An East Africa update from our CEO's latest visit

During October 2021, Carwyn and Izzy travelled to Uganda to visit the new centre and induct the new staff at the New Hope Disability Rehabilitation Centre. They were inspired by the new team’s capabilities and enthusiasm, and the anticipation from the local community and healthcare stakeholders.

But what did they get up to on their latest visit?

1. Spent some time meeting the new Rehab centre team

We spent a few days with each member of staff getting to know them individually, conducting group training on company expectations and policy, running through practical process for how the centre will function, and
ideas for the future. We were impressed with the experience and attitude of the team and are hopeful we have the right group of people to start fulfilling our vision across northern Uganda with the new disability centre!

We are pleased to introduce the talented new team who will be staffing our centre! Check out this blog post to meet the team.

2. Spent some time meeting the CBR team

We met the CBR team and conducted a two-day training which was geared towards refreshing the original training, encouraging identification of people in the community who will benefit from the centre services, encouraging collaboration between the centre staff/departments and the CBR team, and hearing from their successes and challenges in the field. The CBR team play a critical role and we want to support them with further training to help their work.

It was very encouraging hearing the good work they have already been doing under this project. Despite the challenges of COVID we heard inspiring stories of many families being supported through the CBR team through HHA wheelchair provision and emergency food aid and different advocacy efforts. For instance, one CBR worker shared how they had recently managed to support some parents through a difficult period when their child was unexpectedly born with a disability.

3. Stakeholder Mapping and Collaboration

An important part of the trip was mapping out various healthcare stakeholders, visiting hospitals, meeting authorities and creating referral pathways for collaboration with the centre. During the trip we met and visited the In-patient Orthopaedic unit Health Centre 3 BidiBidi Zone 1- the inpatient unit. We visited the unit and met the orthopaedic technician. This is the site where the Miracle Feet club foot procedures take place. The inpatient unit is a temporary structure staffed by one technician (no physiotherapist/nurses) and is a referral centre for almost 30 clinics in northern Uganda.

4. Kalaji Community Visit- Food Security

We visited Kalaji Community which sits right on the South Sudanese border and is predominantly a displaced community. Recently, we supported 1,200 people with food and hygiene packages and we went to visit the people who received that help and understand better the challenges in the community surrounding nutrition and security.

This family pictured above received food from HHA during June 2021 when we provided 1,200 members of the Kalaji community with emergency food. This community is predominantly refugee (ca.60/70%). On top of the
challenges of living in an extremely poor/remote area, recently the Ugandan government has started trying to reclaim the land. This seems to be due to rumours that there are South Sudanese rebels living in the
forest and a desire by the government for the land to become a protected environmental area. In June 2021, soldiers suddenly came and violently dismantled everyone's houses in the area. This has made daily
living extremely difficult. He said HHA’s support helped his family a lot to eat twice a day. For the future he dreams of staying on his land.