I give you my background, not to attempt to impress you but rather, to impress upon you that I might possess a bit of discernment. I am an orthodontist from Clinton, Iowa. I teach orthodontics part time at the U. of Iowa College of Dentistry. I have served as the President for the Iowa Society of Orthodontists. I have been awarded the U.S. President’s Bronze Volunteer Service Award twice by presidents Bush & Obama administrations. I have served as the Gateway Free Clinic Dentist, Give Kids a Smile Dentist in the USA providing dental care to some of the impoverished in my country. I have made 18 trips to Cambodia since 2006.

In those 18 trips to Cambodia, I have had the chance to examine many of the individuals associated with most of the 100+ FCOP homes. During a dental team trip, we set up a temporary dental clinic in a designated FCOP host home and transport the individuals associated with the nearest 10 to 12 homes to the temporary clinic to provide dental care. We provided oral exams and complete dental care including: cleanings, sealants, fillings, and extractions. In addition to providing care to inhabitants of the FCOP homes, we also provide care to church home members and neighbors of the church homes as well as occasional individuals of political importance. On one occasion, we even provided dental care to prisoners in the Preah Vihear Province of Cambodia.

I have had the opportunity to evaluate the condition of the residents of the FCOP homes as well as neighbors & church members on numerous occasions and I can tell you that their dental health is generally superior to the neighbors and church members. The residents of the FCOP homes appear, healthy & happy. The neighbors on the other hand are often in desperate need of dental care, requiring extensive care. I would attribute the discrepancies to a number of factors. I believe that inhabitants of the FCOP homes are generally taught basic dental hygiene, provided with rice, veg and meat as mainstays of their diet where there appears to be considerable sugar cane consumption in the rural Cambodian population. The other reason is that FCOP provides routine medical & dental care to all home inhabitants on a regular basis through their staff physician & dentist as well as regular medical & dental teams providing care as well.

I have observed that FCOP homes are providing care for individuals in a marginalized sector of the Cambodian population. The fact that not all children are complete orphans by the definition of having no surviving parents does not trouble me. Children may be separated from parents by death and be considered an “orphan” in the strictest sense of the term or they may be separated from parents, through abandonment, abuse, or by extreme poverty. Cambodia has taken very seriously the problem of human trafficking. I believe the billboards that state “Protect our National Treasure” (i.e. Protect Cambodian Children from Human Trafficking) are probably there because the country acknowledges that there is a certain percentage of the population that is particularly susceptible to become prey to human traffickers. It seem to me that the “poorest of the poor” would be the most susceptible and that FCOP is providing a safe haven for some of the most susceptible individuals in that population.

Cambodia is a beautiful country filled with wonderful people in the process of recovering from a very tragic time in their history. It appears to me that FCOP has been a part of the recovery. FCOP has attempted to be part of the healing for no other reason than a Christian dictum that promotes caring for the orphaned, widowed and impoverished.