The Foundation has hosted  its first fundraising event. This year we hosted a garden party. 

It was an evening of music and entertainment, drinks food and your chance to help a worthy cause.

Why the high target? Because this is the beginning of a long fundraising campaign to achieve our ultimate dream, the opening of a dental therapist school. 

All proceeds will go towards the creation of a dental therapist school in Sierra Leone, as well as towards the purchase of equipment, dental supplies and medication for Smiling World Foundation and its team in Sierra Leone to utilise during their clinics when they visit towns, schools and orphanages.

Your donations will also be helping to pay towards life-saving operations and sponsoring children to get into school.

Our dental school project is going from strength to strength so there is no better time to get involved and help found an establishment that will be saving and restoring lives for generations to come leaving behind a legacy that will change the future of the children in Sierra Leone.

Eight undergraduate students will start the first two years in the Medical School starting in September 2013. This gives us two years to raise sufficient money to prepare the Dental Department at the Connaught Hospital in Freetown to receive the student in their thirrd and final year, which will be their clinical year.

Our mission is to preserve and protect the dental health of children, their families and communities by providing and assisting in the provision of education, facilities, support services and equipment.

After many years of civil unrest the country was left dilapidated, schools, and facilities were destroyed, leaving many orphaned children behind. These children were unable to obtain an education and many face a very ill fated future. Our scope is to reach as far out as we can to different communities, schools and orphanages. We give children and young adults hope, and throughout incessant work we are reaching out further and further to those impoverished communities that have never had access to health care. We save lives.

So far we have treated over 5000 children and adults and have screened many more. In our past two visits alone, we saved three children's lives by financially supporting them to have major operations until they were recuperated enough to go home.

These figures only take into consideration the children we treated during Raffaella's bi-annual visits to Sierra Leone. As we speak, our team in Sierra Leone, are carrying out our mission even in Raffaella's absence by treating and screening children in towns, schools and orphanages. The work continues throughout the year, under Raffaella's supervision.

We can only continue our work with your support. Please help us give the children of Sierra Leone something to smile about.

Please consider being one of our committed sponsor also through monthly or yearly donations, remember $12 will keep a child in school for a month. $100 will home and feed as well as educate a child for a month.

On behalf of Smiling World Foundation and on behalf of the children of Sierra Leone a heartfelt THANK YOU.

www.smilingworld.org