Dentists sans Frontiers » Dentists sans Frontiers

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF TERRE SANS FRONTIÈRES

In 1980, the Brothers of Christian Instruction (Frères de l’Instruction chrétienne (FIC)) felt the need to set up a mission finance office, therefore creating Prodeva FIC (Development Projects & Evangelization). An appeal was launched to raise one million dollars. At the time Prodeva FIC was working in the Great Lakes region of Africa where the FIC Brothers were well established.

In 1984 Avions Sans Frontières (ASF) took off in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire) with the aim of opening up the Upper Uele region.

In 1986, Prodeva FIC became Prodeva Tiers-Monde. In order to widen the scope of action, the idea behind this new appellation was to invite other religious communities and dioceses to join in. Two years later, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), which had been supporting Prodeva on an annual basis since 1983, accepted to fund a three-year overseas program. The first water project was then completed at Gituza in Rwanda.

In 1992, Prodeva Tiers-Monde and Avions Sans Frontières teamed together. The following year the regional office, established in Kigali, Rwanda since 1989, moved to Bujumbura in Burundi. Its mandate was to oversee the operations in Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In 1994, Prodeva and ASF merged to become Terre Sans Frontières. The expansion of the “Sans Frontières (Without Borders)” family continued with the launching in 1998 of Optométristes Sans Frontières (OSF - Optometrists Without Borders). A year later, Dentistes Sans Frontières (DSF - Dentists Without Borders) was born, followed by Jardiniers/Jardinières Sans Frontières (JJSF - Gardeners Without Borders), Chiropratique Sans Frontières (CSF - Chiropractors Without Borders) and finally in 2005, Homéopathes de Terre Sans Frontières (HTSF - Homeopaths of TSF). Partage Plus inc., a subsidiary company of TSF, was established in 2003.

On its 25th anniversary, TSF refreshes its corporate image and adopts a new logo with brighter colours.