|
|
| Circular -
September 2012 |
| This letter has
gone out a little earlier than usual, to remind you of our big
event at Belfast City Hall on the evening of Saturday 15th
September. It’s called ‘A Song and a Supper’ with
New Irish Arts, and has been organised for us as a fund raiser.
Tickets are still available at £30 each, which gets you a
three course dinner, as well as an evening of music and song. We’ve
been given free use of the City Hall; others involved have given
their time voluntarily and we intend using all the proceeds to
develop the work of Acheru in northern Uganda. |
| And news of
another concert, organised by Wilf and Isobel Crowe in Rosemary
Presbyterian Church Halls on Saturday 6th October in aid of the
work of Acheru. Phone the Crowes on 02890761124 for tickets at £10
each. It will be a programme mostly of Scottish and Irish music,
songs and poems by Percy French, together with more modern
items. There will be refreshments during the interval. We are
delighted that people are taking the trouble to organise fund
raising events, and hope as many of you as possible will attend. |
| We have been
having further talks about work in the north, what we might do
ourselves, what we might do with other partner organisations. We
know from our work there so far that the need remains great, so
we certainly intend to continue there. We now want to move to
the next stage and find ways of treating many more, and we hope
soon to make significant progress. You may have seen the recent
‘Panorama’ programme on the hunt for Kony, and this
will have given you some idea of the background to the problems
in the north, and the huge numbers who suffered there. |
| Work continues
at the Acheru site. The staff house is almost completed, then we
want to put in another big underground water tank. There will
still be many details to deal with, but essentially the building
of Acheru will be finished. We won’t rest there however; we
have a very good site, and there is still the potential for
further work with suitable partners. |
| Increased
numbers of patients have meant an increased budget, but thanks
to the help of all those donors who have remained faithful to
this work, we have been able to meet the increased costs. There
is only so much that the staff can deal with, and there are
limits to the numbers we can accommodate, but it’s my hope
that we will never have to turn a child away because we can’t
afford to treat them. |
| We face some
further expenses this year, after which we want to concentrate
on providing the budget needed to develop in the north. Our
vehicles are old. Our ambulance, used for clinic runs and
ferrying children to and from the CoRSU hospital, is giving good
service, but we want to replace it before it becomes troublesome
as we depend on it so much. We also have a pick up truck for
general use – building materials, supplies, sometimes
water. It gets a lot of use and is now completely worn out. It’s
unrealistic to think of buying new, but we can buy used Japanese
imports which are still in good condition. |
| In the first
six months of this year, around 100 Acheru patients were
referred for surgery – with many very serious cases. We can’t
imagine how they suffered before our intervention. Now, with the
new hostel opened at Acheru with another 12 inpatient beds, the
numbers will increase. Having seen the condition of many of the
children when we found them, we are driven by the desire to
treat many more, which is why we want to develop in the north.
We see osteomyelitis cases with limbs lying open exposing rotten
bone. Our treatment transforms their lives. I am amazed by some
of the cases where any normal logic would dictate amputation,
yet they have been successfully treated, making a good recovery.
We see so many justifications for this work, and have so many
testimonials from children and their parents. |
| Brian Dorman MBE |
|
|
|
