The picture shows the dental clinic where Gilbert normally works. He recently emailed concerning a lady he helped some time back with untreated tertiary syphilis and as a result had the oral sores.

Gilbert writes: “the work you do has lasting effects, sometimes even long after you leave. That lady, who is by the way alive and fine now, had been saved by a friend who had come to Kabwohe for the September clinic  gave us. This lady called one of the numbers we had put on the advert posters, she asked me to go help tell what was wrong with her friend’s mouth. This would not have been possible if we hadn’t done the Kabwohe clinic.”

In September 2009 Barbara Koffman led another successful dental mission to  remote villages in Uganda. Gilbert, one of the Uganda dentists on the team, commented:
“Most of the people in these areas have no dentist to visit within miles and miles, and even more of these areas had people who had no idea at all that the mouth is a place that requires regular cleaning just like other body parts. We performed procedures with materials bought and donated by our kind friends in the UK and abroad. At one of the clinics I was doing suturing on an old lady that I was sure would otherwise never have had such an expensive suture in her mouth. Sutures are a luxury here. The gloves you donate and other stuff actually make a difference in the lives of our people. I was shocked that some of the stuff we use is for single use only! I mean, a suturing forceps can be sterilized and used over and over, I still don’t understand why in the UK it’s a single use forceps!”
“Barbara and the whole dental team came to my district in Kabwohe Bushenyi and gave free oral surgeries to over 440 rural people in the two days. It was an honour to us – the place is far, so far in the west, roads are so bad, there was no telephone network for two days and therefore it was so hard to organise …”
Click here for Gilbert’s story

August 2007 saw a new party of dental volunteers carrying out basic dentistry in a number of temporary clinics at various locations.
Barbara’s Dental Diary Aug07

Uganda, Africa by Katie
Jambo Muzungo ! – the call that rang out wherever we went; combined with frantically waving and jumping children.  There were ten of us altogether, a mixture of dentists, hygienists and nurses all working with Christian Relief Uganda.  As a student dentist, this was a great opportunity to combine experiencing another culture with learning new skills.

We drove into outlying areas of Uganda, where bazungos (white people) are rarely seen, along kilometres of red, bumpy, dusty roads.  On arrival we set up dental clinics, extracted teeth educated on oral hygiene and handed out toothbrushes and toothpaste.
There was a lot of work to do at a three-day clinic near a sugar cane plantation.  Chewing chunks of sugar cane forms part of their diet, leading to decayed front teeth.  However, none of us refused the chance to try some when offered a piece one lunchtime!
In the UK, parents often face the problem of what to do with children when at the dentist.  We found the answer to this problem one day when a lady continued to breastfeed her baby throughout her extraction.
Driving also takes on a new slant in Uganda, as we discovered on a drive in the city of Kampala.  Instead of giving way to the right on a roundabout, the fastest driver gets the right of way.  This led to some interesting driving experiences.
Approaching one of our dental clinic sites (via boat), we were told, Try and stay close to the clinic and don’t wander off as tribes in this area still practice cannibalism.  This was no joke.  We were then carried off the boat by local men to avoid us getting wet feet.  Slightly unnerving, having just learnt of the local customs!

A few days of our trip were spent living on Bavuma Island, which is located in Lake Victoria.  No electricity means evening entertainment is sparse – however, one night we found ourselves learning traditional Ugandan dancing under the instruction of several local women.  This is harder than it looks with the movement all in the hips which have to be accentuated with a scarf.  When asked to perform a typical English dance in return we all immediately broke into Saturday night moves and the Macarena!
The last few days of the trip were spent on safari in north Uganda,
Here is an extract from my diary:
At present I am sitting on stilted decking, in an armchair, outside our canvas tent.  In front of me there are a few trees and bushes leading down to the Nile.  On the opposite bank is the safari park, Murchison Falls, where last night I could see hippos and water buffalo.  The storm has just broken so there is rain dripping through the trees around me, with thunder rolling in the background adding to the croak of bullfrogs and the hiss of crickets.  Every now again a flash of lightning illuminates my page. It’s dusk.
Uganda, Africa was for me an indescribable experience.  On more than one occasion during my trip, I was told that I would never know or realise the impact of the dental work we had done on peoples lives.  But I think that I may never realise the impact that Uganda has had on my life.  All I know is that I learnt a huge amount, have wonderful memories of welcoming smiles and that I enjoyed every minute.