The team at the Kitega Centre has been out in the community, the TUWONE project was set up to deal with problems arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The project is active in all the beneficiary communities of the centre. The centre is providing healing and hope.

The covid-19 pandemic has left numerous problems to deal with, through “TUWONE” we are trying our best top address some of these problems through:

Public Interest litigation, Legal aid, child protection programs  and sensitisation.

The team has been very busy in the field healing and bring hope to victims and building the capacity of centre community leaders to address problems that arise in the community.

In Katungulu village, the centre partnered with the Local council leadership and setup a public address station which is currently helping in community sensitisation.

VICOBA leaders are also providing training and counselling to children in the community especially during this time when they are away from school.

The team bid farewell to Hannah in August, she served at the Kitega Centre six month and her presence was special.

Wedding of the year!

Derrick and Mable (Both deaf) tied the not at the beginning of September. This was a special wedding with a special message too. The Kitega team was there for the event.

Children with disabilities:

The team are reaching out to the children at home and providing some training. This has encouraged most of the children to learn, it has also given the team an opportunity to evaluate the impact of the training the children receive at the centre and the interaction that exists between the family and the children with disabilities.

We are thankful that we have continued to reach out to all the children with basic supplies  during this time of the pandemic. The  children are generally healthy but miss being at the centre.

Ida continues finding her way to the centre!

Derrick our sign language instructor has been spending time with the deaf children and their families. The pandemic has given us the opportunity to teach some of the family members basic sign language to communicate with the children. Most of the guardians and siblings are excited to learn and this will improve communication.

Vocational training continues for some of the children, equipping them with skills to be independent in the near future. Social distancing is observed during the training.

Some cases of child abuse have been reported, we are using the centre programs to address some of these cases.

Community programs

Several ministries and community groups are involved in the Centre’s TUWONE program in response to the effects of covid-19.

The Centre’s community approach focuses on building capacity for communities to own and drive development initiatives, addressing key challenges that hinder progress.

VICOBA 

Several projects and individual businesses have been affected, however VICOBA members are confident that this pandemic is not permanent. They are supporting each other and meeting regularly to discuss and plan the way forward.

Small scale recovery businesses and activities are being established, these include poultry farming, and maize farming to supply the VICOBA maize mill with maize among others.

Other businesses are still dependent on the pandemic and the greatest treasure that the VICOBA groups share right now is HOPE.

The maize mill has been able to provide maize flour at a reasonable price to the vicoba members and the wider community and animal supplies from the mill have also been available to support animal husbandry.

The maize mill is is running and modification of the site continues

A small kiosk has been setup in Kitega to sell maize flour and  animal supplies from the mill, this is expected to expand but for starters will bring products closer to the customers that enjoy the VICOBA-Plus Maize mill products.

We have not been able to reach out widely with food parcels the past month, however we plan to do so in the coming weeks to support struggling families.

Ffena Tulime aims at availing arable land for community members to ensure food security, we are working with all the communities to make this possible.  We have been able to support communities with farming inputs for this season to boost agricultural production and encourage agriculture especially during this time when several people are unemployed.

Community Schools:

The Kitega Centre is working with  teachers in key partners schools to prepare learning materials for the pupils during this time. The study packages will be distributed to all the pupils and the hope is that this will encourage learning at home and also ensure that the children are safe.

Thankful for project porridge that has been used to reach out to some of the families that are struggling with food during this time.

Ebenezer Health Centre 

Brick baking is ongoing to level the ground and have it ready for construction. The bricks will help in the construction of the second phase of the building.

Meanwhile we have not reached a sustainable water level on site, and are working to find solutions to ensure we have a production well to supply water at the Health Centre.

Katungulu Excitement – Electricity is finally coming to the village.

The village will soon have electricity, the government has installed electricity poles and will commence wiring and providing electricity to the households that are ready to receive electricity. The Health centre electricity pole has been installed too, and we hope that the school in Katungulu will also be able to have electricity to support learning.

MATILDA is very excited, having the electricity pole installed next to her new house, she says: ” I didn’t know I would sleep in such a house, now the electricity pole is just close to my house and am sure I will also be able to get electricity in this special house”

Surprise Birthdays.

The pandemic has not stopped the Kitega team from reaching out to celebrate lives. In  fact the team can now be hired to surprise your special person on their special day! We have celebrated several birthdays and remain thankful.

Meanwhile the centre gardens were booked to host wedding receptions over the past weeks, and more bookings have been made for the coming weeks. The team has been working on improving the compound area to provide space to host events as a small social enterprise.