After reaching out to help others who struggle half a world away, Dr. Stuart Rich is committed to doing more for those closer to home.

The Auburn dentist returned from a summer relief mission to Africa with an enhanced perspective and renewed determination to extend a helping hand to his community.

“It’s actually hard to talk about sometimes without choking up,” said Dr. Rich, who spent two compelling weeks in southern Kenya, providing dental care to the many who were able to reach a charitably-supported clinic. “It was a remarkable, incredible experience.”

For the good doctor, relieving pain is a regular part of his local practice and the natural expression of a caring heart. He has performed similar relief work before – in southern Mexico as a dental student with the supervision of a professor – but nothing of this scale or length as a professional.

What had been a personally-financed family vacation became an unforgettable adventure and a demanding tour of duty. Dr. Rich and Jon Altman, a dental hygienist friend who joined him on the trip, treated between 100-130 patients, mostly adults, during their visit.

They treated many types of dental ailments, the most common being the extraction of grossly decayed molars that required surgical skills he seldom uses here.

“Most of them have never been to the dentist before, and a lot of them have never been numb (with injections) before,” Dr. Rich said. “We always did our best to relieve their pain, and they never even flinched. … They are a tough, resilient and remarkable people.”

For the Masai tribe of southern Kenya, obtaining urgent and basic dental care always has been difficult. Dr. Rich got the idea to support such a worthy cause two years ago when he met Dr. Ray Damazo and his wife, Gail, at a dental conference in Seattle. Rich learned of the Damazos’ long service to the remote region. They had spent several months out of each of the last 20 years providing mobile dental care, a difficult task without the benefit or convenience of an established clinic.

The Damazos formed the World Health Dental Organization (WHDO), a charitable organization, years ago and have pursued their vision of a permanent clinic, staffed year-round by a rotation of volunteer dentists “vacationing with a purpose.” Dr. Rich, serving as the International Service chairman for the Auburn Rotary Club at the time, found the opportunity intriguing.

“It would be first-world dental care in a third-world area, serving the proud people of the isolated Mara region,” Dr. Rich said. “It sounded like a perfect opportunity for our club to help make a difference.”

Rotary International – through the collaboration of the Auburn Rotary club and several other affiliated clubs in the state, as well as a club in Nairobi – eventually provided $53,000 in to the WHDO to completely equip three treatment rooms in the clinic as well as purchase the necessary cabinetry.

The Masai Dental Clinic opened in January and is located within walking distance of the family home clusters of more than 30,000 people living in the area.

“Walking distance to a Masai may be as much as 40 kilometers,” Dr. Rich said. “During a walk of that distance, they may encounter sharp quartz, Acacia thorns, snakes, scorpions, ill-tempered water buffalo, elephants and … predators.”

Some days, the dental team was swamped with patients, while on others hours passed between visitors. People waited patiently on benches outside the clinic. “No one complained,” Dr. Rich recalled. His Masai assistant helped select the most urgent cases for priority treatment.

Of the many he treated, Dr. Rich vividly can recall his first and last patients. The first patient was a woman, named Namoidu, who was in deep pain, suffering from two decaying molars and a resulting infection that had spread into her now swollen jaw and neck.

“She honestly could have died if she hadn’t received treatment,” Dr. Rich said.

Dr. Rich was able to remove the teeth and drain the infection.

“The Masai are not known for being especially demonstrative, but Namoidu clasped one of my large white hands with both of her thin ebony ones,” Dr. Rich wrote of his experience in an article for the Auburn Rotary. “She said quietly, ‘Asante Sana,’ which means, ‘Thank you very much,’ before shuffling out the door. The moisture at the corner of her eyes was from relief of pain, in mine from gratitude for the opportunity to have served her.”

Dr. Rich’s last patient also was memorable. After Dr. Rich surgically extracted the man’s troublesome, decayed wisdom tooth, the patient admitted that he had been praying throughout the long ordeal.

“I told him that I was praying, too,” Dr. Rich recalled, smiling.

The trip also provided an unforgettable opportunity to experience the culture and wildlife of the region. Dr. Rich, a nature and travel photographer, was able to capture images of many animals in the Masai Mara Reserve. His wife, Kirstin, and two sons had the chance to visit another Rotary project nearby, a primary school that serves more than 300 children in the area. They donated some needed school supplies and visited the children. His sons left with a better understanding of and appreciation for the advantages they had back home.

“Our family was profoundly changed, not just by the adventure, but by the people we met, the patients we helped, the perspective we gained, and the friendships we made,” Dr. Rich said. “It’s an experience we will never forget. I have a much larger family now … and some of them live in Kenya.”

While the trip left Dr. Rich with a greater sense of gratitude, it also forged a stronger commitment to do more back home. He recently has contacted the Christ Community Free Clinic, a charitable clinic in Auburn where volunteers provide medical care on a monthly schedule at no cost. Dr. Rich has volunteered to provide dental care once the dental area becomes operational. There is still much to be done, he said, including the acquisition of necessary equipment and supplies.

“They have a great operating board working on donations and logistics right now,” Dr. Rich said

“Not everyone has the skills or resources to do what I did,” Dr. Rich said of his summer trip. “But there are many service opportunities for people right here that don’t cost anything other than a person’s time.”

He suggested volunteering to tutor kids, teaching adults to read or mowing the lawn for an elderly neighbor as just a few examples.

Dr. Rich says that “while we may never get back to Kenya, our family will always be involved in some type of service, either through my profession, our church or halfway around the world. The opportunity to help another person is simply too valuable to pass up.

“Give it a try. The world will be better for it, and so will you.”