Final Project

Keeping those teeth clean is a very important part of health care and one that is often overlooked in the field of health care. The number of dentists in Africa is staggeringly low. As the field of dentistry is in my future I decided the perfect way for me to help Africa is to do dental work. While all health care in Africa has a severe problem dentistry is often overlooked because not many of the severe diseases that affect Africans are related to the oral cavity. This has resulted in a severe budget deficit allocation in areas related to oral health care.

While I have not yet been accepted to dental school, upon my travels to the schools, I have seen the active opportunities the students take to help those in need. Many of these organizations travel to places all across the world to help the under served and educate people on the benefits of clean teeth. One of the organizations that has stuck out to me is the Christian Dental Society, which is annually involved in trips to countries to provide dental health care. Upon my entrance into dental school I plan to join the organization and explain to them my beliefs and my knowledge about Africa and how I feel we can help.

Also as a dentist, the many I make which will probably be more than I need, I am going to donate to particular non-governmental organizations. The organization that I found that had me most intrigued was the Africa Foundation. Africa Foundation is an organization that seeks to address key problems that Africa face today. These things include health care, education, and Income generating programs. The organization seeks to help the continent in many ways by facing these issues, but most importantly they focus on enabling Africans to help themselves. By training Africans to be more independent that set in a cycle of growth and prosperity.

Two blogs in one, child soldiers and Rehab.

From the young ages of even 7 some children are recruited by their government s or rebel factions to train as soldiers and fight in armed conflicts. Situations like this are prevalent throughout countries in Africa and the acts committed by these groups are atrocious. The children that are used during this battles are victims of their environment. They either join or die. Those that join are often easily manipulated and the acts that these children commit are outrageous and unbelievable. We have often seen in our society what happens when children are neglected and abused and how many of them turn out. This situation with child soldiers is intensified 10 fold especially with the involvement of guns and drugs.

A report was generated by the Coalition to stop the Use of Child Soldiers and broke down the situation in many of the countries across Africa that are struggling with the problem of Child Soldiers and civil wars. The findings of this report are astonishing and some of the accounts given by the children or people who have seen what is going on are unbelievable. It is estimated approximately 500,000 child soldiers are across the world and one third of those are in Africa. While it does not take place in every country across Africa, the fact that it is taking place at all is a scary fact and one that needs to be addressed. There is no doubt that a child of a young age will do just about anything he is told to do since he doesn't typically know any better. Bring cohorts in the same group that a child can impress and that makes the situation worse as some of the children try to show off and "prove" themselves. Now this doesn't only take place with boys, girls are involved to, only to a lesser number. But when girls are involved they are often forced to marry soldiers, cook for the revel groups, and even in some cases fight in the battles.

So what is being done to stop this and help these African children get back on their feet and revive Africa? There are several organizations out there that are trying to help bring attention to what is going on and stop it as well as rehabilitate the former child soldiers. One of those programs was mentioned earlier and that is the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. This group has done a lot of research and includes many other organizations in its committee as well as input for various NGO's. The main purpose of this group was to conduct a study of various groups that were are likely to use child soldiers and present this list to the UN security council for action. Yes, I know the UN never gets anything done, but with the list compiled and brought to the attention of the world their is relief insight.