Return to Uganda
Following Diane Parson’s article last year on her experiences in Uganda she gives us an update.
I had the privilege of going to Uganda two years ago to work for a month with a Christian charity which has a base in the village of Layibi near Gulu town. The purpose of that visit was to make initial health assessments of the orphan children who have their schooling sponsored via the project, visit their guardians and generally create a full picture of the area and its needs. This year I returned with a team of people from the UK to get involved with various aspects of the project developments.
Last year they set up a school to enable women to learn sewing skills, providing a potential opportunity for income generation. It was exciting to see how much they had learned and see the quality of their work, all done by hand and treadle machines. Solar panels have now been installed on site for power generation and this year our group gave them an all-singing all-dancing electric machine which Jane, their tutor, quickly learned how to use.
I was involved with a final year medical student, Moses, who is passionate about improving health care in the area. We used material provided by the Ugandan Government and gave the introductory talk about the village health care worker.
Teaching healthy habits
From this day a group of 16 people were nominated by their church leaders to attend the course and will follow the manual, learning how to identify needs within their community and develop ways of educating their neighbours in good health measures to reduce risk of disease. They will also learn how to manage basic health needs including home management of malaria. This is an exciting project which really develops the importance of community based care.
We were also involved in many other activities, ranging from decorating the church building, visiting the local prison and taking in basic items such as soap and sanitary pads for the women ... to running an activities day for local children, taking footballs to an IDP camp (internally displaced people) and watching a game of football. This was played on a rough pitch with a variety of animals escaping from the grass as the team chased the ball, all bare foot but putting on a display worthy of any UK team.
Safe water
We also provided some bicycles for the women leaders of the literacy programme – it was exciting riding these on the tracks from Gulu – and the charity sponsored the drilling of a bore hole for the village. This was finished during our short stay although there are a few teething problems at present to be resolved. It will support the teaching in the Village Health Care programme by getting water from a safe source rather than the popular open well.
As we were leaving we saw the bee project start with an area being fenced off where hives were set up. Already three swarms have made their home there.
It was a great, albeit, short visit with encouragement for possibilities of income generation and the personal development of the people in the community.