From beach boy to dental assistant

Dr Martin Kim from Vancouver, Canada, operates on a patient, with Mbwana’s assistance, during the dental camp. (PHOTO: MOSE SAMMY/ STANDARD)

My father abandoned his family and took another wife when I was eleven years old and left my unemployed mother to care for me and four of my siblings. That experience shaped the whole of my teenage life.

I watched as my mother struggled to provide for the five of us, moving from one odd job to another to feed and clothe us and make sure we had an education.