Dentist Dr. Ulrich Zibelius (Lübeck) and dental technician Nina Hemkendreis (Hamburg) set up the planned dental laboratory together with the dentist from Mua Mission Hospital, John Mwandenga, from 6 to 13 October 2024. The new dental chair had previously been delivered and installed, and the adjoining room had been converted by Mua Mission Hospital craftsmen and fitted with all the necessary water, electricity and compressed air pipes. He summarizes his impressions in a report:
“I have since returned from my first visit to Mua Mission Hospital in Malawi.
It was a somewhat strenuous trip due to the travel time of around 32 hours alone.
However, the stay itself turned out to be quite pleasant: very friendly people who were interested in and committed to the project, from the hospital’s administration to the dentist colleagues and the craftsmen involved.
We found that the specifications we had made for the planned dental laboratory had been fully implemented, the treatment unit with compressor ordered in advance was already in operation, but the range of treatments in the dental clinic was very limited, as the lack of filling material meant that extractions were almost exclusively carried out. And this was done without taking basic hygiene rules into account.
So, as expected, there was an urgent need for action.
We, the dental technician Nina Hemkendreis and I, had brought a few materials with us in our luggage. We had already sent the majority of the materials and equipment by air freight weeks beforehand, but unfortunately, as promised and expected every day during our stay, it did not arrive. Only 2 days after our departure, but complete and undamaged (see photos).
Nevertheless, I don’t see any setback for our plans, because the start of work in the laboratory was only planned for the next mission in March/April 2025, which will then last several weeks.
The conditions for this have been created, and we wanted to and were able to convince ourselves of this.
All of this was only possible thanks to a helpful network of informants and sponsors and, in particular, the generous donation from the Hilfswerk Deutscher Zahnärzte, for which I would like to thank you once again.
I am confident that we will succeed in sustainably improving dental care in Mua and beyond in a wide area by creating the instrumental and material conditions for an upgrade of the dental clinic with our initiative, so that our help can then soon be dispensed with in the sense of helping people to help themselves.”