Partner country Philippines

Tandläkare utan gränser (Dentists Without Borders) (TLUG) provides volunteer dental care in the southern Philippines, in a small, poor port village called Palompon, on the southwestern corner of the island of Leyte. About 60,000 people live in this village and in the district there are 19 "Elementary Schools" - with children from 5 years to 14 years.

The climate is hot and humid all year round, with frequent thunderstorms and typhoons, mudslides and earthquakes.

The country is poor but the people are still open, happy, hospitable and very grateful. The vast majority of the school children we meet here have not received any dental care before.

I mars och oktober, det är alltid vecka 11-12 respektive vecka 41-42, skickar TLUG trupper för två veckors volontärarbete. Den absoluta tyngdpunkten ligger på förebyggande tandvård såsom fissurförseglingar, fluorlackningar och information i skolorna kring egenvård, men vi utför även viss akuttandvård.

TLUG cooperates in the Philippines with the Swedish Fundraising Foundation for the School Children of the Philippines (Santiago Foundation). We run, monitor and evaluate projects with supervised tooth brushing twice a day in school classes. We visit schools 30-45 minutes by jeep into the jungle. We work in the existing premises at the schools, indoors and outdoors, on peg chairs/benches, and with a headlamp. Transport takes place with small vans and Tuk-Tuk's.

We are looking for dental hygienists, dentists and dental nurses with clinical and social competence and with the right attitude. You need to be passionate about helping children who have never received proper dental care. If you are accepted, you can count on two weeks of intensive and very rewarding work.

We live quite simply and close together in Palompon. Electricity, running water and internet connection are basically always available. On the weekend between the two work weeks, we rest and digest the impressions together, on the island of Kalanggaman, an hour by trimaran out to sea from Palompon. It is very cheap to live in the Philippines. The trip from Sweden round trip costs approx. SEK 13,500. The volunteer is responsible for all costs themselves. (Multi-time volunteers can receive a travel grant of SEK 4,000 after applying to TLUG). During the working days outside the schools, we are usually invited to lunch.

Feel free to read our collected travel stories from previous projectsThere you get more information and a sense of how others have experienced what it is like to participate in Tandläkare utan gränser (Dentists Without Borders)' volunteer project!