SALT LAKE CITY, UT. On Thursday May second, Ryann Dennison and Jam Boyden got volunteers to participate in their service project with Sole Hope Uganda that will supply shoes for thousands of vulnerable men, women and children affected by the parasite known as Jiggers.
The group says that their mission is to offer hope, healthier lives, and freedom from foot-related diseases through education, jobs, and medical relief. They believe that actions rooted in love and hope can change a nation.
Sole Hope Uganda tries to specifically treat jiggers or the Tunga penetrans. Jiggers are small fleas about the size of a pinhead most often found in sandy terrain of warm dry climates.
The jiggers can cause feed by burrowing into the skin of its host. When the impregnated jigger embeds itself in the skin under the toenails and fingernails of the host, resultant sores fill with pus and become infected.
These infections are treated by slicing open the skin with a sharp razor and then removing the egg sack from the host. This quick step is then repeated hundreds or thousands of times until the affected is 100% jigger free. The after care of these wounds require lots of long-term health education.
Sole Hope also has resources for providing education for after care, as well as implementing preventative measures.
Sole Hope Uganda is striving to leave a lasting impacts in Uganda by removing jiggers and addressing problems in the infrastructure of the country. In their goals statement they write, “Though jiggers are a complex problem, the solutions are simple can change a person’s life forever.
Magazine in/ ISSUE 01
3
'Simple and small things can make a big difference'
By Caroline deLannoy
Updated 2:27 PM MST, May 28, 2019