My name is Shirley and I am a Dental Hygienist. I recently went to Uganda on a mission trip where I was able to use my skills and qualifications for the glory of God.

The first inkling I had that I might end up doing relief work was about 12 years ago when a lady from our church held a craft fair in aid of children with cleft palates living in underprivileged countries. A thought popped in and out of my mind that maybe when my kids were older I could maybe go and help out with something like this. No huge revelation from God or anything like that – just a little thought.


On a couple of similar occasions after that the thought crossed my mind again. Then, about 4 years later I was going to the dentist for a check up and the thought progressed to ‘If I went back to work as a dental hygienist for a few hours a week then I could brush up my skills, update my knowledge and then when the kids have left school I could go and do some voluntary dental work abroad somewhere.’ A few minutes later I went in for my check up and just as I was about to leave the surgery the dentist asked ‘Would you like to come and work for me for a few hours a week?’ That is when I knew that the call was from God and not just a nice idea that I’d conjured up on my own.

Following that I went on a ‘back to work course’ and about 6 months later finally started back to work. Once the kids had both left school I started to look for a way to fulfil this challenge that God had given to me. I looked at a couple of web sites and finally came across Christian Relief Uganda via a link on the Dentaid web site. I later found out that this link was only there for a short time which reinforced for me that Uganda is the place that God wanted not just me but also another girl to go. I doubt that I would have ever heard of CRU any other way.

Since I got back the adventure has continued. I’ve been to talk to a couple of groups about my trip, I’m going to London in September to help speak to a group of newly qualified dentists who may be going to Uganda as a group to carry on the work which I was privileged to take part in and I’ve been busy raising money for the charity. It’s all just so amazing.

So, I was able to use my work skills for the glory of God and also had first hand experience of several things which we all know but sometimes find hard to believe.

2.  God can use you anywhere; you don’t need to work in a church or for a missionary organisation etc. He took the skills which I had gained from the workplace and used them for the good of his people who are less fortunate than me.