Budaka Cheshire Home
and Rehabilitation Centre, Mbale
Introduction
Budaka Rehabilitation Home is a charitable organisation started in 1970. The purpose of the Home was to improve the quality of life for children with disabilities in Palissa and surrounding districts in a relatively poor agricultural area in Eastern Uganda. Disabilities dealt with include polio, club foot, osteomyelitis, burn contractures, cleft palates and hydrocephalus. Currently, Sister Mary Florence in charge of the home. Short-term rehabilitation programmes are carried out including identification and mobilisation of the children, sensitisation of their community, medical or surgical treatment, provision of appliances and follow-ups. The centre is responsible for finding the children in their homes and convincing them that they can be helped in the home and in hospital, a fact which many people in the village doubt.
Budaka today
Budaka now has 70 resident and 30 day children. Over 60 children have benefitted from medical treatment and/or surgery during the past year. During this time the cost of surgery has almost doubled, despite very limited financial resources. Fencing the whole premises has been a target for some time, to both improve security and also to prevent children wandering away. With FOAG funds Sister Mary Florence had been able to purchase enough materials to make a start but another £1,700 is needed to complete the work. During our recent visit in February we witnessed considerable growth in both numbers of children dependent upon the Home and in the quality and range of its buildings. Existing dormitories for girls and boys had been renovated. However one of the two kitchen stoves is in need of improvement and we discussed the installation of a better secondary flue. Other FOAG priorities, apart from the need to complete the fencing, are for solar lighting in those buildings not yet supplied, and the installation of more guttering and rainwater storage tanks. A new boys’ dormitory is being slowly built and when complete this building will serve several purposes and will be a huge asset to the Home.
Budaka Home is a FOAG supported project which never fails to deeply move those who call in. Every day is a daunting financial challenge to Sister Mary Florence and her staff and yet the love and care which ‘her’ children receive is unfailing. To be entertained and greeted by disabled children who, on the face of it, have no reason to smile whatsoever, is a humbling experience..........even to the most seasoned visitor. The Budakas of this world remind one of a true sense of perspective in an age where real values are often so distorted.
Budaka and FOAG
When FOAG first looked at Budaka about eight years ago, the Home was in poor shape, with neglected buildings, poor living conditions for the patients and problems with the agricultural enterprises. For various reasons there has been a dramatic change to which FOAG has been a major contributor, with improved water supply systems, new beds and mattresses and currently with new fuel-efficient stoves, as well as regular funding for children's operations, treatment and medicines. The whole place looks better - roads and buildings repaired, crops growing, productive animals and children looking more cheerful, not least because they no longer have to hand-pump every drop of water.
The Home works hand in hand with the community-based rehabilitation worker and the local leaders to bring the children for assessment. Every Wednesday the centre pick-up goes out to the villages to bring in the children and their carers for assessment at the centre. If they appear ready for operation they are taken to hospital the next morning where the next course of action is decided by the surgeon. The children who stay at the Home are those who need further treatment and help until they are fit to go back to the village. Sometimes their strength has to be built up by proper feeding before they can undergo surgery. The children attend the near-by schools during the day if they are well enough. The Home has some land and animal projects which help with food and finance and a knitting workshop run by a severely disabled man which also provides some income. There is a small workshop for repair of appliances.
Project Coordinator: Maureen Murphy
I had listened for some years to friends who were involved in FOAG talking about their trips to Uganda and decided that I would like to go and see the projects. So in 2004 I went on FOAG’s trip. I had spent the last 15 years of my career working for a national educational charity for children with special educational needs. When Budaka needed a project co-ordinator I felt this was an area that was of interest to me. I became FOAG’s Administrator when the position became vacant.
Contact Us
Budaka's van (donated by FOAG)
Some of the paitents
FOAG are welcomed on their 2010 project visit
Maureen Murphy and Sister Florence
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Bake for life
Our Online Shop
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