Volunteering with Mwenya Uganda: Sue and Bernard's Guest Blog

Sue and Bernard, from Brighton, UK, came to visit Mwenya Uganda and spend a day with the team whilst delivering lots of fantastic equipment that they had collected in England. 

This is their story...

"We were planning a visit to Uganda to see the wildlife and wanted to take a contribution to a charity. We went onto ‘Stuff Your Rucksack’ which is a website set up to link travellers with specific charities which identify what items they need. We soon found Mwenya and read about their work – we then spoke to our Dentist to ask him to help us with a donation from Duke Street Dental Centre in Brighton which he was happy to do. We duly stuffed our case with masks, gloves, toothpaste, toothbrushes, cotton wool, scrubs, mirrors, dental parts, childrens’ clothes and condoms.

Sue with Jhon, Mwenya's Ugandan Director

On the morning after our arrival in the capital, Kampala, feeling a bit jaded, we were greeted by 10 volunteers who arrived in a large minibus to collect us. We were uniformed up in our Mwenya tabards and generally given a fantastic welcome by everybody.  We just knew this would be a great day!

We all drove back to Mpigi, which is the town where Mwenya is based, about 40kms from Kampala, stopping on the way for some roasted bananas and experiencing village life and the red dust on the dirt roads. We were introduced to the town mayor of Mpigi – a lovely man who really believes in and supports Mwenya’s work

We then went to Mwenya’s premises – two small rooms – the office and dental surgery. We were shocked to hear that the focus of the dental work undertaken in the villages is extractions as there is no equipment/anaesthetics to do more – this must be so frustrating for Jhon who is a qualified dentist. The team works hard to involve visiting doctors and dentists in running clinics in different villages. Mwenya have a wide brief, as with such poverty in Uganda it is hard to separate out dentistry/medical care from health education and welfare of the whole community. Mwenya is working primarily on health education as this reaches the widest number of people and will make a long-term difference.

Delivery of equipment that Sue and Bernard had
kindly collected in the UK

After a photoshoot we went off to a university clinic where Mwenya have managed to secure regular weekly use of the clinic for their work. The team put on a hilarious role-play demonstrating their wonderful acting skills in portraying health education issues. What really made us laugh so much was that there was a Sue and Bernard in the play who took us off brilliantly!

We then went to see an elderly man who looked very frail, undernourished and much older than his 75yrs. He was living in a small hut alone as he had no children to care for him. His bedclothes were heaped up near the fire and an outside latrine (hole in the ground)was topped by logs which were rotting and in danger of collapsing. The team was going to make his hut more secure to reduce fire and snake risk, to clean up the inside, give him a health check and repair his latrine. If you don’t have children in Uganda it is difficult to get looked after in your old age.

We then went onto the local school where we met 200 children of all ages in their school hall. Jhon gave them a talk on caring for their teeth and advised them against pouring petrol/acid or herbs into their teeth for pain relief – things that are traditionally used to try to combat toothache. Jhon gave out some of the toothpaste , brushes and pens we had taken. Some of the clothes we had bought were then given to orphaned children. Our great sadness was that we didn’t have enough for everybody!

Some of the team with Sue and Bernard outside our office in Mpigi.

We then all drove back to Kampala – a distance of about 40kms – but with awful traffic jams in Kampala can take between one and three hours.

What a day – and so many emotions! Donating to charities via websites etc is always a very impersonal experience so to have the chance of meeting such a great team of people and seeing the direct hands-on work they do brought it all to life and has had a big impact on us. Thank you so much Jhon, Elvis and your wonderful team – your determination, dedication and enthusiasm is amazing.  

Anyone thinking of going to Mwenya – ideally allow plenty of time, at least a day or more. If you can’t get down there you will be able to arrange to have your contribution picked up. Don’t miss out coming here - it was the most inspirational day of our holiday!