Liz Jackson Uganda

I’ve been to Uganda twice with Dentaid, in September 2024 and again in February 2026.As far as I know I am so far the only Irish dental nurse to volunteer with Dentaid but I’m sure there will be many more to follow!

I’ve always wanted to volunteer, it’s something that’s in me since I was actually in school. When the careers teacher would go around and ask everyone what they want to do when they left school, I was always like, ‘oh, go on the missions and go to Africa’. My children are now 21 and 22, they’re at college and they don’t need me as much, so it was the right time to go.

I live in a rural area, like a small village in County Kilkenny, where everybody knows everybody. So when I do my fundraising, people are so supportive. To raise money I do things like cake sales at our Christmas fairs where I have about five different people who bake for me, do raffles with donations from the local shops, pharmacies, butchers, garages. On some of these Christmas fairs, I could raise sometimes up to like 1,000 euros from just doing that.

In addition they local schools hold non-uniform days to raise money and after I’ve been out, I go into local schools and show them a PowerPoint of where the money has gone and how it helps out. And it’s great because the children always have great questions. Like when you live in the countryside, the questions last time were like from the boys were like, what sort of cows do they have in Uganda, are they dairy or are they for meat? And it was like they wanted to know about tractors and lorries and everything. So it was really good to educate them on what they can do to help children in other countries. It’s amazing how much a community can come together.

One thing I didn’t realise before going over is that there were so many Irish people actually in Uganda! Our national sport here is hurling and six clubs in Uganda now play it, they’re affiliated with the Gaelic Athletic Association which organises the sport. And then I came across then another Irish person who had set up Irish Dancing Uganda and there are loads of Ugandan children doing Irish dancing. So that’s what keeps me going back. I went to visit these clubs and when I came back and showed my photos people couldn’t believe that these kids are there with the Hurleys and they’re playing the Irish sports, it’s amazing.

My first impression of Uganda when you get there is that it’s such a beautiful, I couldn’t believe how green it was. I just thought because, in Africa you think it’s so hot all the time. I thought of this like it was going to be like drought but it was so green and luscious and such blue skies. The scenery was just amazing, it was just such a beautiful, beautiful country.

It was just amazing how quick you could get into getting in and setting up the clinics. Everybody is just hands on and everyone just takes a part. You can have someone putting a mobile dental chair together, someone else is setting up the decon area, someone else is setting up the post op area, the clean table and just all the stations that we’re going to be working on,and it was just hands on from day one, from when you’re shown, that’s it. And then when you go back the second time, there was a couple of us who had been there before. You just like remember it like it was only the other day. The team really gelled together, it’s such a good bond between everybody. You’re all there for the same reasons.

The clinics are obviously very different because we don’t have electricity, we don’t have running water. So it’s not like your everyday clinic. We don’t have all the modern equipment, but it’s amazing how you can still provide very good dental treatment and be still very professional in your job and provide really good care to people who are so appreciative of it. Some of these people have been in pain for a long, long time. They’ve never seen a dentist in their lives because they can’t afford it. Suddenly we come along and then help them and they’re so grateful. You get lots of hugs from them, they shake your hands, and they’re just so, grateful. And that really warms your heart.

I just remember once there was this elderly person, about 90, and he had to be lifted up onto the dental chair. Another time there was a little boy and his shoes were on the wrong feet, the soles were hanging off them, he didn’t even have laces in them. But these kids are all smiling and they’re so happy. They have so little but they don’t see that, they’re grateful for every day and they’re all like thanking God and today will be another day. I think every Ugandan person has such a happy demeanour, they’re just always smiling.

The more that you see of that and the more that you sort of immerse yourself into it, the better it feels because that you’re providing so much. You’re talking about hundreds of patients in some cases seen in a day. So it’s obviously it’s a huge amount of turnaround.
But it’s great. It’s like there is things that at times you can get emotional and sad, but we have fantastic times in the clinic. It’s not all doom and and gloom because someone comes in pain and when they leave the pain is going to be gone for them and they’re so happy.

Trying to pick out one memorable moment is very difficult because the whole experience was amazing but I would have to say my three days working in a prison stood out because I’d never been inside a prison in my life. Some of the prisoners were our translators and at the end, one of the prisoners spoke to thank us all and thanked us for treating them as human beings and not like coming in and treating them as prisoner. He explained that by us coming in for those two days that put such a smile on his face that would last for a long time. And at the end of his talk there were so many of us like nearly in tears because it was just really emotional.

The experience has made me want to do it again and again. It shows that dentistry can be carried out in the most rural areas without all the modern equipment to get people out of pain and suffering. And I feel it’s so rewarding and I get so much out of it. I get more than I can ever give. It’s nourishment for the soul going on these missions.