Be Informed
Summer 2007
Masindi Centre for the Handicapped
Masindi Centre for the Handicapped was started early in 1980s by Livingstone Barongo to provide education for children with various types of handicap for which there was no provision in that area. It was one of the first projects that FOAG became involved with and was visited by them initially in 1988. Since then the school has moved to its present site some 9 miles from the town of Masindi.
It is extremely pleasing to see year on year the improvements to this large site, which is exceptionally neat, clean and tidy with plants adding to the pleasing appearance of the grounds. In the last twelve months shower units have been built adjacent to the boys' and girls' dormitories.
The next twelve months should see the building of the new kitchen, thanks to the generosity of members who so unstintingly supported last Summer's Appeal, which raised nearly £10,000. The work is to be undertaken by the Kinyara Sugar Works Ltd under the close supervision of FOAG's good friend David Byensi. He, together with the Kinyara engineer who supervises the civil works undertaken at Masindi by Kinyara, have visited Butiru and a plan based on the kitchen there has been drawn up.
The Project Monitoring Team visited Masindi on Friday 23rd February where Eseri Kaija, the Head teacher, and other members of staff, met us. On a tour of the school we were very impressed by the standard of teaching children who in many cases are extremely deaf and some also have speech impairment as well. Extracurricular activities at the school now include Scouts, Guides, Music, Dance and Drama, Debate, Children's Rights, Red Cross and Wildlife.
Some Children at Masindi have Multiple Handicaps
In the vocational department members purchased items made by the students for sale to provide additional funds. One of the team was measured for a shirt that was made for him before he left. Funds raised from this source have been used to provide metal doors to burglar proof the classrooms where the computers and sewing machines are kept.
On the following day two members of the Monitoring Team returned to the school to attend a meeting of the School Management Committee which gave them a good insight into the running of the School. Livingstone Barongo was the chairman and members included two parents, a representative of the Uganda Society for the Disabled Child and David Byensi.
Kamurasi Primary School
The most significant development during the year has been the relay Channel swim by Rolland Ballard and his colleagues that raised over £25,000 that they generously donated to FOAG so that the new residential dormitory at Kamurasi could be built.
When the Monitoring Team visited Kamurasi work was well underway, the roof was on and the builder was beginning to fit out the interior of the building. The building comprises accommodation for 50 pupils, 25 girls and 25 boys, plus accommodation for the matron. There is wheelchair access and all the internal doors are sufficiently wide to also accommodate wheelchairs. The workmanship appeared to be of a high standard and the builder, who was on site to meet us, was clearly proud of the workmanship.
One half of the new Dormitory
Since we visited Kamurasi in 2006 the head teacher, Mr Byoona Ntairoho, has moved to Kinyara primary school and Mr James Mugema has taken over as the new head. It was a Saturday when we visited the School but both head teachers, the special needs staff and the Chairman of the Management Committee were there to greet us. Both the new Head and the Chairman were anxious to assure the Monitoring Team that they are very committed to developing the new residential special needs unit and Byoona Ntairoho also continues to take an interest in its development.
At present there are eight blind boys, two bind girls and two pupils with hearing impairment in the Residential Unit which is about the limit of the temporary accommodation. Limited remedial work has been undertaken but it is still inadequate for even these numbers and the sooner they can move into the new buildings the better.
Saturday is Washing day at Kamurasi
It is anticipated that most of the children at this Residential Unit will have impaired vision and that this new facility will complement the Masindi Centre for the Handicapped that is on the other side of the town and deals mainly with children with hearing problems.
Kiwoko Hospital
FOAG's involvement at Kiwoko is to fund aspects of nurse training and we do this in two ways:
i. By paying the fees of some local pupils who through family circumstances are unable to make the payments themselves.
ii. By providing funding for foundation courses to bring pupils up to the level necessary to start the course. A satisfactory pass in science is a requirement to start at the school of nursing and the FOAG Summer Appeal of 2004 provided the funds to assist those students who require additional help.
The Team made a short visit to Kiwoko Hospital on Sunday 25th February. They met with the Hospital Administrator, Ken Finch, and the Vice-Principal of the Nurse Training School, Sarah Kyamulabi. The pupils funded by FOAG are making satisfactory progress and the numbers in training are the same as in 2006.
Mengo Hospital and the Guluddene Unit for Mentally Retarded Children
Our visit to Mengo Hospital and the Guluddene Unit was the last that we made and it took place on Monday 26th February.
Patti Squire, the Head of the Department, greeted us with her usual warm welcome and enthusiasm and began by showing us the improvements that FOAG had financed since our last visit. Security gates for the reception area (£300) to protect pupils and staff and to stop children wandering away from the School into the hospital and other areas of the Department. FOAG provided £1,200 to replace the pit latrines and the Rotary Club of Stourbridge provided the same amount to mount the container left at the Hospital last year. These two projects are interlinked because the container has been placed on the site of the original toilets. The difference is quite striking, the smelly toilet block has gone and in its place is a brightly painted container that is now the girls' vocational workshop. It is mounted adjacent to a similar facility for the boys and together they provide an attractive vocational facility for the whole Department.
The five Eco san toilets that have replaced the toilet block are spread throughout the site and provide facilities adjacent to each work area, a much more satisfactory arrangement.
The number of children at Mengo and Guluddene is virtually the same as last year and the fee structure remains the same. However, the Department's budget is under considerable strain because of central charges imposed by the Hospital and additional costs due to new government legislation. To quote Patti “FOAG's quarterly payments make a huge difference to our Department and to the lives of our children, they have helped us to survive this past year.”
In the afternoon we went out to the Guluddene Unit which is in the country some one and a half hours from the Hospital in . The new chicken house, funded by FOAG (£750) with ring fenced money from members and the Rotary Club of Stourbridge is much larger than expected but was almost complete.
Patti Squire and the new Gululddene Chicken House
The small diesel-electrical generator installed at Guluddene last year has had some teething troubles but on the whole is working fine. To quote Patti once again “the generator makes an enormous difference to the children in the evenings. They can now see each other across the large dining table and I no longer get worried about safety as the paraffin lamps are no longer around.”
Under Patti's leadership both Mengo and Guluddene has gone from strength to strength although much still remains to be done. It was therefore with great sadness that during our visit we learnt that with effect from August Patti had resigned to take up a job with another charity in Kampala. She will be very sadly missed. FOAG is to continue to support both Mengo and Guluddene while it waits to learn how the Hospital Management Committee will deal with her resignation.
MTCEA (Multipurpose Training and Community Empowerment Association)
FOAG has been supporting MTCEA for about five years. The extent of our support has been to pay the salary of the full-time Programme Co-ordinator, Peter Owor and to provide £1,500 for animal traction.
MTCEA is a loose association of groups of people, often based on a remote village, set up to improve the living standards in rural areas. It started in 1988 with 5 groups and has grown until now there are 87. Each group comprises between 20 and 30 households with each household being between 5 and 7 people. The Association therefore comprises well over 10,000 people spread over 1,000 square miles. They are likely to live in small or very small isolated villages. On a previous visit to such a village the Team asked the villagers, without warning or preparation, what benefits they have obtained from working with MTCEA. They replied:
“We in the group can now send our children to school.”
“We have increased food and got to know each other.”
“We have learned team spirit and increased household income.”
“We have earned enough money to buy chickens and have started a small local credit scheme.”
“I can buy bricks to build a house.”
Over the last two years FOAG has provided £1,500 for animal traction and this has resulted in 57 of the groups asking for similar support. Thus the main objective of this year's visit was to see how well the groups that had already received oxen and ploughs had got on and to discuss the form of any future aid that FOAG might provide.
We visited MTCEA on Thursday 15th February, our first working day in Uganda, and were taken to three villages, Buswiriri, Naitundu and Bulongoli. In the first two villages we saw examples of animal traction and in the third village a demonstration by a dance group seeking to educate and communicate with other village groups unable to read or write.
With guidance from MTCEA the groups have adopted a different approach to managing the oxen from the villagers further north in the Soroti region. The oxen and plough belonged to the group but the group identified a contractor to train and look after the animals and also do all the ploughing and other work undertaken by the animals. Ideally the contractor will be a member of the group but if a suitable person from within the group is not prepared to become the contactor then someone from outside the group can be hired-in for their expertise. Working with the same people all the time did seem to have a beneficial effect on the animals. They were quiet, obeyed the commands of their handlers and were very willing to work. The result was remarkably straight furrows of an even depth.
The contractors estimated that they could plough an acre of ground in two to three days and this would currently cost a member of the group £6. They contrasted this with the month it would take a husband and wife team to prepare the same area of ground.
Oxen Ploughing at Buswiriri Village
Each pair of oxen can plough between 10 and 12 acres during a planting season and since each household will have about 2 acres of land then one pair of oxen can provide a service to six households. This means that each group requires about four pairs of oxen. Discussion with MTCEA and the contractors established that there was plenty of work for the animals, pulling carts etc, outside the planting season.
The Monitoring Team were most impressed with the quality of the work that we saw at both villages.
If FOAG could provide all the oxen and ploughs required by the 57 groups it would make a tremendous improvement to the quality of life for those living in the villages. To meet the estimated demand would require about 170 teams of oxen at a cost of about £50,000. Such an investment in one project in a single year is clearly beyond FOAG's means and it is also thought important that the villagers have real ownership of the animals. The Committee has therefore authorised the FOAG Project Co-ordinator, Michael Bentley, to negotiate a micro-finance scheme whereby FOAG will invest a significant sum of money over five years but the villagers will be required to pay back the cost of the animals over a number of years. This scheme will be similar to that operating in the Teso region. The Committee considers that such an investment will benefit so many people over such a wide area that they intend to make this the 2007 Summer Appeal. They commend it to you and trust in your generosity to make it a success.
Budaka Cheshire Home and Rehabilitation Centre
Since our visit to Budaka in 2006 there have been a number of changes. Sister Leah Njorege, who over the last 5 years has built on the good work of her predecessor, was moved by her order in October and replaced by two sisters. In January these two ladies moved on and two new sisters, Sister Mary Florence and Sister Mary Prossie, took charge. When we visited in February they were really only finding their feet but the Monitoring Team had the impression that they will continue Sister Leah's good work.
FOAG's main involvement with Budaka has been to provide money for orthopaedic operations but it has also undertaken tasks as diverse as a project monitoring team painting the interior of a building, providing funding for water tanks and pipes, a kitchen (£2,000) and a second hand vehicle (£6,000) to transport children to and from hospital. Individual FOAG members also provided the money to purchase a cow so that the children could have the experience of looking after the animal and benefit from the milk. Unfortunately the cow died during the year when calving and the Home is anxious to find a replacement.
The Home continues to benefit from the kitchen that was commissioned last year and the vehicle is providing safe transportation for the children as well as complying with the law.
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The vehicle with Sister Mary Florence
At the time of our visit there were 50 children in the Home of which 27 are residential. Some of these children have been abandoned by their parents and have no homes to which to return. This is a problem in all three Cheshire homes as it limits the number of patients that each home can accommodate.
A new girls' dormitory is being constructed and at the moment the girls are sleeping in the dining room. However, they did not have mosquito bed nets and one of the Team left money for their provision. Europeans often consider that malaria is a condition that only affects European visitors to Africa. In fact it is the most serious cause of illness amongst Ugandan children and suitably treated bed nets are an important preventative measure.
There is still much to be done at Budaka and the new sister in charge, Sister Mary Florence, will need all the help that FOAG can provide if she is to continue the improvements started by Sister Leah.
Butiru Rehabilitation Cheshire Home
FOAG's association with the Butiru Home dates from 2000. Our involvement has been mainly to contribute towards the cost of orthopaedic operations for the children in the Home. These children are usually identified by outreach workers who travel around the remote villages where these children are often hidden away by ashamed parents. The children come into the Home for assessment, physiotherapy or simply “feeding-up” before, if necessary, they go to hospital for an operation. After their operation they return to the Home for convalescence and more physiotherapy before going back to their village and their parents where the Home continues to monitor their progress. The money provided by FOAG comes from the Christmas Appeal and the generosity of our supporters.
In December 2004 the pickup truck, that the Home used to transport children to hospital, was involved in an accident and was very badly damaged. This coincided with a change in the law that prohibited carrying people in the back of open trucks and Sister Clare Kasedde was determined to replace the pickup with a new more suitable vehicle. FOAG resolved to help and many of you generously contributed towards the Summer Appeal in 2005 that was
partly to help to provide a new vehicle. £9,500 was sent to the home and Sister Clare raised the balance of the funds necessary for a new rather than a second hand vehicle. This was delivered towards the end of 2006.
The Project Monitoring Team visited Butiru on Sunday 18th February and received our usual noisy, happy and very enthusiastic welcome.
Our first task was to look at the new vehicle that had been decorated in our honour. However, next day we saw it at work, at Kumi Hospital, as it had brought a number of children to the Hospital for assessment.
Butiru's new vehicle
We next identified Bosco, the little chap who featured in FOAG's Christmas Appeal last year. He had undergone his operation and, while still on crutches, when something interested him was showing a rare turn of speed.
Bosco last year
Bosco after his operation
Bosco still has many difficulties to overcome but through the generosity of FOAG donors he has made a good start.
Let us end our visit to Butiru with just some of the facts related to us by Sister Clare during the afternoon of our visit:
32 Outreach clinics were held during 2006 at which 1,125 patients were assessed and of these 720 were admitted.
Children were taken to hospitals for treatment at Kumi, Mbale, Kampala and Tororo.
220 Orthopaedic aids; standing and walking frames, callipers, crutches, surgical boots etc were manufactured in the Home's Orthopaedic Workshop.
70 Children benefited from medical and/or educational rehabilitation.
180 students received vocational training in brickwork, carpentry or dressmaking. Of these 40 are disabled and the remainder are from disadvantaged backgrounds.
We hope you will agree that this is a most impressive record of achievement and one with which FOAG can be proud to be associated.
Kumi Hospital
Kumi Hospital seen from the Entrance Gates
FOAG has been involved with Kumi Hospital since the late 1990s. In the early days we were involved with the collection and distribution of rain water to wards and operating theatres and with the provision of a limited solar lighting system. As the water supply improved we became concerned about the numbers of doctors that the Hospital could attract because of salary differentials with Kampala. We provided sufficient money to pay the salary of two additional doctors and eliminate the Kampala differential which resulted in the Hospital reaching its target complement of five doctors and this provision continues. We also saw the need for nurse training and are providing resources for nurses from Kumi to be trained at the School of Nursing at Kiwoko Hospital.
More recently the Hospital has suffered two major setbacks. In late 2004 the stand-by electrical generator stopped working and was judged beyond repair and in 2006 the X-ray machine suffered the same fate. FOAG has responded to both these emergencies with replacement equipment and on this year's visit the Monitoring Team were anxious to see how the new items were working.
The new diesel-electric stand-by generator provided by FOAG and the Rotary Club of Stourbridge arrived at the Hospital during last year's Monitoring Team's visit and members of the Team therefore had the opportunity to install and commission the machine. Since then the machine has provided power to the Hospital for an average of 38 hours each week, at least half the working week. The machine had been serviced as required, all the outstanding installation jobs had been completed and the machine and its environs were spotlessly clean. It was a pity that, due to a
family bereavement, the technician responsible, Odongo Samson (Sam), was not present to be congratulated.
This was the first Monitoring Team visit since the installation of the new X-ray machine and we were all keen to see it in operation.
Both the X-ray technician, Dennis, and Dr John Opolot could not speak highly enough of the new facility. It is apparently producing such good results that patients are coming from as far afield as Mbale and Soroti for X-ray examination. John Opolot again expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the members and associate members of FOAG who so generously contributed to the cost of this machine.
The X-ray Technician Dennis with Dr John Opolot in the X-ray Department
During our time at Butiru, Budaka and Kumi we were joined by Sue Darbyshire a physiotherapist from Worcester who, through the good offices of FOAG, was working at Kumi Hospital for a two month period. She joined us and made an important contribution to our usual long discussion with John Opolot about the current training and equipment needs of the Hospital. Such discussion is essential if FOAG is to use its limited funds in the most effective way.
During the discussion the Team was pleased to present a bank draft to the Hospital for £2,000 from the Rotary Clubs of Hitchin, Mill Hill and Malling.
Dr Opolot and the Head Nurse, Dr Edmond Emokol led the Team on a tour of the Hospital. It is a general hospital but it does specialise in orthopaedics and the manufacture of appliances to aid mobility.
A Patient being fitted with a new artificial leg
and soon after, walking
As we went into the wards it became clear that there was a very urgent need for mosquito bed nets. Bearing in mind the dangers of malaria, particularly for the children, the Monitoring Team decided to leave £1,000 so that the whole Hospital could be equipped. We also donated £60 so that the X-ray technician could be fitted with an appropriate radiation detection device.
Accompanying Dr John, as he is known to both staff and patients, around this 300 bed hospital is a very moving experience. He seems to know all the patients by name, know their treatment their prognosis and even the names of their carers. He has a smile, a touch and a word for everyone he meets and everybody responds so positively to him.
Namalu
Namalu is about 60 miles North East of Mbale and about 25 miles from the Kenyan boarder. The area is more barren than other parts of Uganda and is the home of the Karamojong. It is common for insurgents to make trouble in this area and for this reason it has not always been possible for the monitoring teams to visit this project. This year however it was decided that a visit was feasible and on Saturday 17th February Tony Crook and Mike McConville travelled to Namalu.
The purpose of the project was initially to demonstrate to the local Karamojong that it was possible to enclose an area of land with a living hedge of Kay Apple that would be impenetrable to large wild animals. This land could then be farmed to provide a more stable and prosperous way of life. The method chosen was to select seven demonstrator families (animators) to show what could be achieved. The scheme has developed so that the demonstration farms now include woodlots, orchards, intercropping, livestock buildings and stocking with heifers. The original project now has ten animators at Namalu and a similar sub-scheme at Iriri some distance away.
The project started in 2000 under the direction of Giuliano Consoli, an Italian missionary. In 2006 Giuliano decided to concentrate on his missionary work and the Namalu project was taken over by his Ugandan deputy Zacharia Ilukwol with Iriri being managed by Pierluigi Sinibaldi, a young Italian missionary new to the area.
Tony and Mike were received by Giuliano, Zacharia and Pierluigi and received a very full report on the progress made at Namalu since our last visit in 2005. Zacharia and Pierluigi then took us on a tour of the area during which we visited five of the ten animators and substantiated the information provided in Zacharia's report. At four of the farms all six of the elements of the programme had been completed, three others were half way through and the remaining three had completed only two of the elements. However these three had joined the scheme late and were expected to complete on schedule. We were particularly impressed with the Kay Apple growth, estimated to be 12 foot high and totally impenetrable. The animals looked
well and the housing was very well constructed. It was very noticeable that independent farmers in the area were copying what the animators were doing – particularly planting Kay Apple – and Zacharia estimated that about 120 local farmers were benefiting indirectly from the project.
The security situation made it impossible for us to travel to Iriri but Pierluigi is to provide a detailed report to FOAG on the progress being made there.
Teso Oxen Restocking Project (TORP)
The principle of this project is that FOAG provides a pair of broken-in working oxen plus a locally manufactured steel plough. This “unit” is given into the shared ownership of four families so that they can increase their productivity. Each group of four families pay a deposit to join the scheme and are expected to repay the cost of the unit over two years. Oversight of the scheme and the initial veterinary care is provided by FOAG.
The Team arrived in Soroti on the evening of Monday 19th February and met with project organiser, Pastor John Echeru, over dinner. He indicated that the scheme is in good heart and is proceeding satisfactorily. The area remains peaceful and life continues to return to normality although this is difficult with so many dead and missing. There are nearly 150 oxen in seven villages, repayments were being made on time and other villages are keen to join the scheme.
Next day we visited three of the villages, Otatai, Ajonjji and Olwelai and our welcome in all three villages was warm and enthusiastic. Unfortunately there had been no rain and ploughing had not been able to commence, however, all the oxen in these villages were accounted for and the stock looked well. It was very clear in all three villages that those who had oxen valued them and those without were anxious to join the scheme.
Madera Rehabilitation Centre
When we visited Madera it was a great delight to once again meet Sister Sophie Akim and see the progress her wonderful smile, steely determination and organisational ability have produced. Last year when we where there she was in the process of acquiring a plot of land on which to build the new Centre. Just one short year later not only has she bought the land but has secured financing for two dormitories and a kitchen. These buildings are well on their way and Sister Sophie is now looking for funding for a dining room and craft workshops. The target population of the new Centre is 70 with each of the two dormitories housing 35 children. It is expected that the building work will be completed by the end of the year and that the children will start to use the facilities early in 2008.
FOAG has paid £4,000 for the construction of the kitchen, with a local company expected to provide the cooking equipment.
The walls of the boys' dormitory had already reached about five foot high and when we were there work was concentrating on this building.
Sister Sophie is keen to secure the site and a start had been made with planting a living hedge of Kay Apple which, when mature, is highly impenetrable. The Monitoring Team left £200 so that the hedge could be completed during this planting season.
Finally, both Sister Sophie and the Chairman of the Management Committee, Patrick Allan, emphasised that throughout the building programme the ordinary work of the Centre continues with children being taken to Kumi Hospital for operations, being given aftercare and fitted with appliances.
The walls of the boys' dormitory had already reached about five foot high and when we were there work was concentrating on this building.
Sister Sophie is keen to secure the site and a start had been made with planting a living hedge of Kay Apple which, when mature, is highly impenetrable. The Monitoring Team left £200 so that the hedge could be completed during this planting season.
Finally, both Sister Sophie and the Chairman of the Management Committee, Patrick Allan, emphasised that throughout the building programme the ordinary work of the Centre continues with children being taken to Kumi Hospital for operations, being given aftercare and fitted with appliances.
Reminder – Gift Aid and higher rate tax
We are greatly helped by donors' willingness to gift aid donations, and in the last financial year recovered £13,278 from the Inland Revenue. If higher-rate taxpayers inform the revenue of their gift aid donations they are entitled to a refund of some tax or a reduction in payable tax. Should you wish to reclaim this and pass it onto FOAG, we would be most grateful.
The FOAG newsletters are published three or four times each year. The most recent one follows this introduction. Archived newsletters on this site go back as far as issue 32 - Spring 2003 and can be found by following the link to the "Archived Newsletters".
Newsletters that pre-date issue 32 can be obtained from the FOAG Administrator.