August 2026 report: News of Napak, and two recent Acheru admissions Napak: For a number of reasons, some beyond our control, we have had to change our plans for Napak. We investigated working in Napak when preliminary visits, at the instigation of local government, revealed the unusually high numbers of births resulting in Cerebral Palsy, so we started looking at how this could be addressed. Having identified the causes, we first thought of having a worker based there and putting up a small building, but we soon realized that what worked for us at Minakulu was not the right response for Napak. The scale of poverty and deprivation took us by surprise and brought home to us the need to work with experienced partners there rather than on our own. This remains our approach and Joyce has built good relationships there. A first step was to hold community meetings to raise awareness among mothers of the causes of CP and the help available to them such as access to maternity and antenatal services, and transport to enable them to get to maternity centres. This had to be temporarily put on hold following a government ban on public gatherings due to the risk of Ebola. Of course the core work of Acheru continues to be the rehabilitation of disabled children and it is clear there must be many such children hidden away in the Napak area. Now that our partners there understand what we can do they can use local connections to find children and refer them to Acheru, and we already have a number of children undergoing treatment and rehabilitation. We've an increasing emphasis on CP at Acheru too. We want to build on the good results we've previously seen with CP children, and much more intensive work is planned particularly with very young children. With so many of the conditions encountered at Acheru, early intervention can make a big difference. Costs have also been a factor in reconsidering some of our Napak plans, particularly in view of the significantly increased costs of surgery and compounded by a number of children with very serious conditions requiring major (and consequently costly) surgery. It's all a balance, we can't do everything, but must try to be objective in determining how we can use our staff's skills and available resources to maximum effect. Our social worker Rose writes: Ten year old Maria, from Mukono district, had deformed legs and there was no medical intervention before she was brought to Acheru. She was identified by our Acheru community based rehabilitation workers. Mother says that "my daughter was normal until the age of one when she started walking. Her legs were not bending so much but as she was growing the problem progressively increased. At first we thought she was going to be fine but it didn't happen. I had no idea of taking her to hospital because I don't have a permanent job to give me enough money to support the surgeries". "She had started feeling pain whenever she woke up in the morning, playing with friends had started being so hard as she couldn't involve in most of the games. When it came to going to school, it was not easy as the distances to reach school where long. I was feeling so bad for her yet I had no option of what to do". "God doesn't forget his people, because I never thought of getting free service from anyone. But God is good, it was one beautiful morning when I received a visitor from ACHERU and they came with Good News of helping my little girl to be treated. In a short period of seeing us my daughter was operated on and her legs are straight now. I expect the treatment to end well and my daughter will go to school and play with her friends with no pain" THANK YOU SO MUCH ACHERU, GOD BLESS YOU. The pictures below show Maria before and after surgery, she is now doing well. Pictured below is Juwaye Niyongo. His mother had been keeping him hidden and had avoided going to hospitals as she worried about the costs. Someone told her about Acheru and she has now brought Juwaye to us. His deformities are severe; he is now being assessed and I hope to have more news of what's planned for him in the next circular.