Dental Clinic and Movie in Jerusalem

Tuesday morning the Smiths asked Garth to go with them to a dental clinic. It is a free clinic for children which is staffed by volunteer dentists from all over the world. There were four dentists there when they arrived, three from America and one from Canada. The dentists come for two weeks, pay their own transportation and meals but housing is provided by the dental organization that runs the clinic. They picked up a man and his daughter who live in Bethlehem and they took them to the clinic so the daughter could have some work done. They had to walk through the "Separation Wall" to get to the part of the city where Jeff and Garth could meet them and take them to the dental clinic in Jerusalem.

The clinic was originally started by a Holocaust survivor because she said that she never wanted to see children suffer the way she did.

Much of the equipment at the clinic was donated by Brigham Young University and the dental supplies are donated from Schein Dental Company in the amount of $40,000 annually.

The dentist put in two amalgam restorations without any anesthesia and the patient tolerated it without complaints. After her dental work was finished, a hygienist cleaned her teeth.

The clinic was clean and very well run.

Garth highly recommends dentists who are interested to volunteer for two weeks. They work only three days/week and that enables them to see the country on their off days. We have certainly enjoyed our experiences to other countries with our humanitarian work; it work will change your life and it's a wonderful way to serve others. Here is information for anyone who might be interested: Website: www.dental-dvi.org.il; Email: international@dental-dvi.org.il; Religious Affiliation: None

When the Smiths and Garth came back they said, "Let's go to a movie! It's Tuesday and seniors get a discount." A few months ago, we discovered a place with very nice theaters so it was fun to get away and to do something completely different than our work at the Jerusalem Center. We have worked long hours the past few weeks so playing a little hookie from work seemed A-OK. Neomi is on vacation, Eran and Dr. Whitchurch are out of the country, the students are in Galilee for another week so the JC is empty and it was a good excuse to have a change of pace. The theaters are ultra modern and there are lots of places to take photos.

Photo: Chris Heiner.

Photo: There is an ice skating rink at the place where the movie theaters are located.

This way to the movie.

Photo: Four crazy old ladies.

Photo: Four crazy old men.

Photo: Eek, I'm not a guitar, Elvis! The movie, Tarzan, was completely different than we had expected but we really enjoyed it. As I watched, I was reminded of my experience swinging on zip lines in Costa Rica and the photography was amazing! Having been to Africa twice, we loved seeing the African animals and how Tarzan, Jane, and the animals took care of each other.

When we left Garth said, "I think that was the first movie I've seen at 12:30 PM in my life!"

Photo: We ended our afternoon with lunch/dinner at McDonalds. Surprisingly, McDonald's food is better here than in the states. . . . or maybe we were just really hungry?