Hope Smiles Uganda (www.hopesmiles.org/uganda) develops leaders who transform lives through quality, compassionate dental care in previously unreached communities. Our team sustainably replaces the pain and shame associated with the untreated dental disease with joy, hope, and confidence. With only 200 dentists – mainly concentrated in Kampala – serving the 43 million people in Uganda, our dental clinics are the only option for relief and freedom from dental problems for millions of Ugandans. Maintaining our operations during the COVID-19 crisis is critical for our community – without Hope Smiles, the 8 million residents of the Eastern Region would have no access to quality dental care.The stresses encountered with COVID-19 related lockdown are exemplified by one of our patients from the first week of April – Gloria. Gloria would normally travel from her home to Hope Smiles in Jinja via public transport. With public transport shut down, she had to ride her bike 30 km to experience relief from pain that had been keeping her awake nightly. Oh, and Gloria is 7 months pregnant!Gloria’s story of desperately seeking relief from pain is all too common.As a result, we have started using our Outreach van as a “dental ambulance” (approved by the government to move on the roads) to start picking people up when they have dental emergencies. This allows our team to provide relief to those who are suffering.Team members not directly involved in patient care are contributing to our mission in two ways: by making hand sanitizer for distribution in the community AND by calling our over 15,000 patients of record to make sure they are doing well!
Raise $9,300 CAD to pay the salaries of our team members for one month. This will give our team the ability to transition without skipping a beat as the lockdown is lifted!
Purchase 250 face shields by donating 500 CAD! This will protect our team members working on the front lines!
Donate 500 CAD to help offset costs from the Hope Smiles “dental ambulance” providing relief during the COVID-19 Crisis!
Have questions or want more information about GCF or our projects? Contact us, and we’d love to help!
Since 2002, The Great Commission Foundation has enabled ministry projects to thrive by providing charity admin expertise and guidance while promoting collaboration in fulfilling the Great Commission.
