Page 7 - link magazine

k.com The Link Magazine • February 2001 7
Couple plan ambitious Ukraine aid trip CV&

Recycling company Holland Handling donates mobile dental unit for mercy mission - 1 Secretarial
Swindon's involvement with the Cherkassy region of Ukraine becomes even stronger later this year Services
when Freshbrook dentist Brendon Ball and colleague Richard Swift make another major aid trip in Get noticed in 2001 with a
August for the charity Hope Now.
professionally written
Two years ago they were ally asked if he was interested Curriculum Vitae.
pictured on The Link front I in an ex-health authority den-
page before they set off to ; Natasha' n ,.— tal caravan which we use as a Typing & administration
deliver dental equipment -` ^ site hut in the scrap yard. He services also available.
and materials, and to pro i jumped at it; now I'm thinking For further details call:
vide up-to-date training for , . ,-1of going on the trip as one of the
local dentists. This time they r L drivers." Additional
are going to refurbish and ''" After Brendon's initial sur- Secretarial Services
tow a complete mobile den- prise an ambitious scheme soon
tal surgery across Europe to emerged. Richard used to work 01793 537121
provide much needed serv- in a similar mobile when he www.additional.org.uk
ices to the Cherkassy region ; was a community dentist and
of Ukraine. said it would ideal.
In 1999 Brendon met trans- - Natasha thinks air condition-
lator Natasha Manamsa. He ' - ` ing will have to be provided.
proposed to her last May "It is very impressive and will
when she visited Swindon give a good service in the rural
with two Ukrainian dentists areas. But the temperatures are Brilliant white fascias ,f6 month —
to observe modern methods; they the earliest opportunity, extreme; in winter it can reach mi- interest
were married on 30 September last "There is very little provision nus 25 degrees Celsius and in sum- freeJI!,
year. She is pivotal in providing outside the main city and the idea mer up to 35 degrees." Writt
on
both language and cultural under- is to provide Hope Now with the Brendon and Richard have the
standing, as well as valuable nego- means of taking treatment and equipment but need: The very best
tiating skills with bureaucracy. health education to remote areas." • volunteers to respray the unit quality system for longer
Brendon explained that apart He said that family planning and repair electrics and plumbing durability fitted by the
partners for over 15 years
from in the main city of Cherkassy, advice will also be a central aim of • a security alarm, two genera-
there are almost no dental services the mobile unit. The number of tors, a small compressor, a bottled • Locally run family business
• All work guaranteed
in a region the size of Wales, and a abortions is sky high because of gas refrigerator, jerry cans for fuel
• Cover or replacement
trip to the dentist is one of the most the lack of contraception. Conse- • people to help with fundraising Unit 67 Pembroke Centre. Chenev Manor. Swindon
feared experiences because treat- quently the level of HIV and AIDs so that the project can be main-
ment is usually given without any infection is also high. TB is an tained in the long term.
painkillers. "Our involvement has increasing health risk "There are a lot of problems to
sown seeds and we're told the way John Holland of waste manage- overcome, but we're on our way,"
patients are treated is changing; mentoperatorsHollandHandling he said. For details, contact
dentists are moving away from said, "I heard Brendon at a talk Brendon Ball at the Freshbrook
drilling, filling and extracting at about his Ukraine trip and casu- Dental practice on 873044.
Forget-me-not: 2 Specialists in PVCU,
windows, doors and
Last month Rhoda Manook from Toothill wrote a moving comment on the first British annual day of
remembrance for victims of the holocaust and asked readers not to forget the one and a half million
Armenians who were massacred at the end of the 19th century and between 1915 to 1918 when the Ottoman
Turks set out to exterminate a whole race.
It has been described as the first genocide of modern history and a British government report documented
the repression in detail. Yet Adolf Hitler, in preparing to destroy the Jews of Europe, was later to ask: Who
now remembers the liquidation of the Armenians?'
Here she recounts herfirst visit last year to the land of her great-grandfatherwho was killed in the genocide.
Amusnasats Ek?
Tel: 01793 848177 or 770596
That's Armenian for 'are you married?' It was one of the recurring questions I seemed to encounter upon 22 Ravens Walk, Wootton Bassett,
first acquaintance with anyone in Armenia. This was in addition to the incessant staring during the five
weeks I spent in this most beautiful and raw country.
A 99% homogenous population nia from the former USSR eleven
has yet to discover the 'foreign years ago. This is apparent di- AM
man' or rather, the foreign man - " rectly upon arrival. Unemploy-
has yet to discover Armenia. - mentisextremelyhigh, roads have
Flying out at the end of August, not been re-surfaced, buildings are SKIPS
I captured the glorious weather of in disrepair, government infight-
a previously stifling summer, with ing is rife, and corruption abounds.
the intention of exploring this But despite the seeming physical 2, 2, 3, 4, 5
country and learning the language, degradation, the hospitality and yards capacity
yet more importantly meeting the the literacy of the people is aston- 5 days given to fill skip
inhabitants. ' ' fishing. The first nation to be pro-
Although I am half Armenian, worth of language lessons with an claimed Christian in 303 AD, there 2.3 tonne Mini-digger for hire
my lack of knowledge of this lan- excellent teacher at the American are over fifty monasteries from the Freephone
guage was very obvious in a coun- University of Armenia helped twelfth and thirteenth centuries
try where Armenian is the main enormously. still standing in all their humble 0800 - 387613
language, the second being Rus- The country itself is officially splendour. Tel: 731610
sian. Much sign language was in classed as a third world nation The country is still alive, though 8am - 8pm
operation, although two weeks since the independence of Arme- only just kicking.