Tanzania trip has important message

LOCHMABEN lass Di Wales is travelling to Tanzania this winter with a dental charity to help provide essential oral health education and care.

She is going with the Bridge2Aid charity, supporting their Infant Oral Mutilation (IOM) programme, which works to protect children from harmful traditional practices and to promote safer, healthier alternatives through education and outreach.

Di, pictured, will be part of a volunteer team from Henry Schein Dental UK, for which she is a regional sales manager.

However, after school in Lochmaben and Lockerbie, she originally started as a dental nurse at what was Ness, Priestley and Balfour in Lockerbie, about 30 years ago.

She went on to value dental practices down south before working for a dental products and equipment manufacturer covering the north of England, Scotland and Ireland as a regional sales manager. Before her current job, she worked in medical aesthetics for three years.

Explaining more about the November trip, Di said: “We will be working within the remote Morogoro region to help eradicate the harmful practice of IOM which impacts over 2.5 million children every year, causing needless pain and even death. By empowering local teachers, community leaders and health workers, we will raise awareness of IOM and give them the tools and knowledge to prevent oral disease and eradicate IOM for good.

“Bridge2Aid’s work changes lives by preventing unnecessary suffering and equipping local health workers with the skills to make a lasting difference in their communities.”

She is running a grand raffle to help raise funds for the mission, with tickets on sale now. It will be drawn during a charity day at the Kings Arms in Lochmaben on Saturday afternoon. Prizes include hampers, vouchers, massages, golf and football gifts.

Donations can also be made via a Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/page/henryscheincares-tanzania?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=WP