After the letter we sent out on COVID-19, we've received a remarkable response and raised £25,372 for the Masaka community in under a week! We've been totally amazed by people's generosity, particularly when there is so much need in everyone's home countries, and a huge thank you to our friends, families and donors for all of your support, and particularly the Queen's Commonwealth Trust. We're working in partnership with various organisations across Masaka, including the Uganda Marathon, and are focused on 2 initiatives: 1) Food Programme 2) Masaka Referral Hospital
Above: The local emergency team out in the field testing for corona cases
Food Programme
Worryingly, the impact of the current lockdown may be worse than COVID-19 itself given the informal economy and lack of government support in Uganda. Most people have no savings and without the ability to go out to work to feed their families, food shortages are one of the biggest threats.
We are packaging food and sanitization parcels and delivering them across the community with the Eco Brixs truck. We are also building community gardens where each vulnerable household will receive 3kg of beans and 2kg of maize for planting.
- To feed an individual and provide soap for handwashing for 2 weeks £10.00
- Provide seeds for planting to a family of 4 for food security £4.20
Left: Johnson, our Operations Manager, will now be driving the truck to deliver food parcels
Hospital Programme
Like health workers across the globe, the staff at Masaka hospital have been our community's lifeline. They are working in extremely challenging conditions, and with no ventilators, they are having to use manual bags to save lives. Given the lack of supplies, equipment, and basic infrastructures such as power and water, this funding is going towards providing safety equipment for staff, creating isolation spaces, hygiene facilities, and back-up infrastructure. We have already repaired the hospital's fence, created an isolation unit and helped establish a screening process at the hospital's entrance. We have also provided PPE to the hospital staff and ordered an industrial washing machine to prevent cross-contamination. - Feed a patient for a day £5.70 - 20 Litres of liquid soap £9 - 100 seater tent to extend isolation facilities £682 - Back-up Power system repair £568 - Tracking of community cases for a period of 1 week £227 - Full set of Cleaning tools (brushes, squeezers, mops) £102 - Full set of theatre scrubs and box of 50 pairs of gloves £22.80
A few of the heroes of Masaka taking a well-earned break on Easter Sunday at Masaka Referral Hospital.
On Sunday, the team chipped in and thought we'd send some takeaway pizzas to the hospital as a small thank you to the incredible staff for all their hard work at the moment!
If you would like to support these programmes, you can donate here. 100% of your donation will go directly to supporting individuals in Masaka. This support is already making a huge difference and every pound is helping support some of the most vulnerable communities in Uganda. Thanks again and we hope you and your families are keeping safe at home.
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