News & Stories

Dental Team Visits Burkina Faso

November 20, 2007

     About 144 people received treatment from a short-term team that ministered through a portable dental office in Sector 30, a needy area of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. While an Alliance pastor evangelized, the team members drilled and pulled teeth, putting in 14-hour days. “Some patients, desperate to be seen, stayed at the clinic overnight, sleeping on the ground or porch,” said C&MA missionary Pete Brokopp. “One man peddled 45 miles by bicycle to get there.” The village chief, the government delegate for the area, and the head of the medical center visited the clinic as well. 
     Even when the drill broke, the team remained committed to serving the impoverished people who poured into the clinic. The engineers on the team constructed a makeshift drill using an air compressor that Brokopp rented from a tire shop. “The hardest thing of all was turning away those who had waited so long, including one woman who kept refusing to leave when the clinic had closed,” he said. “But the dentist’s arms were so tired that he could barely hold onto the instruments.” Many teeth were broken below the gum line, making them difficult to extract. “One person took four hours to have his tooth removed and kept receiving novocain between other patients,” said Brokopp. “What a celebration when the last piece of his tooth came out!”  
     Each day began with prayer. Maman Paré, the best-known evangelist in the area, preached to the line of people waiting to be seen. “Some heard quite a few messages!” said Brokopp. Paré prayed individually with each person, and then the team prayed with the patients.  
     Weeks after the short-termers left, people in the community were still talking about the team’s visit. “When they praise the work the team did, the pastor just tells them to thank the Lord who sent the dentist,” said Brokopp. “Imagine all those people finally living without pain! The love the team showed them is indeed an opening to the gospel. Pray for changed lives as a result of this testimony.”