Reflections on Guyana Mission
Travel
A well-planned trip, good flights and transfers. We appreciated the convenience of
flying direct from Manchester, and enjoyed the stopovers in Barbados, preparing us
well for onward travel. Flight times were convenient and overall good value for
money.
Accommodation
Having Pastor Reece collect us on arrival at Georgetown was a very warm welcome,
which was continued by Sister Alma and her team at Haurunhi. The lodge at
Haurunhi soon became home from home, and we couldn’t have been made more
welcome upon our return there. If often felt like a true ‘oasis’ of calm when things
seemed hectic and allowed us to refresh and rejuvenate body and spirit.
The support of everyone we met was very welcome, and made us feel special and
needed, at times we felt like VIPs being waited on, taxi’d around and looked after so
well. Food provided was freshly cooked, healthy and nutritious.
When we arrived at Pastor Yasin’s, it was a very welcome end to 6 months planning
and 3 days travelling by air, land and water! The boat journey from Parika didn’t
disappoint the adventure-spirited amongst us, it was our first experience of Guyana
rain and the poncho’s were definitely baptised that day! We enjoyed meeting Pastor
Yasin, Sister Cheryl and their children Raoul, Rondell and Hannah, who very quickly
felt like old friends.
We were blessed by the hospitality at Bartica, having 3 separate rooms for the team to
finally unpack and relax. It was nice not having to repack the bags and move on again
for a week – having a ‘base’ worked well. Food provided was always freshly
prepared, and it was humbling to be served the best of everything they had available.
Mealtimes were a great opportunity for ‘team time’, and to get to know Pastor and his
family at home, it was even more homely when they allowed us to help wash up!
Dental Mission
I was prepared for being busy and working hard, I thought that “I’m used to that” but
it did nonetheless overwhelm me slightly! At home, we are used to working steadily
throughout the day, with occasional peaks and troughs. It was different therefore to
manage the expectations of ourselves, and the patients, when they arrive as if by
coach load and you have 10-20 to see. Patients were in general very patient (!), and
often the team seemed more stressed that there were 12 waiting that the patients
themselves.
It is challenging to know the best way to triage those kind of numbers, so as to use
manpower and time most efficiently. I’m not sure we got it totally right, as every
clinic was a bit different, but I felt most ‘under control’ when we had nursing
assistance to look after patients particularly after they’d had treatment, whilst I got on
with the next patient. Reliable local help in sterilising instruments was a godsend, and
there was no better example of this than Brother Adrian at Old Boys’ Town.
Some general principles that worked well were seeing children first, as otherwise they
may see too much of what lay in store! Also, giving local anaesthetic then sitting the
patient outside for 10 minutes was good practice but on occasion led to confusion
between nurse and dentist who was next, and led to increased changes of gloves.
It was a bonus that Graham was available to learn new skills, and a testament to his
wonderful caring nature as a doctor that he was genuinely interested in helping
patients. He astounded me frequently in his confidence and ability to ‘get on with it’,
and undertook some tricky extractions and always maintained a calm relaxed and
reassuring manner. Quite unique and worthy of many a Royal College honorary
diploma!
In reflection, part of me feels that it was professionally demoralising seeing
widespread tooth decay in the 3rd world, ‘imposed’ on them by western values and
commerce from the Coca-cola and Pepsi corporate giants. The country has a dilemma:
it wants to develop and understandably the population want to have what goes with
their perception of the ‘good life’ in the West. Yet, the infrastructure of Westernised
countries struggles to cope; so in a place like Guyana, there lay many challenges
ahead for public health. The general level of understanding of the cause of tooth
decay seemed low. The diet seemed to have lots of sugary snacks and drinks – most
of it refined sugar rather than chewing raw sugar cane which although some admitted
to doing, we never saw in action. The water although abundant in the rainy season,
could not be considered safe for them to drink, so seeking fizzy drinks instead.
The people seem to cope unbelievably well with long-term tooth ache, and many of
them are anxious of seeking care because their experience of treatment in the past was
negative. We found that the further away from access to treatment we were, in general
the more co-operative the patients were, often to the point of 8 year olds accepting
adult teeth out under local without complaint, with Mum not always present. There
was a girl, about 8 years old, who Ruth noticed had great big biceps, presumably from
carrying heavy things to help out at home or in the fields, and she was so ‘grown-up’
and brave. Mum wasn’t able to be there. She had a tooth out without any fuss, happily
accepted a toothbrush gift and a balloon. Part of you really felt for her.
Teamwork
It is without doubt that the key to a successful trip was engaging teamwork. In a true
Christian way, we all brought different gifts and we needed to appreciate others’ gifts
and encourage one other.
What would I do differently next time?
I nearly subtitled this section ‘Would I go again?’ – so I appear to have answered that!
Kit-wise the inventory was pretty close considering – we didn’t ever reach the point
of being unable to treat someone because we’d run out of supplies. Having said that,
there were occasions of extended patient waiting for a particular instrument to be
sterilised. I’d take more lower 6 forceps – especially ‘cowhorns’ due to the number of
cases with gross coronal breakdown.
Quicker mix filling material could be looked into, as often a filling is quicker and
more appropriate than an extraction.
It would be ideal to take more educational materials to leave with communities;
ideally to train up nurses or other team-members to give out fun and informative
educational messages in a more effective way than simply giving them a leaflet.
Adrian O’Malley
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