids from starvation, disease and other sad endings is why the Cullman resident opened the orphanage - and why he spends every waking moment thinking of ways to make it bigger, better, and more meaningful.

"It would be a sin for me to turn away," James said last week. "I'd like America to realize the reason that we have so much is to give back."

The 53-year-old cancer survivor flung open the doors to the orphanage on Easter weekend 2003 as a memorial to his late daughter, Brittney. Ever since, Alabamians have been jumping on board to help: eye doctors; dentists; missionaries; surgeons.

James, who met many of his supporters while working as a nurse anesthetist at Huntsville Hospital, has already scheduled eight trips to Kenya next year because so many people want to volunteer. And there's plenty to be done, including making sure a new medical clinic beside the orphanage is ready for patients.

The 6,000-square-foot clinic in Marindi, largely financed by Huntsville businessman Ian Panton and his wife, Linda, is far nicer than the town's three existing hospitals. It will be stocked with more than $500,000 worth of equipment donated by Huntsville Hospital, Crestwood Medical Center and Mission Outreach, a nonprofit that sends used medical gear to developing countries.

James envisions the clinic repairing hernias, club feet and other health problems that typically go untreated in Kenya, contributing to the country's low life expectancy - 52 years for a man, 55 years for a woman. By comparison, men born in the United States have a life expectancy of 73 years, women 79 years.

"I think this will be the most modern medical center within 200 miles," said James, who now works at HealthSouth Lakeshore Rehabilitation Hospital in Birmingham. "I can see us by 2010 being able to treat children with cancers and lymphomas."

The clinic plans to charge 90 cents per visit, equivalent to about a day's pay in western Kenya. Dr. Heather Estopinal, a Huntsville ophthalmologist, traveled to Africa with James last summer to help restore eyesight to villagers with severe cataracts. Most had never seen an eye doctor, she said.

"It's almost like you're the answer to their prayers," Estopinal said Wednesday. "It's a wonderful mission." Like James, Estopinal thinks big when it comes to the clinic: She wants to send American eye specialists to Kenya every three months to fix cataracts and other vision problems before they cause blindness.

"In developing countries, you see elderly patients that just go totally blind and have to use sticks to get around," Estopinal said. "That's almost a death sentence."

Because of the shaky economy, James said he expects 2009 to be a lean year for his nonprofit agency, KenyaRelief.org. Each child at the orphanage has an American sponsor who pays $75 a month to cover their food, shelter, schooling and medical care. Estopinal and her husband, anesthesiologist Temple Estopinal, sponsor a 13-year-old boy named George who was living on the streets.

"These children are so grateful for the opportunity to have clothing, three meals a day and a safe place to stay," she said. "They're regarded as the luckiest kids in the region."

From humble beginnings in a refurbished church, the orphanage has blossomed into a 21-acre compound with dormitories, homes for visiting relief workers, the clinic and a dining hall that James calls "the prettiest building in town." The cafeteria is named for the late Cullman-based Christian singer Whit Warren, an early supporter of James' relief work.

James employs 30 townspeople and two American missionaries from Rome, Ga., who manage the orphanage in his absence.

More orphanage-related projects are on the horizon: a veterinary hospital to care for the farm animals that rural Kenyans depend on for survival; and a vocational school to prepare teenagers for life after the orphanage. Twenty kids will graduate from the home next year, but there are 80,000 more homeless youngsters in the region who need help.

"I'm proud of what we've done so far," James said. "God's amazing, and I think you become part of that amazement when you give yourself to his plan. To reach the fatherless is the very thing he would be doing if he was here."

Steve James CRNA
President / Founder

Office: 256-739-3975
Cell: 256-507-0217
sjames@kenyarelief.org

Kenyarelief.org
316 1st Ave. S. E.
Cullman, Al. 35055

To learn more click the link below.
www.rizonfilms.com/africa/africa.html

Guatemala

Final Harvest Ministry

Jeff & Christa Mills have been working in Guatemala for the past 14 years and have established 2 healthy churches that are still growing strong.   

Jeff is an Evangelist sees not only the spiritual side of the problems but also the needs for these people.   His cry is for doctors and dentists to come to this town and minister to them both in soul and body.

Their website is: www.finalharvestministries.com

Their email is: JeffMills@pobox.com

See our latest photos at: http://www.picasaweb.google.com/JeffG

 A UNIQUE DENTAL OPPORTUNITY

Operation Mobilization Ship

We need volunteer Dentists to serve on an Operation Mobilization Ship from one month to a year or longer providing quality long lasting dentistry.  The working conditions are very good and everything is furnished.  The cost for a short term trip is the airfare.  Dentists will be able to serve in clinics on shore with portable equipment to the needy in certain ports.

 The opportunities to experience and interact with other cultures along side the motivated crew on board are rewarding and exciting. 

Contact Dr. David Carter for more information.  Email dncarter@frii.com ,  Phone  970 4614955

 Purposeful Africa

We have been a bit quiet during our preparation of Purposeful Africa, but we are about ready for full release and would like to have your input on some various needs and ideas.

You may recall that we are providing a spiritual purpose to Africa, of your own organization’s design in a two week window, aboard a 450 foot ship. The very nice ship will be used for transportation of supplies you will need along with 250 people who will mentor, educate, train, and serve in their choice of six West African countries. Upon completion of this spiritual act of worship, we will all return home changed and moved­ready to commit our gifts to God’s purposes.

Highlighting the needs of orphans (or whatever i.e., radio broadcasting, business as a mission, water projects, micro-finance systems, and medical/dental needs) is a huge part of what we want to accomplish.

Here are a few ways to engage with Purposeful Africa as we continue to move forward with this incredible opportunity:

• Please visit our new website in 1st launch status, www.purposefulafrica.org.
• To request a webinar with me, please click here.
• Follow us on Twitter.
• Join our Facebook group.
• Please forward this email to a friend, ministry, or church partner that you may think would also like to engage in this opportunity.
• We are beginning an online forum dedicated to the orphans of West Africa (West Africa radio broadcasting, business as a mission, water projects, micro-finance systems, and medical/dental needs). If you feel called to help us, please go here. We are looking for people knowledgeable in these areas of need in West Africa who will assist those who also feel called to get engaged prior to the trip which is in the fall of 2010.

We have multiple areas of engagement. We very much would like for you to be involved with us in this endeavor. It cannot be done without the unity of the body of Christ, the ministries, and the churches. Together we can do all things through Christ Jesus.

I look forward to your thoughts,

Lee

Lee Elrod | Development
lee@livingpassages.org

Purposeful Africa | Changing Their World by Changing Yours
Phone: (888) 771-8717 | Website: http://www.PurposefulAfrica.org

Agreement for use of supporters' logos.pdf
PA Online Brochure.pdf
Purposeful Africa Churches & Ministry Deposits Final.pdf

Mexico
Christian Hands In Action (CHIA)

Short term (3-4 days) trips for medical/dental/optometric missions primarily into
northern MX, though we've done a number of longer trips into Central and South America.  We have two  dentists on our staff but are always looking for other dentists around this country and Canada to go with us If any of your members or their friends are looking for Third World mission opportunities without having
to spend a lot of time and money, CHIA is probably a unique ministry that would fit the bill.

Look at our website:  www.chiamissions.org or contact John M. Sherman, MD at 915-526-0734 for further information.

Nicaragua

Jesus Centered Ministries in now a legal ministry in Nicaragua called Ministerio Centrado en Jesus. We invite you to join us in helping those less fortunate and teach and share the love of Jesus. Enpowering instead of enabling. Our mission statement is Reaching people=changing lives with the hope of Jesus Christ. We are able to house up to 25 team members and are looking for groups to help in areas not reached by others. Prayerfully consider helping us help others. Together we can make a difference. www.jcmmissions.com

USA

Founded in 1933 on the recommendation of Albert Einstein, the IRC is a leading nonsectarian, voluntary organization providing relief, protection and resettlement services for refugees and victims of oppression or violent conflict. The IRC DC resettlement office is located in the Suburban Washington Resettlement Center (SWRC) in Silver Spring, MD, serving approximately 800-900 refugees, asylees, and victims of trafficking a year. Currently, our clients are primarily from Iraq, Bhutan, Burma, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Iran. The IRC also serves a unique population of asylees, victims of trafficking, and parolees from countries such as Cameroon, Ethiopia, Haiti, and Cuba. While the majority of the refugees are resettled in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, services are also provided in Washington, DC and northern Virginia.

The majority of our clients have never received any form of dental care or oral health education. Further, the kinds of dental care they need upon arrival to the US are usually far beyond their financial ability to pay. Our highest risk population at present are the elderly who under Maryland Medicaid are not eligible for dental benefits and those needing more complicated dental procedures. We are looking to find compassionate dentists who would be willing to donate or provide services at a minimal cost to refugees. We would also welcome a dental mission for those interested right here in Silver Spring.

Please contact me for more information. Thank you and God bless!!!

Josephine E.V. Francisco
Public Health Specialist
International Rescue Committee | Suburban Washington Resettlement Center
8700 Georgia Avenue, Suite 500 | Silver Spring, MD 20910
Tel. 301.562.8633 ext. 201 | Fax. 301.562.8585
www.theIRC.org