By Tim Holmes | Fundraising and Operations Coordinator
Last year, your gifts made a big difference in East Africa by funding many small, but essential, bits of equipment and materials. Many of these items were to support our disability work: things like battery chargers for our Community Based Rehabilitation workers, safety glasses for our prosthetics workshop, and even zip ties for our wheelchair technicians. These essentials are now having a real impact on our local team's day-to-day, enabling them to carry out their vital work and provide dignity, mobility and opportunities to people with disabilities every day.
One of those people is Michael, who lives in Kajo-Keji - a region of South Sudan that was devastated by the civil war. He was diagnosed with leprosy as a child, and lives with his wife, who is blind. Life is not easy for them: like many people in the region, they rely on farming to feed themselves and their family. This is particularly challenging for Michael, who has complex deformities in his hands and feet as a result of his illness.
When our community outreach team first met Michael, he had an infected wound on his foot, which he had cut with a hoe when tending to his crops. He had been farming barefoot because he couldn’t afford specialised shoes to fit his feet. Our team treated and dressed Michael’s wound, and our shoe-maker measured him for a pair of custom-made leprosy shoes – his first ever pair of shoes. He couldn’t stop smiling.
The small items that you helped us buy last year are making a tangible difference to our team's ability to make stories like Michael's possible. But with demand for our projects growing, the need for these essentials remains high. And this month, we have an amazing opportunity to double every donation, thanks to £30,000 ($37,500) of match funding. This match fund comes from one of HHA's foundation partners and is not affiliated with GlobalGiving, but anything you give during May through GlobalGiving to this project - or any of our other disability projects - will still be eligible to be doubled!
That means that, for the whole of May, your small gift could have an even mightier impact! Whatever you give will go twice as far towards buying items that will help our team to carry out their vital work – and ultimately, twice as far towards transforming the lives of people like Michael.
Donations must be made in May 2024 towards our disability work (donations to this project will apply). Gifts up to the vaule of £5,000 ($6,000) are eligible for matching. £30,000 ($37,500) of match funds available – once we've reached this target, additional donations won't be match funded. Check out the HHA website for up-to-date info on how we're doing against the target.
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