Ayuda International ยท International mission

Cambodia, 2015 to 2016

Over the 2015 holidays, Ayuda International volunteers joined SmileOnU and Project Angkor for a free dental, vision and prosthetics clinic in Siem Reap, Cambodia. This is one of the clearest looks at how an Ayuda international clinic runs, from the line outside to the last patient in the chair.

Walk through the clinic

Two minutes inside an Ayuda clinic

Steve Bender filmed this walk through in January 2016, moving station by station to check that every patient kept moving: registration and triage outside, then screening, treatment, sterilization and hygiene education inside.

Steve Bender and a SmileOnU volunteer stand in front of hundreds of patients seated under a purple and white tent, waiting for the free clinic in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Hundreds of patients waiting under the tent for our clinic in Siem Reap, with Steve Bender and a SmileOnU volunteer.
A young girl in a blue checked school shirt opens her mouth for a volunteer, showing her missing front teeth
Before: missing her front teeth.

One patient, one new start

She did not want to go to school

One of the patients that day was a schoolgirl in a blue checked uniform. She had lost her front teeth, and she was so embarrassed by her smile that she no longer wanted to go to school.

Our volunteers changed that. When she left the clinic she could smile again, and she was ready to go back to class. A few teeth changed how she saw herself, and with it the path of her life.

That is why we do this: not just to fix teeth, but to give a child back her confidence.

The same girl smiling beside Steve Bender after her treatment
After: smiling with Steve Bender.
Steve Bender and a young volunteer holding traditional Khmer two string fiddles beside a sign for a music band of landmine victims near Angkor

Beyond the clinic

Music on the road to Angkor

On the paths around the Angkor temples, a band of landmine survivors plays traditional Khmer music to support their families. Steve and a young volunteer stopped to try the instruments.

Meeting them was a reminder of why the team brought LN-4 prosthetic hands to Cambodia: the landmines are long quiet, but the people who survived them still live with the cost every day.

The mission

What the team brought to Siem Reap

DentalFree exams, cleanings, fillings, extractions and new smiles for children and families.
VisionEye screenings and glasses so students can see the board.
ProstheticsLN-4 prosthetic hands for survivors of landmines.
EducationA Khmer language Sugar Board poster made with SmileOnU to teach how much sugar hides in drinks.

Partners: SmileOnU, Project Angkor, the Rotary Club of Newport Beach Sunrise and Ayuda International volunteers, dentists and students.

Join us at a clinic

Dentists, hygienists, dental students and helpers of every kind are welcome. Tell us where you would like to serve and we will send you the clinic calendar.

Email us to volunteer