May 2020 update
Greetings from the Kitega Centre Uganda,The last months have been unusual and we are learning to adjust to the new normal.
The children want to resume Centre activity and continue asking when the Centre will open up.
The community groups have not gathered for almost three months and they are eager to start meeting.
The Centre has also been very quiet for the last three months.
Amidst all this the Centre has remained open and this lockdown has opened new opportunities to reach out and serve.
Hope is what the entire world needs now and we are thankful that the Centre has been able to spread hope in these uncertain times.
Emergency food support:
The lockdown affected small businesses,transport, schools among others. The Centre was able to distribute food parcels to 500 families in April and May 2020, providing food to over 2500 people during the lockdown.
The parcels included VICOBA maize flour, soap, sugar and salt.
The food support was an encouragement to several families that were struggling to feed their families during the extended lockdown.
Tip taps for community members:
The church and community mobilisation team of Kitega is carrying out several community outreaches to help with hand washing during this time. They are building tip taps for families to support the prevention of the pandemic and improve hand hygiene. The initiative was launched in mid May 2020 and several households are benefiting from this initiative.
Home visits:
We continue to visit the children with disabilities, most of the want to return to the Centre to learn, since this has been impossible for the last months the team has prepared various assignments for the children. We hope to visit the children and inspire their families to support by them in completing the assignments. This will expose abilities of the children with disabilities in their homes.
Derrick our sign language instructor is using this time to connect with families of the deaf children and he is teaching families sign languages to help them communicate with the children.
He is is visiting the families and working with them on several tasks.
We are also thankful for Hassan’s new house under construction. Hassan is one of the children with disabilities that the Centre supports and a new house for him means he can have a better place to stay.
Zimba Kabuyonjo – Build a latrine:
Five latrines have been constructed during this time, these have been inspired by the Zimba Kabuyonjo initiative which is similar to toilet twinning.
Gardening:
The team at the Centre has also been doing a lot of gardening.
In partnership with the University of Valencia, the Centre is working with several model farmers to inprove agricultural productivity. The pandemic has affected the flow of this project, however research continues at the Centre.
Poultry:
Our new incubator has hatched chicks, we are excited to report that the Centre will now hatch chicks and distribute them to children and other families that will be interested in Poultry farming.
VICOBA members finding opportunities during the pandemic:
VICOBA members have not been meeting since the lockdown was announced, however they have been encouraging each other and some have come together to accelerate some of their businesses during this time.
Farming has been key for members that have land and those without have managed to rent some space to grow some food.
Daudi group has been making charcoal briquettes that are in high demand.
The VICOBA maize mill has also been producing food flour to provide food to households.
Health Centre:
In February the health Centre construction site was cleared and water drilling has been ongoing.
The lockdown has slowed the progress of the hospital structure and the water drilling and we hope to have this progress in the coming weeks.
Umoja House:
Not much has been done on the Umoja house project, most of the pledges have not been fulfilled, we still believe that once complete the Umoja house structure will provide more community space to facilitate activities at the Centre.
Join us on zoom:
Please watch this space in the coming weeks and signup for one of the upcoming zoom meetings with the Kitega team. The meetings will be hosted in Spain and Scotland and you can tune in to hear live updates from the Kitega Centre.
We are all looking forward to connecting.
Thank you for being part of the Kitega story.