Blanca

Blanca Marina is 53. She is underweight and malnourished, and she still works hard in the fields and at home. She has eight children, and she has gone without to keep food on the table for them.

More than 12 years ago she went to a clinic to have the last tooth she still had taken out. With no teeth and no balanced, healthy diet, her cholesterol has risen a great deal.

Blanca has come to most of her dental appointments barefoot, walking several kilometres down from the mountain. “It doesn’t matter how far I have to go,” she says, “as long as I can smile again.”