December 1998

Bram Moolenaar, the treasurer of ICCF Holland, has visited the project in Uganda in November 1998. Here is his report of the trip:

The last time I visited Kibaale was about two years ago. Since then quite a few things have changed. A few buildings have been added: A block of classrooms for the primary school (including a library), housing for teachers and workers. The main changes are however with the people working there. More of the work is being done by Ugandans. The school is now largely run by local people, including the headmaster. This is another step in the direction of having the centre run without depending on outside help.

A small clinic has been started to improve the medical care. A nurse from England, Ceri, helps doing this. She is still looking for a local nurse to help her and to be trained by her. There are plans to vaccinate all the children in the near future. The cooperation with the new hospital in Rakai (about 15 kilometers from Kibaale) is improving. We will try to support the clinic financially. There is still some startup cost (e.g. for a gas fridge to store the vaccins). And money is needed monthly for the materials that are used. The local people are asked to pay a small amount for treatment, but this does not cover the real costs. I hope we can find sponsors for this.

On Saturday I went with Stephen to visit three of our sponsored children. Stephen works on the project to keep an eye at the children and make sure that they get the help that they need. I visited the children at home, so that I could see where they live and talk to the family. All three of these children are in an extended family, since they lost their parents. The small houses that they live in are OK, although one of them had broken plastering and the roof was leaking in another. They don't have the money to fix this. Stephen will look into the possibility to help them (this is a matter of budget and priority, we can only help the most needy).

One of the children I visited was Geofry Kyoma, which I sponsor myself. I brought him a few presents, which made him very happy. But he didn't really smile. After asking a few questions it became clear that he was ill, probably from malaria. Fortunately he recovered the next week and was able to attend school again. I had brought colorful balloons for the other five children in the family (there is no toyshop in Uganda!). The oldest brother provides the family with food by working on the piece of land they have. And then he has to go to school too! The guardian of the children is an old grandmother, who has problems with her eyes and can't work on the land. It is clear that Geofry really needs my help.

I was happy to see that Uganda has improved the last two years. Many roads have been repaired. The dirt road to Rakai, which has always been covered with potholes, has been tarmaced (thanks to Danida, the Danish development organisation). The people in the street seem to be wearing better clothes. There is now a bus driving daily to Kampala (the capital of Uganda) and back. This means that there are more people that can afford to pay for the trip, which is a good sign.

Overall I was very happy to see the improvements. Of course there is still a long way to go. AIDS doesn't just go away and there are still an awful lot of orphans in poor families. But it makes me feel good to see that our help there really helps the people. And this stimulates me to continue supporting KCC.