When a Christian dentist told a contact in Kosovo that he would like to work with poor people in a Muslim area, she didn’t miss her chance. Kosovo was 96% Muslim, she told him. And it was full of poor people!
Eight months later, in March 2003, he took time off from their practice in South Africa to spend nearly three weeks in the war-torn region. With the help of the O.M. team he set up a free dental clinic in several locations and for the next nineteen days treated local believers and their families, missionaries, and gypsies.
The quality of dentistry and equipment in Kosovo is poor, plus a high percentage of people smoke, so their teeth are very bad. So they set up a table and equipment right in the church meeting rooms. In one place we showed the Jesus film in Albanian to the people who were waiting.
They chose to help gypsies because they are the poorest of the poor, and considered the lowest in Kosovo’s social order. Their teeth were so bad that the dentist just did extractions. He used three months’ worth of anaesthetic in three weeks!
One girl was a Bosnian who had been kicked out of her house when she was about 14 by her mother’s new husband. Mehrija (pronounced Maria) ended up in Kosovo with a gypsy community. At 16 she was the mother of two children, begging on the streets.’
Confessed the OM contact, who was helping with translation and assisting the dentist: ‘Mehrija stank so badly that I took a step backward when I met her. But our new Dentist was so gentle with her. Her whole mouth was rotten; she only had a few teeth left. But he worked on her like she was a princess…I felt rebuked.’
The Dentist plans to return to Kosovo in the near future, with the dentures that he promised his patients. He is now considering full time work among Muslims, perhaps even running a mobile clinic.
The OM team still marvel at the impact of his visit. Since the war, a lessening of political tensions in Kosovo seems to have been succeeded by an increase in religious tensions. The example of one Christian dentist’s impartial care to Muslims, gypsies and Christians alike has made a powerful statement about the love of Christ.
For more information on OM and dental health in mission, please visit the following: OM and Dentaid
