Fund Community Rehabilitation Workers in Uganda

Our Community Based Rehabilitation Workers (CBRs) play a vital role in our operation as they hugely extend the reach of our Disability Centre and the amazing services available there. To help them cover all parts of their community, the CBRs have bikes. But with the distances they covrer and the difficult terrain, many of the bikes were overdue some repairs. Thankfully last month the whole team's bikes were treated to an overhaul helping them continue their important work. 

Part of that work is to identify those in need within the vast refugee settlements and surrounding area - a challenging task for sure but the rewards when people receive life-changing treatment after many years of struggle is well worth it.

Bakole was found by the CBR team suffering from Cerebral Palsy living a very tough life without the support his condition needed. Thanks to coordination between the CBR team and the Disability Centre staff, Bakole and others with disability needs from his community travelled 3 hours to the Centre to receive treatment. 

Part of the solution for Bakole was to fit him with a wheelchair which will change his life. You can see from his smile how much it means to him. The CBR who helped bring him to the centre said 'this is like a miracle!'

Alongside the existing projects, our CBR team are preparing for more work in South Sudan in the coming months and years. They will be assisting with the needs assessments in Kajo-Keji and recently one of the CBRs, Aputi, received training on how to do that effectively - an important step as our new project to build a new health clinic in Kajo-Keji develops this year.

Links:

• HHA website

Our Agriculture and Nutrition project, supporting 1,100 of the most vulnerable refugee households continues to provid critical support to families against a very challenging backdrop.  

Global Acute Malnutrition rates in some settlements has increased since 2020, the cost of food items has increased significantly and a severe drought in the Horn of Africa has impacted our efforts, with our target areas only receiving between 25%-50% of normal average rainfall and slowing the growth of crops planted earlier in the season.  

Thankfully, rain recently arrived and a number of families taking part have started to harvest their first crops, including corn, okra, egg plant and soy beans. 

Our CBR workers, alongside our Nutrition and Agricultre team have been supporting these families with a number of training sessions, providing information on how to handle a harvest, entrepreneurship skills, nutrition and food security. This is to help ensure that crops are utilised effectively - allowing families to generate income from them, save money and store crops for replanting next season. 

One mother taking part in the project was suffering from sores on her legs that have remained untreated as the family was unable to afford the medical care she needed. Thanks to a successful harvest, they are now able to sell some of the corn they have grown and afford her treatment! 

This is one of many examples that shows the power of this program. It's not just corn... It's a livelihood, dignity, and in this case, life-saving care!

Thank you for supporting our team! 

In recent weeks, HHA has commenced a major project to provide emergency food aid and agriculture/livelihood training to 1,100 of the most vulnerable refugee households in northern Uganda.  

This new project will assist approximately 5,500 individuals and will be focusing on families with a member with disabilities, alongside single carer households, those with chronic illnesses, widows and other vulnerable groups.

Our CBR team have been working across 4 settlements in northern Uganda; BidiBidi and Palorinya (official UNCHR settlements) and Mijalie and Kijali (unofficial UNHCR settlements, that currently receive no support.) to reach vulnerable groups to participate in this project.