By Thi-Anh Tran, November 2005
Almost six weeks after our Mobile Care trip to Vietnam, I can still hum to the tune of our driver’s cell phone ring as we traveled to each of our locations. I can remember the feeling of anxiousness and excitement as our vans drove through the single one-way dirt roads to each of the four villages we worked in. All the village people would emerge from their man-made huts and watch as our unfamiliar vans passed by. I compared their stares to the way I would gaze at a long stretch Hummer limousine in the streets of Los Angeles, wondering who was in there and why they were in there. I would only hope that they knew we were there to help them. I personally knew that everyone I was traveling with were on a mission and had a common goal: to assist and give hope to the people who were most in need. I left my comfortable, predictable, and routine lifestyle in the United States to pursue a one week mission that was at times uncomfortable, unpredictable, and very unroutine. I was on a journey of a lifetime, and I wanted to make it a successful one.
Nothing I have ever done in my life, could help me prepare for what I would experience in these poverty-stricken villages of Vietnam. As we approached each of our 
working locations, it was amazing to see all of the people waiting for our help. When I would transfer the equipment from the vans, I could literally feel their interested eyes following me to the work stations. I could see the wide range of people that we would help that day. From the elderly patients who looked so emotionless, as if poverty has taken all their spirit away, to the children who had never-ending smiles on their faces, as if we were the once in a lifetime circus coming to town. It was such a blessing to be able to work with and be a part of the dental team. Watching the dentists work so vigorously outside of the comfort of their usual air-conditioned and electricity-powered practices was really amazing. A very small percentage of dentists in the United States would be willing to do extractions in a dark and heat-trapped room, while working on regular chairs without any suction. It takes a lot of desire and compassion to do what the doctors, dentists, optometrist, pharmacist, and helpers of the Mobile Care team did. Everyone demonstrated their selflessness and automatically switched into teamwork mode for the entire trip.
The journey through our working days in Vietnam has allowed me to have the most appreciation for my own life and what I have. From seeing a child so thankful for the box of 24 crayons he was given, when a child in the States would have a 164 pack of crayons, markers, and sidewalk chalk. To seeing the children in the orphanage having the time of their lives playing with just old bicycle tires, when the children in the States have gameboys, playstations, and Xboxes. To seeing a mother and her dying premature baby and knowing that in the States the baby would be nursed to health in the NICU. The entire team tried their best to help with the people medically, but what was most important, was that they gave these people a sense of hope. These patients will always need more extractions and medications, but we supply them with a mental knowledge of caring that will suffice as a lifelong prescription. This was my first trip with SAP-VN to Vietnam and it was an experience that I will never forget for the rest of my life. I would like to thank the entire group for taking me in and being so welcoming towards me. I am ever so grateful for the friendships that I have gained during the trip, and I couldn’t imagine not trying my best to go on the trip again in future years. I would like to thank my mom for helping me prepare for the trip and reminding me to do everything I needed to do. And last but not least, I am very fortunate to have a “Ba Ngoai” that opened the doors to give me this awesome opportunity to work with fantastic people and to help my home country. She has an everlasting care and love for me that I am truly forever grateful and thankful for.
**Thi-Anh graduated from UC Santa Barbara and is currently applying to dental school.
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