"Give me my toothbrush!"

....which is what I wish the little kids here would ask me. Instead, they say "give me my money!" The "my" is not a typo; they do, indeed, ask you to give them their money...

Embarking on my second year of Peace Corps, I’m formulating ideas of projects I would like to do or work with. It’s a tough balance, though, determining what is best for the village and what they want to do compared to introducing new things that myself as a volunteer feels would highly benefit the community as a whole. For example, dental hygiene is not highly valued in the village, not necessarily because people don’t care but rather because generally they are not taught proper techniques. This is a much larger problem than one might imagine. Commonly, those in the village without proper dental hygiene often times suffer from conditions such as abscessed teeth without access to proper treatment to loss of teeth making it difficult to eat.

Therefore, I am proposing and formulating a project for this fall and I need your help! October is National Dental Hygiene Month in America and I want to celebrate it here in Malawi as well. I plan on conducting training’s on proper usage of toothbrushes and toothpaste to people in my village of Bwanje as well as surrounding area. I am requesting the following:

Toothbrushes - inexpensive samples (that you have collected from your twice yearly trip to the dentist, no doubt!) or ones purchased

Toothpaste - sample tubes of any flavor (please exclude packaging, please!) 

You might be asking “What about floss?” I think it would be great to teach flossing techniques as well, but the longevity of flossing is something I don’t foresee. First being that you cannot buy floss in the village, and second that the floss will likely be used for children's enjoyment instead. But if you would still like to send some, you are most welcome!

One question we as Peace Corps Volunteers must ask ourselves while brainstorming ideas is, “Is this project sustainable?” The answer is yes! Toothbrushes and toothpaste can be purchased in my village but can be a financial stretch for some people. My hope is that if I can show Malawians the importance and benefits of proper hygiene while giving them a toothbrush to start with, they will be more willing to continue good practices. In addition I wanted to have a project that includes the opportunity for all of you, my friends and family, to contribute.

Being that the Malawi postal service can be extremely slow, I am requesting packages to be mailed from America by July 15th, 2011 at the latest. Please know that I cannot be successful with this project without all of you back home, and any contribution you have will be so much appreciated. Even if you only have two toothbrushes to send, that is two more than I have now! My goal is 1000 toothbrushes and the equivalent of toothpaste samples. Help me to achieve this and possibly surpass it! Please ask your local dentist to participate as well! Below I will include a formal letter for you to give to them explaining my project

All donations can be sent to:

Mary Kuhlke

℅ BERDO

PO Box 4

Bwanje, Ntcheu

Malawi

AFRICA

Thank you all in advance for contributing to the education of proper dental hygiene practices! All the best!

Please click this link for a formal letter. Thank you!

This is a girl in my village who cracks me up
but is also in serious need of a toothbrush!