MONDAY
2nd October, 2006
Clinics: Kapenguria District Hospital and Mt. Elgon Hospital, Kitale
Safari ya meno (Tooth Tour):
- Kitale Academy Secondary (9.30AM) and Primary (11.30AM)
- St. Mark’s Cherangany Girls (2PM) Boys (4PM)

TUESDAY
3rd October, 2006
Clinics: Kapenguria District Hospital and Mt. Elgon Hospital, Kitale
Safari ya meno (Tooth Tour):
-St. John’s, Chepareria A.C.K (10AM)
- Chepareria Primary and Chepareria Girls H.S.

WEDNESDAY
4th October, 2006
Clinics: Kapenguria District Hospital and Mt. Elgon Hospital, Kitale
Safari ya meno (Tooth Tour):

- Nasokol Girls’ School 3.30PM; (Morning)
- St. Francis School for the Blind School (12Noon)
- Shimolatewa (Morning hrs)
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EVENING (6:00 PM): Party BMCC
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THURSDAY
5th October, 2006
Clinics: Kapenguria District Hospital and Mt. Elgon Hospital, Kitale
Safari ya meno (Tooth Tour):
-Kapsokwony A.C.K /Kaptama (Morning)
-Kapsokwony H.S (Afternoon)


FRIDAY
6th October, 2006
Clinics: Kapenguria District Hospital and Mt. Elgon Hospital, Kitale
Safari ya meno (Tooth Tour):
- Osorongai H.S.
- Bishop Muge H.S.
- St. Patrick’s, H.S.

SATURDAY
7th October, 2006
Clinics: Kapenguria District Hospital and Mt. Elgon Hospital, Kitale
Safari ya meno (Tooth Tour):
- Safari ya meno Team divide to join dental doctors at Kapenguria and Kitale

SUNDAY
8th October, 2006
TEAM DEPARTS

Today, Rev. Marshall Shelly commissioned Team Tabasamu to go forth on its mission to Kenya. Team Tabasamu leaves in just four days!

The team is over the moon with enthusiasm. In the last week, Trey has conducted two four hour training sessions, preparing Team Tabasamu to enter the world of dental care in Kenya. Evelyn unveiled her incredible children's puppet show on taking care of teeth , which will have its world debut on the Tooth Tour. Otho introduced a new song into the Tabasamu songbook. The Kobernas and J&J are sending us with 1,000 toothbrushes. Lisa presented each team member with a team shirt. And everybody else has joined in to secure the final details. But the highlight of the week was our receiving an incredibly generous donation of much-needed medicines from our annual supporter, Dr. Roger Emert. Thanks Roger!

Well, say your prayers. We are ready to go. If all goes as planned, we will be sending updates on this blog beginning next Monday at the latest!! Stay tuned... OK

Kaylyn (sixteen years old) has been with Tabasamu from the start!

While Tabasamu is a dental mission, it has served as a wonderful catalyst for other projects that can help underprivileged communities in western Kenya. In the past several days, Tabasamu has received incredibly generous donations of fabric from several sources. Mary Kerr, Julia Kerr, Linda Sue Blue, Otho Kerr Jr. and Audrie Lavine sent separate shipments of fabric that will be used in technical schools that currently rely on paper (as shown) to teach young people how to sew. Currently, these schools can't afford to use real fabric, even for year-end projects. We hope that the provision of fabric will not only give the children a more realistic learning experience, but will also give them a chance to create marketable products, the sale of which may fund future purchases of fabric, creating a self-sustaining operation.

Dr. Trey Wilson at work in the Kitale District Hospital.

One of the highlights of this year's adventure will be Safari ya Meno (The Tooth Tour). Safari ya Meno is our effort to bring dental education and service to rural Kenyan communities. Every day, two Safari ya Meno vans will carry three Tabasamu volunteers one to three hours away from Kitale, Kenya and work with people in one of the diocesan parishes. Evelyn Pantuso has developed a wonderful puppet skit that will seek to teach young people about proper dental care. And a piece of the tour will target the education of adults as well.

This is the first posting of the new Tabasamu blog. Team Tabasamu 2006 will depart for Kitale, Kenya on Sept 28th! We are excited to announce that Team Tabasamu 2006 includes 12 extraordinary, globally-minded volunteers: Dr. Trey Wilson, Kyle Evans, Lisa Green, Jerry Harbaugh, Rev. Cari Jackson, Otho Kerr, Kaylyn Koberna, Megg King, Dr. Paul Leventhal, Evelyn Pantuso, Dr. Gary Rabinowitz, and Tonia Richard.