Jo Young Uganda
After months of preparation, collecting stock donations and encouraging people to contribute to my JustGiving page, departure day had arrived, as I met with the other 11 volunteers at Heathrow airport, ready to volunteer overseas with Dentaid. We ‘hit the ground running’ as they say, as no sooner had we landed, we were sorting and repacking the equipment ready for our first clinic in the morning.
We rose early and headed off to a children’s prison. No photos were allowed here as we set up in a very bare outbuilding. The folding Dentaid chairs were placed beside a long wall, with six stations setup to receive our patients, a clean table ready with all the instruments, a post-op station for aftercare & pain management, and the decontamination zone complete with a portable pressure cooker for sterilising. The day went quickly as we got to grips with the unfamiliar setup, with patients coming in thick and fast. This would be the smallest number of patients we saw in a day, totaling 70 in all.
Over the next four days we moved location four times repeating the setup in: a church hall of a remote village, a medical centre high in the hills (at 2133 m above sea level), a community hall, and inside a “Rugarama Father’s House Organisation” church, which was founded by an organisation aimed at extending support to the unprivileged children from humble families. In one location a 67-year-old gentleman rode 6km on a bicycle to reach our pop-up surgery for urgent treatment, and in another, a 22-year-old lady walked for two hours in soaring heat to queue for an extraction, before setting back off to walk another two hours home again! This really does put things into perspective, with how lucky we are having accessible dental services around us.
On our rest days, most of us took the opportunity to pay to go on Safari. Up just after dawn we were richly rewarded with the plethora of wildlife that roam the vast plains of the National Parks. Zebra, giraffe, leopard, wildebeest, warthogs, hippos and the elusive ‘tree’ lion were all spotted. Next stop, again at our own expense, was a Gorilla trek in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, where we were led expertly by experienced guides to a location where we could sit and observe these magnificent animals.
Four more clinics, three in various prison settings and one in an orphanage completed our scheduled treatment locations.
In total, throughout the entire 9 clinics we attended to:
- 965 adult patients
- 541 child patients
We provided:
- 691 extractions
- 236 fillings
- 568 fluoride varnish applications
- 209 scaling
We supplied:
- 1939 Toothbrushes
- 1959 tubes of toothpaste
When we finished in our clinics, we were treated to a display of singing and dancing from the local school children and a break-dancing display from a group of prisoners. We were given generous praise from village elders who couldn’t show their appreciation enough that we had given our time and travelled such a long way to help them.
One thank you letter read: “Our friends and visitors from Dentaid, we are greatly humbled for your love, care, humility and selflessness. We can’t find the words to express our gratitude for the service you bring to us and all the people you reach in Uganda. Your visits do not leave us the same, as we are now healthier people than you found us.”
Those words were enough to make all the hard work, fundraising efforts, and traveling worthwhile. Uganda is a beautiful country with wonderful people, and I have created such good memories. If anyone reading this looking to volunteer overseas with Dentaid I would highly recommend it.
Thank you all for your support.
Jo
Written by Jonna Young – Dental Nurse – Feburary 2025