Page 7 - link magazine

The Link Magazine • December 2002 7
High adventures in the Andes Swindon Smile Menders achieve success
Burning hot days and freezing nights in tents are an abiding memory Freshbrook dentist Brendon Ball is celebrating news that bureau-
for Barry Butler from Peatmoor, who with four colleagues from cratic hold ups in the Ukraine have been overcome and his dream of
Zurich Life, spent five days in September trekking in Peru raising providing better dental and medical care is now being fulfilled.
money for Sense International, the charity that works in developing After an aid trip to
countries with deafblind children. the Cherkassy region
They walked with mountainside with a with colleague Rich-
33 others from the sheer drop on the ard Swift in 1999, he
UK, accompanied by other side." came up with the idea
local guides and por- As he was feeling of towing a former —`
ters who transported fit, Barry opted for an schools dental caravan
their equipment on extra super challenge tobeusedinanareaas
pack horses to their trek with two others. big as Wales where
next camping stop. The route took them there is little care.
The highlight of the past the guide's home. Having married his
trip was achieving After a meal they were translator Natasha Brendon, Natasha, Linda and Richard before setting
their goal, the moun- asked to become god- and formed a charity off for the Ukraine with the caravan and tow vehicle
tain top Inca cities of parents to the guide's Smile Menders to raise
Machu Pichu and the daughter Naomi money for their project, in July Brendon said he and Dr Ivan
even higher Wynna Pichu. which involved a monetary dona- they and Richard and Linda Swift Kovolenko, the director of dental
"It was tough going at times, tion to the family. delivered the unit plus equipment services in the Cherkassy region
and very disconcerting to see our "Few westerners see the parts of and materials. were delighted. "The unit is visit-
belongings going past us at a rate Peru we saw," said Barry. "It made Most of it passed through cus- ing orphanages in the region pro-
of knots to the next site," said Barry. us appreciate the simplicity and toms without a problem, but it took viding care to children who have
"The starting point for the trek was hardship of the local peoples." four months of bureaucratic wran- never seen a dentist. It's fantastic
2,800 metres above sea level rising Above, Barry, centre, with fellow walk- gling and high level negotiation to what we've been able to achieve
to a high point of 4,660 metres. At ers at 4,500m on the super challenge, get the tow vehicle released for with help from Swindon compa-
one point the steps clung to the hike up the Lares valley use. nies and local donations."

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