| February 2024 report: News of two community outreaches |
| Some of the Acheru outreaches are just for a single day, but this can still be very worthwhile if proper arrangements can be made by a partner organization. Last August the Acheru team held a community outreach at Pabo, organized by a local pastor. |
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| Joyce with pastor Francis who organised the Pabo outreach |
| It was a slight disappointment as the numbers attending were not what had been expected but it still proved worthwhile with a number of children assessed and referred for treatment. Joyce reported: |
| "Report from Pabo and Iamogi august 2023 |
| Pabo Town Council and Iamogi Subcounty are found in Amuru District. |
| These are the places where we had a one day health centre outreach clinic. |
| We saw a total of 31 children and one adult. |
| 8 of these had orthopaedic conditions |
| 4 children had cerebral palsy |
| 4 had a mixture of CP and malnutrition |
| We arranged to come back with 5 children and 4 adults: |
| 2 orthopaedic cases, 2 with post burns contractures, and one child with severe malnutrition." |
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| Pabo community outreach |
| Pabo is in the north, about 30km beyond Gulu, and I've been there myself some years ago. The area suffered terribly, with large numbers displaced by the LRA and forced to live in camps. Then, when the LRA moved on, the people in the camps were compelled to return to their villages - but their problems were far from over, with houses burnt and crops destroyed. I remember visiting a primary school and being told by a young teacher of her abduction and multiple rape by the LRA. Superficially normality had been restored, but that really was a very misleading impression. |
| Another more positive recollection I have of that visit was the lengths a man went to to get his daughter to Acheru for treatment - at a time when it was much more common for female relatives to seek treatment for children. I was present when the girl was assessed, but distance and family problems made it look unlikely that she would be brought to Gulu, from where we would be departing very early the next morning. The man was clearly upset that he could not leave his job as a teacher, and his wife was needed to look after other family members. We urged him to try to find someone who could go to Acheru with the girl - each patient needs a carer, particularly one from the north as they speak a different language, making communication difficult. |
| Heavy overnight rain turned the roads to a sea of mud, so I was delighted to see this father wheeling his daughter down the street on his bicycle, with an aunt who was to accompany the girl to Acheru as her helper. It must have been an arduous journey for them and was a good indicator of his determination to have her treated. |
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| Pabo community outreach |
| Nakasongola outreach: |
| Joyce was invited recently to give a health education talk at Nakasongola and brought other staff so that they could also carry out assessments and make referrals. It wasn't easy getting there, as I know from my own experience travelling there in the wet season. Joyce reports: |
| "We have experienced the worst rains ever, the roads are bad and a number of roads have been closed because water levels are high. You end up taking a longer distance to use an alternative route because you can't pass in a nearby road. |
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| Nakasongola community outreach |
| Many cars have been affected, that day we found a truck from Joint Medical Stores in a ditch after failing to brake, he told me while delivering drugs at Kiwoko Hospital he passed through deep waters. |
| I was able to connect with Laura from Northern Ireland who is a volunteer in Nakasongola. They came and visited Acheru. |
| They invited us to health educate the people on their programme about disability but we also did assessments and referrals. 40 children had orthopaedic conditions and 60 children had different types of cerebral palsy." |
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| Nakasongola community outreach |
| Looking at the numbers of children brought it's worth bearing in mind that the Nakasongola area is served by several big hospitals, but for various reasons that I've written about before, many children still aren't brought for treatment. This reinforces the need for our continuing community work. |
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| Nakasongola community outreach |
