Health Touch Uganda
Health Touch Uganda Ltd (a not for profit company) set up by Mwesigwa Boaz Jardel (Boaz)
Health Touch Uganda is Ohh’s Chosen Charity. It’s founder Mwesigwa Boaz Jardel (Boaz) was one of the Ugandan dentists who formed part of the fabulous Dentaid team i was so fortunate to be part of. Boaz came from a very poor family and struggled to become a public health dentist in his great desire to carry healthcare to the poor and underprivileged communities of Uganda.
Boaz had open heart surgery in 2017 (he was born with a congenital heart defect and in 2017 surgery became urgent, with no funds to pay for surgery all those who have known him and know what he gives in service to the underprivileged communities, managed to raise the funds required, 28,800,000 Uganda shillings/£5,934 pound sterling.
Boaz, along side his own health concerns, has suffered many loses of close family however this is how you will always find him with a smile when he greets you and when he is providing urgent and necessary dental care.
I have kept in touch with Boaz since my return from Uganda, and he is always asking about Ohh! and how we are progressing, he tells me he thinks we are inspirational and is praying for our success.
Team Ohh! think he is the one who is inspirational and hope for his every success in his desire to provide to those in great need.
I had the good fortune to meet Boaz in 2016 when i traveled to Uganda. The Dentaid trip features in the NEWS section of Ohh! This trip is the reason behind the 4 Dentistry Scotland Awards, featured in the ‘news’ section and on the ‘home page’, for winning the Best Charity/Community project (2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020).
As Ohh! becomes more established our hope is when the girls are a bit older in a couple of years to travel as a family/team to Uganda.
In Boaz’s own words
“We do medical and dental outreaches across the country where people have little of no service or cannot access it for some reason, In places where there is absolutely no service delivery, we try to partner with other willing entities to establish a minimum care clinic to help the most vulnerable. Because i am a dentist and dental service is lacking a lot more compared to general medical services, most of our work is dental.
We go to local, mostly rural communities and set up cinics in schools, churches, or community halls. In places so poor we find ourselves setting up in homes and open grounds as long as people can reach us.
Depending on the need and population in an area, we do between 1 - 3 day outreach clinics in each area we go to, but always find ourselves setting days to come back sometimes.”
Boaz continues to say…..
“A single day outreach clinic in our modest settings costs 1.5 million Uganda shillings, which is about £320. A 3 day field clinic which is our target for every month would be triple that.
We would also welcome materials that could be helpful in these community clinics especially all those materials used in dental treatment.
In some places we have even gone as far as to donate clothing and food where we find the conditions are so bad.”
Planning for the future
Boaz is also planning for the future and they have a scheme for identifying and helping students from these poor areas to study dentistry so they can come out and help out people in their areas when they are done. This is a new idea and they only have a single student so far whom they have been able to find sponsorship for.
Boaz has been concentrating on South Western Uganda lately. A highland area called ‘Kigezi’ bordering Rwanda and Congo.
Boaz told me … “in our outreaches we found a lot of need there and very little service if any. So i am doing a monthly dental outreach in the area to help as many people as i can. Any support towards these outreaches will be very welcome.”