NEXT MEETING - GUEST SPEAKER

Pike Peters

Solar Smiles Dental Charity

In 2009 Rotarian Kim Groizard travelled to Cambodia on what she anticipated would be a fun loving backpacking holiday. However when she visited the Choeung Ek Killing Fields just outside of Phnom Penh she was appalled to discover evidence of the darker side of Cambodia's history.

It was whilst walking around the mass graves she found human teeth coming up through the dirt pathways. These had belonged to people who had lost their lives at the site during the Khmer Rouge & Pol Pot regime.

In 2015 the project SOLAR SMILES Dental Charity was born with the support of the Rotary Club of Docklands. Through extensive research they were able to find a portable solar powered backpack dental chair that meant dental treatment could be taken to communities rather than them having to travel extensively to cities.

In January, 2017, the first group travelled to Cambodia and delivered over $134,000 worth of dental treatment to Cambodian children and young people, many of whom had never received dental treatment before.

The Club has sourced two more chairs that are on their way to Nepal to support rural communities with dental health in that country.

Pike Peters is President of the Rotary Club of Docklands, a sponsor of the Solar Smiles Dental Charity.