We know the best course of defense against SARS-CoV-2 is washing our hands thoroughly with soap, combined with social distancing. Uganda is now in lockdown, with some of the heaviest restrictions in Africa, as they fear the spread of Coronavirus through their country.
Uganda does not have the medical infrastructure needed for a nationwide outbreak, and yet most households lack the very necessities to prevent the spread. For example, over 60% of households in the Kumi district do not have a hand-washing facility and soap is considered a luxury.
For the last four years we have been investing in improving access to sanitation and hand-washing, particularly in primary schools, across Kumi, supporting over 60 schools with hand-washing facilities built by the latrines. Our aim is to ensure that there is no school without a hand-washing station in the district by 2025.
Through the above project, we trained some of our students in our vocational skills centre in Mukongoro, on how to make soap and can produce 20ltrs of liquid soap for as little as £10.
As part of our Covid-Response, funded through our donors and in part by UK Aid Direct, we have been able to provide all the health facilities in 2 out of the 7 sub-counties of Kumi, with liquid soap, hand-washing equipment and PPE. As part of this project we have also been able to facilitate keyworkers in the daily food markets and police stations with hand-washing equipment and soap.
Our hope is to provide all the health facilities (hospitals and clinics) in the district with these essential items.
“I am expected to treat my patients, as well as pregnant mothers, without soap. They say we should be washing our hands, and our patients should be washing their hands, but we do not have soap or sanitiser and there are no masks. We say to our patients ‘you must wash your hands’, but they do not see us doing so, and we cannot show them how.”
Please help!
We’re raising £5,112 to enable us to manufacture soap in Koindu, Sierra Leone, and provide the sub-counties of Nyero and Kanyumu with the hand-washing equipment they need.
Previous Post
Uganda does not have the medical infrastructure needed for a nationwide outbreak, and yet most households lack the very necessities to prevent the spread. Over 60% of households in the Kumi district do not have a hand-washing facility and soap is considered a luxury.
However our vocational centres can make 20 litres of soap for just £10, please help us to provide the hospitals and health facilities with this soap by donating today.
We are all in unprecedented times and look towards the rest of the year with some level of uncertainty. Knowing that, it has meant so much to us to hear from many of you in the last couple of weeks, sharing your photos and craft ideas, and sending in kind donations towards our ongoing projects. A big shout out to all at 16th Epping Forest Scouts for an incredible season of fundraising supporting the installation of 2 hand-washing tanks in Uganda. Thank you!
As always we extend our thanks to all of you who regularly support us, volunteer, travel, and share our work with others. It means so much!
Stay safe!
Dave & Ziz