INUVIK - This is the story of a gift from an old woman to a young man, and how for some gifts, saying thank you just isn't enough.

Simon Jozzy, supervisor of regional dental programs with the Beaufort Delta Health Authority, founded the Healthy Smiles Society, which will be taking a team of volunteer dental professionals to Zambia in July. - Aaron Beswick/NNSL photo

When Simon Jozzy was young, he woke at 6 a.m., put on his only pair of clothes, didn't eat breakfast and started walking to school.

His calloused feet joined those of other children, who were laughing and singing and teasing on their daily five-kilometre walk to the missionary school. As the sun rose on Zimbabwe, the children passed their parents bent over small plots of land, parents whose prayers were for a gentler life for their children.

"I wore my first pair of shoes in high school. We wouldn't eat until we got home in the evenings," remembered Inuvik's dental therapist of his youth. "Without education there, you don't survive. That's why people from developing countries value education so much more than here where the government will take care of you."

That African sun rose and fell, rose and fell on Jozzy as he grew from a boy into a young man with dreams. Elmina Doner, an aging missionary from Alberta who worked at Jozzy's school, took interest in the young man spending his extra hours helping out. When she retired home to Canada she kept in touch through letters and eventually brought him to Canada.

"She told me that when I was done my schooling, I should go back and help my people," remembered Jozzy.

At the University of Alberta he trained to become a dental therapist. Twenty years ago he came to Inuvik and is now the supervisor of regional dental programs with the Beaufort Delta Health Authority.

"I thanked her sincerely for what she did for me, but thank you just wasn't enough," he said.

In 2004 Jozzy returned to Zimbabwe to visit his parents, two sisters and seven brothers. Among the hugs and smiles and long conversations about the paths their lives have followed, Jozzy was disturbed as he looked at his people with a dentist's trained eyes. He saw swollen cheeks, cavities and plaque all going untreated.

"It's very painful to experience these conditions," said Jozzy. "And they think it is normal and endure the pain because they see no way out - they only know extraction and don't know that a tooth can be fixed. It wasn't my fault, but I felt guilty."

Doner's words haunted him.

In 2009 Jozzy returned again, this time volunteering to do dental work in South Africa. Back in Inuvik, he still felt the need to do more and in the evenings at home an idea grew - form a charitable organization of dental professionals who travel to developing countries mending the mouths they can.

"There were two factors standing in my way," he said. "Number one was fear of rejection - would my friends see my vision? Number two was that I had no money."

He got up the nerve and started contacting friends in the medical field and fear number one was soon out of the way. The Healthy Smiles Society was formed.

At his office on Jan. 5 at Sir Alexander Mackenzie School, Jozzy's eyes were bright and his smile contagious as he talked of this summer's expedition to Zambia. From July 8 to 23, the Healthy Smiles Society will be setting up shop at a hospital in rural Mongu, in western Zambia. Jozzy, Inuvik residents Howard Thompson, Robert Lyslo, Brian Terry, three dental professionals from Ottawa, two from the Deh Cho, one from British Columbia and another from Alberta will be mending mouths.

"We'll be working flat out while we're there, treating as many people as we can," said Jozzy.

But factor number two remains - money. The volunteers are paying their own way to and from Zambia, but the Healthy Smiles Society is covering the costs of transportation inside the country and housing.

They also need money to bring dental equipment, of which there is none at the hospital they'll be visiting. So far the Royal Canadian Legion has helped with fundraising dinners and the society has been selling calendars, but Jozzy is still looking for sponsorship from residents and businesses.

"I was asked by one man why we would go there when there are problems here that need addressing, and that is a good question," said Jozzy. "My response is that they have nothing there and we are trying to help."

The missionary who helped Jozzy so many years ago has since passed beyond the horizon like the suns which set on his many walks home from school, but the gift remains.

"What I am doing now is indirectly paying her back. This is my thank you for what she did for me."

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