Small gifts, mighty impact: East Africa essentials

In September last year, we set out to raise money for essentials for our work in East Africa – basic items that would have a tangible impact on our team’s ability to carry out our vital projects. 

We were overwhelmed by the response to our campaign, and you helped us raise over $2,600 – funds that have already gone a long way towards improving the wellbeing of our staff and beneficiaries and making our projects more effective and efficient!

Phil, our Field Operations Coordinator, currently working in East Africa, said:

“Though these items may seem small, they really do make a difference to the day-to-day of our staff and beneficiaries. Viola and John, the cooks at our centres in BidiBidi (Uganda) and Kajo-Keji (South Sudan), now have oven gloves so that they can lift hot pots safely; the teams also now have wall calendars so they can plan their work… These are things that we might take for granted, but they go a long way in under-resourced settings.”

Here are a few more of the things we’ve bought, thanks to you, that have made a real difference…

• Battery chargers - enabling us to keep vital equipment (like blood pressure machines, thermometers and calculators) working, even with limited access to electricity
• Zip ties - helping our technicians to make specialised adaptations to wheelchairs, to make sure that beneficiaries are comfortable and well-seated, and most importantly to help avoid pressure sores 
• Footballs and coloured chalks - for our students at Amazing Grace School, a school for refugee children in Uganda, many of whom are orphans
• LED light strips - used for our sensory classroom at Amazing Grace and in New Hope Rehabilitation Centre BidiBidi - to create safe, inclusive and educational spaces for children and adults with disabilities
• Post-partum maternity pads - to provide dignity to new mothers at our clinic in South Sudan
• Coloured chopping boards - to help improve food hygiene standards in our staff kitchens in both BidiBidi and Kajo-Keji
• Safety glasses and ‘quality’ power tools for our workshop, where we custom-make prosthetics and orthotics
• Brackets and wallplugs (difficult to buy in the areas we work) that enabled us to construct shelves in our pharmacy in Kajo-Keji - keeping the space organised and tidy!

These are just a few of the ‘shopping list’ items that your generosity enabled us to purchase - small gifts that, though simple, are already having a mighty impact. Proof that every little really does help!