What would you do if you could not get medical help for your child? Is there anything that would make you feel more powerless? Until recently, the children in Kaihura, Uganda lived a 45 minute car ride from the nearest medical facility, yet it might as well have been 450 miles. Ninety-nine percent of the community has no transportation. Children die every day from curable illnesses and injuries because they do not have access to medical facilities.
In Spring of 2013, Embrace Uganda and our Ugandan partner, Bringing Hope to the Family, have completed the building of a Level III Medical Clinic in Kaihura! The Hope Again Medical Clinic serves not only the village of Kaihura but the entire district of Kyenjojo, a region with over 450,000 people and only two practicing physicians. Contrast that to America which averages one physician per 276 people and the discrepancy becomes very clear.
The clinic provides primary care services to the general population but also allow HIV AIDS care to be provided on-site. In addition, it makes a vaccination program possible and expand diagnostic capabilities for diseases such as malaria and TB. The clinic also provides maternity care for high risk deliveries under medical supervision as opposed to delivering in remote homes. We also hope to attract full-time physician staffing to this area which would be impossible without proper facilities.
Embrace Uganda has raised the $180,000 needed to build and completes the clinic. The community of Kaihura has also worked hard to make it a reality, carrying jugs of water weighing 50+ pounds 3/4 of a mile, mixing cement by hand, digging with hoes and shovels instead of backhoes, and measuring and leveling with string. It’s a true partnership.
Yet the building is only part of what was needed. There is a continuing need for operational support --- medical supplies, staff funding, and maintenance, everything from patient beds to a full-time physician. Your giving now will help meet these continuing needs and expand the clinic’s outreach to the surrounding villages as well as the quality and quantity of services it can provide. Your dollars will literally save lives.
