Raffaella Gabassi will highlight the challenges faced by the people

Boy in Sierra Leone get his first Jaguar

It is very difficult to explain to anyone who has not seen in person how people suffer in poor countries due to something as trivial and curable as tooth decay. It is heart breaking to see the suffering children cry, develop complications and often die or left disfigured. Therefore this time I am leading my team to different districts in Sierra Leone to visit schools and communities to capture a visual of what Smiling World Foundation (SWF) does when it sets sail to Sierra Leone.

We aim to shoot a short documentary highlighting the beautiful as well as the harsh realities of this land. We want to show the common dreams, hopes and aspirations of its inhabitants especially the youth.

I too dream of a better brighter future for Sierra Leone through the work of SWF, the aim remains the same, to build a Dental School so that Dentists can be trained in the Country and help the suffering. There are currently 2 dentists that work for the public sector and a few that work privately only so totally inaccessible for most of the over 6.5 million inhabitants.

For many in Sierra Leone, suffering due to lack of Oral Health Care is the norm.

I am hoping by shooting this documentary to raise awareness through a visual and sensory empathy, I will be going to Sierra Leone for 10 days to accomplish this mission.

This documentary will be used extensively to give SWF a stronger presence for future fundraising events but SWF is not going to be the star of the show, there will be a few clips about us but the documentary will be based mainly on the lack of infrastructure and also raise awareness of the difference between the western world, our easy access to dentistry compared to dying of dental disease in countries like Sierra Leone.

It will be an invaluable tool to help the charity grow and help even more people in dire need. SWF has been extremely lucky to be able to work with Kings College of London who has provided incredible support both by donating materials and dental chairs as well as recently conducting a national dental survey which will be invaluable when presenting facts and figures. On top of that a dental curriculum has been created .... all we need now is.... a Dental school.

Myself and SWF are looking forward to this challenge and hopefully with a bit of luck, to be able to push it to the level of national TV. I have learned in life that dreams can and do come true if only one can dare to take the risks and challenges.

Thank you all for reading and please wish us all good luck :-

www.smilingworld.org or their Justgiving page

Dr Raffaella Gabassi BDS

July 7, 2017