AHHA 2016 Field Trip

13th to 27th August 2016

Writer Ted Mlynarz

We Have Created a History and Will Continue To Do So

Planning and organising are well underway for the annual Mission in 2016. Leaving on Saturday 13th August, the initial team of sixty-one volunteers will depart from Sydney and Melbourne for Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The expected 300 free cataract operations will be carried out at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital, which is a public hospital operated by the Ministry of Health in Cambodia, while the Dental team will be operating from the dental clinic at the University of Puthisastra, where 1000 free examinations and operations are planned for the special need children. This is a private university established in 2007 and fully recognised by the Royal Government of Cambodia.

Both teams will be operating for three days following which Ophthalmology and Dental conferences will be conducted for local medical professionals.

Team members not participating in the conferences will have an opportunity to participate in the Humanitarian aspect of the Mission where poor areas will be visited with food parcel and other essential items will be distributed to the poor.

On Saturday 20th August, some of the team will return to Australia, while the rest will travel to Vietnam. At the same time, replacement volunteers will depart Sydney and Melbourne and travel to Saigon and join the team/s for the second stage of the Mission.

Departing Saigon on Sunday 21st August, the Mission will travel to Da Nang in Central Vietnam where the again it is expected to complete around 300 free cataract operations and over 400 dental examinations and operations to the poor and underprivileged people as well as providing medical training to Vietnamese doctors, dentists and nurses.

Humanitarian Aid will also be provided to the poor and underprivileged in Vietnam, where team members will distribute food and essentials parcels.

The volunteers within the group have been tireless in their fundraising efforts to enable the annual Missions to take place. Several fundraising events have been outstanding and as a result those who cannot otherwise be treated will benefit. Without the outstanding effort of the volunteers and the community, as well as sponsors and partners of AHHA, the work would not be possible.

“Stand up and be counted, you deserve it !!”