Deep in the Jungles of Peru, Garmin® was there

While most college students spent their summer vacationing or earning next semester’s tuition, Killian MacCarthy and about 20 other dental students from the University of Connecticut pulled teeth. We’re not talking about assisting their hometown dentist in some scrubbed-down, well-lit office. Killian and his peers were in the Peruvian jungle performing dental service to people living in remote villages along the Amazon River.

Their humanitarian service trip was arranged through an organization called APECA, which stands for the Association for the Preservation, Education and Conservation of the Amazon. APECA’s goal is to help people living in these remote villages become self-sufficient by teaching them farming techniques and sanitation methods. They also send teams of medical, dental and public health professionals to the area.

In preparation for their two-week stay in Peru, the students packed up dental instruments, bottled water, antiseptics and medications. Killian packed another tool — his Garmin GPS 12.

“I’ve been lost in the mountains before, and I wasn’t going to take any chances being in a foreign country,” Killian said. “I was so excited to actually use my GPS for something other than hiking in the U.S.”

Having the GPS along for the trip proved invaluable, both for the students and for APECA. When they first arrived in the city of Iquitos along the Amazon, the students met with the people of APECA. The head of the organization showed Killian a satellite map with UTM coordinates of the region they were going to be servicing.

“The government of Peru does not know the exact locations of many of these villages,” Killian said. “APECA asked us to record the position of each village we visited using the GPS. The positions will be submitted to the government to be officially recorded on a map so that more people can get to these remote spots.”

The head of APECA also owned a Garmin GPS, but he didn’t know how to use it since the instruction book was in English.

“I switched the GPS to Spanish mode and, through a translator, showed him how to use it so that he will be able to record the exact positions of any future villages he goes to,” Killian said.
Each day, the dental students, in groups of 8 to 10, would climb onto boats and head down the Amazon in search of their designated village. Many times, they knew only the name of the village and that it was so many hours up the river.

“Sometimes, we’d have to ask the local people traveling in dugout canoes how to get there,” Killian said. “One day we passed a family and they were waving and calling out to us. They knew who we were and had traveled half a day to get to the village.”

Think about this the next time you’re putting off your regular visit to the dentist: Killian said some people would travel two to three days to get to one of the villages. All to get a tooth (or several) pulled. He said they would tend to about 200 people in each village. That’s a lot of teeth.

When they arrived at each village, Killian would record the position at the dock. The GPS 12 also came in handy when it was time to head home each evening.

“Going home was great because the GPS 12 would give us our exact time of arrival,” Killian said. “Someone would ask ’when are we getting home?’ and I’d tell them it would be about 45 minutes. And sure enough, in 45 minutes, we’d be back.”

They also relied on the GPS 12 for knowing what time the sun would set. Killian said it’s very important to be off the river after sunset because floating
logs could damage the boat.

After an extremely long day, you can bet the dental students weren’t checking into a hotel and ordering room service. In fact, they had to sleep in beds covered with mosquito nets and take antimalarial medications to avoid contracting the severe strain of malaria found in Peru.

“Although we took great precautions, we still managed to look like human pin cushions,” Killian said. “If you slept right next to the net, the mosquitoes would bite you through the net.”

Despite the challenges and rather primitive living conditions, the experience was invaluable. Killian, a native of Ireland who has also lived in Australia, said he’s never seen such poverty.

“We’d bring our own lunch and give the children the extras,” Killian said. “They’d hoard it. They wouldn’t share with the other kids. And the respect these people had for us … I was stunned. They have nothing and they come in their Sunday best to get a tooth pulled. In some of the villages, they would cut down huge bunches of bananas for us because they had nothing to give in return.”

Killian, who is studying to be an oral surgeon, hopes to someday go on yearly service trips to perform cleft palate surgeries in other parts of the world. In two years, he plans to make another trip to Peru as a preceptor, where he will guide other students through the process.

To Killian and others who cross cultural and geographic boundaries to help those in need, we tip our hats. We’re proud to have you as a Garmin customer.

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