Loralee Craig ’00 continued ...

In March 2008, Loralee stepped off the plane in Africa prepared for an adventure and carrying 5,000 toothbrushes. Immediately she was thrown into a world much different from her own, where the pace was slow and the people were happy, even though mere survival was a daily struggle. “In Canada we’re so stressed and worried, but we have everything…It takes so little to make them happy,” she remembers.

Each day Loralee worked at the Hermann Gmeiner School, a subsidized education centre for orphans and other children in special circumstances. She spent her weekdays with students, cleaning teeth and teaching each child proper oral hygiene. Each child received a free toothbrush, a rare luxury in an area where most share a household toothbrush or use bark instead. Loralee remembers the children’s modesty: “They thought they didn’t get to keep the toothbrush and tried to hand it back.”

Although she’s happy to be home again, Loralee is excitedly anticipating her return trip to Zanzibar in the fall of 2009. During her stay, she met with 1000 children and helped 50 additional patients at the Jinahs' church, yet she remains humble. “I got so much out of the trip and all I had given them was a toothbrush.”

-Article written by Jaela Bernstien ’06