| July 2024 report: Plans for the north, and a child we hope to help |
| There's still a lot to consider before we might try to establish a base at Napak in Karamoja, but that doesn't mean we aren't doing anything. We want to learn as much as possible about the area, what the needs are, and potential partners. Another outreach is planned for July, with an Acheru team travelling north for a series of clinics. To get maximum benefit from the trip it's important that good preparations are in place, ensuring that children are brought for assessment. This isn't easy as we know from long experience that disabled children may be hidden away. Joyce has been developing relationships with local organisations dealing with spiritual and welfare work in the hope that they will know families in need of help and encourage them to bring children to the clinics. It's important that people understand what we're trying to do and don't think of us simply as a medical centre. Many families may have no understanding of disability, and may assume their child is beyond help. |
| Radio is a vital means of communication in Uganda, particularly in rural areas where news might otherwise travel very slowly indeed. I was delighted to be able to listen to an Acheru radio promotion being broadcast in Karamoja in advance of the clinics. |
| I have shared with Joyce my concerns about travel to the north and hope the team will be able to travel safely. It's an eight hour journey on roads which can be very dangerous. We have a driver, and Joyce can take a turn at the wheel to give him some rest. Good planning and early starts can make such trips a little more comfortable, but I know from experience that there are likely to be last minute problems and it can all be relatively hectic. It's a heavily loaded return journey if they bring back patients and carers. |
| Although we no longer have the building at Minakulu, follow up visits are still made to the area and I've just received a report from Joyce on their latest visit there. As well as visiting former patients (some of them adults now), a number of children were brought back for treatment and I'll have details in the next circular. |
| Although I am no longer able to be so directly involved in sending overseas consignments apart from some specialized items for Acheru and our partners, I am happy to report that the store is still in use by our MedAid4Kids friends with containers of medical supplies being sent to a number of countries. The pictures show the latest container (they're getting bigger!) being loaded a few days ago. |
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| Some of the equipment in the store |
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| Loading a container at York Road |
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| 45 ft high top container. Holds a huge amount! |
| COMMUNITY REPORT |
| This is Kawuya Shakira 6 year old girl born with multiple disabilities on both legs and hands. She was found by the CBR Team during one of the community visits. |
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| Kawuya Shakira |
| The little girl stays with her widowed grandmother who also cares for other grandchildren. She says: |
| "It was so shocking when my daughter gave birth to my granddaughter in this kind of condition. It was so hard for my daughter to accept her but eventually she did. It took her time to let neighbours look at her as she was scared that people around her will laugh at her and start saying hurting words to her baby. When she stopped breastfeeding her, I decided to take her under my care. |
| "She is a very bright happy girl. She is so active with everything as she engages herself in most of the housework at home. With her one finger on each hand she can try to write even though she has never attended school. The young nephews and nieces teach her what they have learnt from schools. With her short hands and legs she can move around and can feed herself. |
| "She always asks when she can join school like other children. But I really don't know how, most of the schools I tried to take her to said they can't handle her with her disability. She is always walking on ground even in rainy season. She doesn't have a wheelchair and the way of going to a busy toilet at school made her be denied a placement. Despite all that she can do most of the things on her own. She understands and talks very well. My biggest prayer is to see her going to school and having safe way of moving around. Thank you for visiting us". |
| GOD BLESS YOU |
| Written by Rose Nakabugo |
| At Acheru, they are now considering how this girl can be helped. She is a bright girl, and we'd like to see her enabled to attend school. We've previously had special wheelchairs made, and Joyce is arranging for measurements to be taken for a chair with waist and chest straps. Shakira lives near a school, so a wheelchair could let her attend, but the grandmother is very poor, leaving the issue of school fees. Our aim is to treat disability, we are not a sponsorship agency and don't want to stretch ourselves too thin, but we consider each case on its merits. Perhaps we could provide the initial help to get Shakira into education if other partner agencies might help with a longer term solution. |
