Circular - December 2024: Latest news from Acheru, purchase of land for new base in Karamoja Community Outreach: The photos show an outreach conducted at Buikwe on 12th Nov. The arrangements were made by our partner, International Needs Uganda, with a team from Acheru dealing with assessments and referrals. 137 children were seen, with conditions including Downs Syndrome, Sickle Cell Disease, epilepsy, hydrocephalus, spina bifida, and fractures. By far the most common condition was Cerebral Palsy, with 43 cases. It was also noted that numbers with epilepsy and sickle cell disease seem to be rising significantly. Problems reported were the long distances (and travel costs) to access treatment and therapy. There is a lack of knowledge around the proper handling of children with cerebral palsy, and there is limited or no access to the expensive drugs which can help manage epilepsy. Buikwe outreach Kasowa Sub County outreach August 2024 Our Acheru cook Namwese Sarah, and her daughter Namukoma who is being treated as an Acheru patient Salama Acheru's relationship with Salama school for blind children continues, and we feel privileged to have the opportunity to develop a Christian outreach in a government school. A great deal has happened in the last two years, and enrolment exceeds what it was before the dormitory fire. Recently a number of the P7 pupils graduated and to mark the occasion a special service at the school was led by a choir of Acheru children, with one of the Salama boys playing a keyboard we had provided. It was a big celebration and Joyce gave each of the graduating children a goat, which will most likely be used for breeding. Most of these girls will now be trying to get into secondary schools and Acheru, with pastor Emmanuel, will be trying to keep contact with them. It's a big step for these children to leave a school where they seemed so happy. Joyce speaking to the P7 girls The choir from Acheru who led the service at Salama Dr Aidah with William, who died in October. He had Downs Syndrome, but also suffered arterial problems Some of our Acheru workers, Emmanuel, Timothy, and Mariam Cerebral Palsy Party 31st October 2024 Acheru organised a party to celebrate CP Day. It was a big event, a total of 533 people attended and they all seemed to have a very enjoyable day. It cost us money to make all the preparations and feed everyone but we felt this was a worthwhile investment. The Acheru staff have a lot of experience with CP and this was an opportunity to 'showcase' what we can do and encourage people to help us in locating children who could potentially be helped. We can still encounter a reluctance, for whatever reason, to bring disabled children for treatment so we have to do whatever we can to find them, and presenting our work to a wide audience will, we hope, encourage those present to help locate children in their own areas. Another problem we face is people's perception of a child with CP. They are 'disabled' and are therefore not seen as having potential. Hence they may be ignored, have no stimulus, and fail to develop. At the CP Day we were able to show what can be done for a child with CP, realizing their potential and for many, enabling them to live a relatively 'normal' life. Even for those more severely impaired, there's usually something we can do to help, perhaps with appliances which the child can use to improve mobility or, in severe cases, arrange a wheelchair for a carer who may previously have had to carry them. This added mobility can greatly enhance the quality of life for children and families. Among the many guests was the new Bishop of Mukono, who came with a number of other representatives from the church. We are already partners with other church organisations but it's our hope that after some of the problems we've had in the past, this relationship with Mukono Diocese should help embed our work and make church personnel, with their widespread influence, aware of what we do and eager to refer children to us. Other medical services are developing in Uganda, with increased access to surgery for example, but CP is an area where we can continue to make a difference and we are looking closely not just at treatment but at the causes of CP particularly with reference to Napak in Karamoja. Napak We're making progress with Napak. We've been considering for some time how to proceed there and now things have happened quickly with the opportunity to buy what seems to be a suitable piece of land. We've paid a deposit on a four acre site, bigger than we were thinking of but it's well located with good soil, and would enable any staff we place there to grow crops. We could have deliberated for much longer trying to find the 'best' solution, meanwhile children could be missing out on treatment. We've still a lot to learn about the area, and we're dependent on the help and advice of our partners there - but it's been a fruitful relationship so far. Napak is our 'gateway' to Karamoja, which covers around one sixth of Uganda's land area, extending into Kenya. We now need to think about what we might establish there, but we can call on our experience of working at Minakulu. We want our staff (and partners) to develop community education aimed at prevention, and also at locating and referring children for treatment. We know the work is needed on the basis of referrals we already have following our community outreaches. Those we work with there include Kachi, of the Karamoja Special Children's Hope Initiative, Pastor Robert Kayanja of Kayanja Food Store Project, and Divine Care Ministries, whose aim is to preach the gospel and build schools. Acheru staff can join with them in visiting schools, parents and teachers meetings, and women's groups. We have already been taking referrals brought to our notice. A particular concern is the high incidence of Cerebral Palsy, and we're investigating the reasons. At last year's Napak Christmas party, 90% of the children attending had Cerebral Palsy. A report by our partner Dr Felix of Rapha highlights a lack of proper studies of CP in Uganda, but there are known causes, primarily oxygen starvation during a prolonged delivery or injury to the baby's head when Karamajong women squat to deliver. There is very poor access to maternity services around Napak, so we need to look at what we might do to help address this. We want to do anything we can to prevent a child suffering injury during birth, rather than see them with lifelong impairment, and this can best be achieved by working with partners in the area to bring about change and improve access to maternity and medical services. We also need to provide a rehabilitation service where CP children can perhaps be brought as outpatients for therapy. All this is presently under discussion. To some extent this is a step into the unknown for us, but look at all that's happened already with Acheru when we've been prepared to take a step of faith. And of course we have our experience at Minakulu to call on. The team travelling up from Acheru to conduct outreaches is worthwhile, but is not a satisfactory longer term solution. As well as being very time consuming, the travel can be dangerous. We're spending money, but you have given generously so that we can help children, and that's exactly what we're trying to do. Joyce and Harriet with Kachi Return to full Acheru website