/        TLDP Team 3 Visits Railaco,  Kasait, Maubara and  Maliana 

June 2024

It was a case of getting the band back together for Team 3 with Dr David joining Dr Henry and old friends Ana Tilman, Ana Martins, Ana Paula and Tino, together with our new travelling colleague, Tison. 

For the first time, we ran two teams back to back which was something new for our Timorese colleagues. This would involve meeting Dr Mary and her Team 2 colleagues in Dili, taking possession of the cars and equipment, dropping them to the airport and we would be on our way. Our rough plan was to travel up to hilltop Railaco to stay with our Jesuit friends, back down to the Kasait medical clinic and then pass through Maubara to visit far flung Maliana close to the Indonesian border.

 Dr Henry arrived first with some concerns as to how the airport customs officers would view his stash of anaesthetic and new equipment. Getting a chalk cross on his suitcase and told to go unpack everything over there didn’t sound great. However, pointing to the Rotary logo on my polo whilst mumbling the words “Carmelite Sisters, Mario and Rotary” seemed to do the trick and I was pointed to the door. 

Dr David who arrived on the next flight took the opposite tack, taking his chalk cross as a tick of approval he disregarded instructions, assumed an imperious air and strode for the exit unhindered.

It was good to catch up with Dr Mary and her new volunteers over lunch, exchange news, hear about their travels and any problems that may have arisen. One of which was the Sisters car needing some mechanical love before it could proceed, which involved running around rush hour Dili to find some expertise.

The next morning saw us depart Dili, picking up our local team members along the way for the trip up to Railaco.

 

In parallel, we continued our screening and treatment of the children at the secondary boarding school next door. It was gratifying to see that the classes that we saw last year were generally dentally healthy, allowing us to do some less invasive treatments such as scaling and cleaning teeth. However the new (to us) incoming Year 9 class had plenty of problems to attend to with these students coming from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds over a large regional area.    

Father Bong and his Jesuit compatriots are great hosts, understanding that our team brings much needed dental help to their community and we all enjoyed their stash of altar wine and lively after dinner conversations. 

After 5 days we packed our portable gear away and travelled down through the hills to the medical clinic at Kasait, adjacent to two schools and a small University. A mix of academic staff and community were seen on the first day with the next day devoted to students and their self diagnosed issues. There were some clever ones who could get into Ana Paulas queue with a pain issue only to have it disappear in the chair but “could you clean my teeth while I’m here”. 

It can be a problem allocating resources, generally an abscessed tooth trumps teeth cleaning but it’s not easy to keep everyone happy. 

 

Friday afternoon saw us packing up our stock and equipment into the two cars, with all hands on deck we can get this process down to just over an hour with no nook and cranny left unfilled.

An hours drive down the road saw us at our Maubara clinic, a quick wash and a change of clothes and up to the Carmelite orphanage for dinner.

Visiting the children is something of an institution for us, familiar faces to say hello to and then the much awaited presentation of our gifts. T shirts, balls, hair ties and bubble blowers are dispensed with much laughter and general chaos. 

Of course the most famous ex student of the orphanage is our very own Ana Martins, making the jump from being Dr Davids 15 year old dental nurse to studying dental therapy in Kupang and now accompanying us on tour.

The next morning with the cars already fully loaded, we had some time to check the orphanage kids teeth (to be treated in the near future by Ana Tilman) before setting off on the 4 hour drive to Maliana. 

 

Then onward to Maliana for our planned rondevoux with the empty Covid ward in the big regional hospital. 

A small fly in the ointment was that they weren’t expecting us, with the security guard suggesting we should make an appointment to see the Director on Monday. But wait…there was the Director making a random weekend visit to his office…….corralling him we explained the situation, blaming the lack of warning of our visit on beaurocratic bungling in Dili and with much nodding and shaking of hands we were given the keys to the  salubrious Covid wing of the hospital. Air conditioning, tiled floors, flushing toilets and plenty of power sockets…….what more does an itinerant dental team need?

We even were able to co-opt some of the students as dental nurses, the 10 minute rapid training module proving adequate to hold a dental sucker or the hand of one of their colleagues.

Our evenings included time for discussion about issues that may have arisen through the day, ranging from endodontic treatment, bleeding control through to how to treat a dislocated jaw.  

One situation we needed to give consideration to is what to do when a very young child presents with multiple abscessed teeth that would be best treated using a general anaesthetic. We are placed in a difficult situation, wanting to help those in pain but facing the reality of dealing with unwilling patients and not wanting to traumatise them if it all goes pear shaped.

Finally on Friday, our time at Maliana comes to an end, the full executive of the hospital meets with us to thank us for our efforts and we are presented with traditional Tais as a parting gift. 

Back on the road again we pass through Balibo too early for pizza and drive right through to Maubara with just a quick stop at a nascent beach bar for the obligatory selfies.

Unloading our equipment, a stocktake to make sure our next team has the neccessary materials, goodbye to Tison who lives near the clinic, handing the Sisters car back to the Sisters and then packing the 3 Ana’s into the back of the Troopy we roll back into Dili.

Goodbyes said, data collated, promises to write, the Troopy delivered to Rotary Mario and suddenly a busy two weeks with our team is over.

Debriefing with refreshments back at the Timor Plaza Skybar we were able to reflect on a busy and successful trip.