January 2026 report: News of club foot treatment, and our Cerebral Palsy programme We are now beginning a new year having come through what I saw as a difficult period in some ways, but blessing has resulted. Our statistics can show the number of children seen and the various conditions treated but these figures do not show the extent of Acheru's influence in terms of its Christian witness and its influence on our partners in the areas where we work and much farther afield. It is such an encouragement to see our work serve as an example to others and to know that for a long time to come children, not just from more distant parts of Uganda but even other countries will benefit from what we have done. I don't want to name individuals but simply state the very high regard I have for our staff. In this update I include news of work at our Kabembe base and at Napak in the north which we hope will impact on many children's lives in the future. In both cases we are working on buildings, but we have to look beyond that and see any project in terms of the children who can ultimately be helped - the buildings are simply a means to an end. Children's stories: Emmanuel was born with two club feet, a condition his parents had never seen before. His grandparents convinced them not to seek treatment. There was later some intervention when he was two years old but as we often find it wasn't carried through to completion and his feet went back to their original positions resulting in pain, difficulty walking, and inability to attend school. Now, having been brought to Acheru, he is thrilled at the prospect of going back to school and playing with his friends. Emmanuel Juma is seven years old, located by Acheru through a community outreach in Nakasongola. Nothing had previously been done as his parents didn't realise that treatment was possible. Juma Juma and Emmanuel, and many other children, endure years of pain with a condition which could have been treated so much more easily soon after birth, hence the continuing efforts of our community team to locate such children and raise awareness of what can be done. We now have over 25 years experience of the successful treatment of club feet without surgery. When we started, the Ponseti method of manipulation and casting, if necessary followed by tendon release, was thought suitable only for infants but we attracted attention by successfully using this method on teenage children. Now we have news of further recognition of this work. There is a high incidence of club foot in Cameroon. The Ministry of Health there operates a Clubfoot Care Program through the Cameroon Baptist Convention, and three of their senior personnel, the National Programme Coordinator, Project Officer, and Finance and Administration Officer, are coming to Uganda on an Exchange Learning Visit. The Ugandan Ministry of Health is taking them to Mulago, the main government hospital, and to our partner hospital CoRSU to look at surgical methods, and then to Acheru to look at what we do. It is exciting to get this recognition and a great endorsement of the work of our staff that despite being a very small unit the quality of their work is becoming widely recognized. Cerebral Palsy: I have referred to our plans a number of times, and we are now making good progress. We received an encouraging level of support from several sources, our relationship with partners in the north is developing, and I hope soon to be able to tell you that building work has started there. Back at Kabembe, a lot of work has been done to deal with Cerebral Palsy children. Most till now have been seen as outpatients, but we want to accommodate six children at a time as inpatients to work intensively with them. This is expected to be much more effective than occasional visits, but it will be closely monitored. Joyce in Soroti with Joseph Abura, former Bishop of Karamoja Diocese, who is helping with arrangements to build at Napak Acheru staff enjoying their Christmas outing to the lake Return to full Acheru website