Five words from my trip to Uganda: a report from Accomplish volunteer Clare Steele-King.

In April this year, I was privileged to travel  to Uganda with Chris (Chair) and Becky (Trustee) to see first-hand some of the amazing work supported by Accomplish Children’s trust.  I’ve chosen five words to sum up my experience….

Tenacity:

On our first day we travelled with the epilepsy outreach team  based at Kagando Hospital to visit several clinics funded by Accomplish, which reach up into the remote Rwenzori mountains. The epilepsy outreach team includes skilled medics and skilled drivers!  I saw first-hand the life-limiting effect of brain damage that results from constant fits when epilepsy is not controlled by medication. And I witnessed the tenacity of people to travel huge distances to attend a clinic, often on foot and carrying a loved one requiring treatment.  Most joyfully, I saw the real and positive impact that these clinics have. I met one father who had travelled to the clinic with his two sons, who had both experienced uncontrolled epileptic fits for several years before receiving medication. Both boys had suffered significant brain damage as a result and needed his constant care, but this father was also collecting medication for his younger daughter who has received drugs from when her epilepsy first manifested, and because of that early intervention she had not suffered the cumulative damage of multiple fits and was  able to attend school. It is hard to comprehend how something so simple can have such life changing consequences.

Community:

In Kasese, we visited RAP-CD primary school and met its founder, Maali Wilson. Supported by Accomplish, Maali has realised his vision to provide community and education to disabled children in a society where disability is viewed by many as a source of shame, and where extreme poverty blocks access to support.  At RAP-CD we were treated to a wonderful school assembly bursting with joy, song, dance, humour and, alongside the everyday lessons, I saw what is possible when society is challenged and disabled children are included and encouraged.

Collaboration:

Disabled students at St Agnes

At St Agnes secondary school, Accomplish funds special needs teachers to enable the integration of disabled children into a mainstream school. Every student learns sign language, and I saw how all students, disabled and not, benefit from the rich variety of  skills and strengths their fellow students bring, as they live and learn together and from each other.  It was particularly joyous to meet  students who had started their journey at RAPCD primary school.

Confidence:

Our visit to Rwenzori Special Needs Foundation (RSNF), a vocational centre just outside Fort

Portal was eagerly anticipated, because this was the first visit to see the new purpose-built premises, funded by Accomplish, where the  students live and learn a vocational  skill (knitting, tailoring or hairdressing) to a commercial standard, often enabling them to set up their own business. We met Daniel, the director, whose enthusiasm, energy and vision mean that this project never stands still, and we visited the workshop of Newton, the new knitting teacher who also runs his own knitting business (and a football team!)  and has motorised his knitting machines using the engine and gear mechanism of a boda boda motorbike! We travelled out of Fort Portal to pay a surprise visit to a former hairdressing student, now running her own salon. When we asked her customers why they use her salon, their answer was simple: she’s the best hairdresser. Back at the centre, I met Generous, a past student of the project and now the matron, who told me how each student’s growth in self-confidence begins with their first lesson: First they must learn to love themselves.

Newton, with his knitting machine

Innovation:

Accomplish partners with the Kyaninga Child Development Centre near Fort Portal, where it was fascinating to see the Kyaninga Mobility project in action. The initiative designs and manufactures sustainable bamboo wheelchairs, which reduce dependency on imported wheelchairs that are unsuitable for the terrain, and also support local farmers who are paid to grow the bamboo.  A bamboo wheelchair is a chair for life and can be tailored to the needs of its occupant and adjusted as they grow.

So a word for each project: Tenacity, Community, Collaboration, Confidence and Innovation; but in truth, every one of these qualities is found in all the projects. Tenacity could refer to Maali’s constant search for new ways to improve the lives of disabled children both within the projects and beyond them. Community comes alive at RAP-CD when a student entertains the whole school with an improvised rap. Collaboration is found at the RSNF vocational centre, when the students learn to value themselves and then others. Confidence grows at St Agnes when students recognise their strengths to help each other. Innovation is found in the creative ways a deaf hairdresser communicates and builds trust with her clients.

Five words can only offer a glimpse of what I experienced in Uganda. It is a place of profound contrasts: resilient joy amid hardship, breathtaking natural beauty next to extreme poverty, and inspiring human dedication in the face of enormous challenge. I think I left a bit of my heart in Uganda (I was warned this might happen).

If I had to sum up my journey in a single word, it would be: Love.

Children at RAPCD