A GIRVAN couple will embark on a new mission to Cambodia in June in a bid to improve public dental health. 

Andrew Sinclair has been a dental technician for 32 years and has already embarked on three similar trips to Uganda since 2013, his most recent in March this year.

This time his wife Wendy will join the team of 10 to help set up dental clinics from June 4 - 19. But they need help to collect medical and dental scrubs.

Speaking about the upcoming trip Andrew said: "You get involved in the local community which is great fun. Well perhaps that is not the right word. 

"But lots of people talk to you and they want to practise their English and to know what you are up to.

"I helped one woman in Uganda had broken her tooth when she was 14 and I met her when she was 64. She had had toothache every day ever since. She just wanted to cuddle me once the pain was gone. 

"You have no idea how that makes me feel. When I visited Uganda the first time it was a shock. We went to this children's home where 103 kids had been abandoned by their parents or orphaned.

"Their only meal was rice and beans once a day it was such an eye opener. We also went to the children's prison Kanpiringisa with 200 kids imprisoned for crimes ranging from murder to theft.

"When the Pope visited, all the homeless kids were swept off the streets and put into prison."

Andrew and his team will work with 100 a day and could see up to 1500 people in the course of a fortnight. The Sinclair's would also love donations for the children they meet such as stationary, paper, balloons and bubbles.

The father of two is also discussing the possibility of going back to Uganda in September and the beginning of next year for a few weeks to set up a dental laboratory. 

He has also inspired his 19-year-old daughter Emma who is currently volunteering at a school in India with Project Truest. Anyone who has any donations can drop them off at 4 Glendoune Street, Girvan.