Our key focus at this time is raising funds to build a maternity theatre at Charis Health Centre in Lira, Northern Uganda. This is an essential project that will provide a facility from which local women will be able to access safe maternal delivery services and emergency obstetrics as required. Building works are underway; you can watch progress by clicking on the image below.

We continue to provide funding to support treatment of cancer patients on the charity “Hope Ward” at International Hospital Kampala (IHK), Uganda. These funds help to ensure that such care and treatment is accessible to those that otherwise could not afford it.

Most of the funds raised by Suubi Trust come from individual supporters.

We are grateful to Richard and Pat who have led the fund raising for the theatre build in Lira. Rose and Becci helped to get this fund started.

Alison, her family and friends, including Helen, continue to support the work in Namuwongo that Alison was involved with during her time there as a VSO volunteer.

Kate and Caroline, to name just two, are keen supporters of the Cancer Care fund and are amongst the first to use standing orders and Give As You Earn.

Jamie, Louise, Emily, Sean and Rose helped to raise funds using Justgiving pages.

Our thanks also to church members in Hazlemere and Menorca.

All money raised by Suubi Trust is used to support the work of International Medical Foundation in Uganda. Our Trustees are volunteers and do not charge for any services or expenses. The only administration costs covered by the funds raised, and the associated gift aid, are bank charges and the cost of having the online giving facility at Justgiving.

You can review our accounts and annual returns on the Charity Commission website by clicking on the image below.

Thank you all for your kind and generous support and we wish you all a great 2012.

The fun run usually attracts individuals and corporate teams. In 2008 we raised UGX 3.2 million and had 216 runners and last year’s race took place on the morning of 28th November. On that day we had nearly 400 registered runners and the event raised UGX 4.6 million for Hope Ward. We had a total of 7 corporate teams of 30 runners registering for this event. Century Bottling Company registered 3 corporate teams and ANPCAN, Bead for Life, Post Bank, Ministry of Finance, Kids of Africa and International Health Sciences University all registered one team each.

We were indeed grateful for all the support from our participants and friends. This year we would like to register 500 runners at least and many more corporate teams.

For this year’s fun run you can visit any of the IMC clinics (Watoto, Kololo, Kitgum House or IHK Namuwongo) to register either as an individual (UGX10,000) or as a corporate team of 30 runners (UGX250,000). If you are not available to run on that day, you are very welcome to make a donation to support the run.

For our supporters in the UK and beyond, you can help by donating online, just click here.

For more information about our programmes please contact us by leaving a comment below or emailing contact@suubitrust.org.uk

Read more about Hope Ward here.

Hope Ward has 16 beds, an isolation room and a cancer treatment centre with two beds. The Hope Ward medical team is comprised of one physician, one medical officer and sixteen nurses. This team is closely supported by various specialists, surgeons, an oncologist and a physiotherapy team.

Hope ward receives a wide variety of patients with complex medical conditions from all over the country. Most of our patients are:

• Victims who have been traumatized from the war in Northern Uganda and who require plastic or other complex surgery, including landmine survivors.
• Patients requiring complex cancer treatment for both children and adults.
• Victims of burns and acid attacks.
• Children & adults with complications arising from HIV and AIDS.
• Surgery to repair Atrial‐Septal Defects (ASD) commonly known as a hole in the heart, a first for Uganda.
• Children born with congenital malformations such as cleft lip & cleft palate

I am re-posting this, it was first published on February 20th, 2010.

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Last year there were almost 250 patients cared for on Hope Ward. I am always inspired when I read the patient stories and I wanted to share this one in particular; in summary Mubiru’s story is:

• Abused by his grandmother at age 12, locked in a metal box,
• Rescued by his neighbours,
• Thought to be dying, handed over to a hospice,
• Brought by the hospice nurse to Hope Ward, unable to move, talk or look after himself,
• After very many months of loving care and treatment now looking for a new home and a new start.

You can read his story below or by clicking here.

If you would like to help Mubiru and our other patients on Hope Ward click here to find the many different ways in which you can give. Please tell others.

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Mubiru Lwasa is a young 12 year old boy who has suffered a great deal. Mubiru has never really had a place to call home. His mother and father are separated and have moved on to marry other partners and have other children. He lived with his mother for several years and she took him to primary school however he fell sick and she took him back to his father. At this point she had five children with her current husband (not Mubiru’s father) and she could not continue to care for him. This would mark the beginning of a long period of suffering and abuse in Mubiru’s life.

Mubiru was taken out of school and did hard labour for his grandmother and at some point was beaten so badly that his hand and leg were fractured. He was locked up in a metallic box and starved almost to the point of death. When Mubiru’s father noticed that his son was dying, he took him back to his village in Mpigi for fear of the cost of transporting a dead body.

When Mubiru’s father arrived in Mpigi the people in his village were shocked by the site of the boy’s emaciated body. The villagers refused to let Mubiru’s father rest until he had taken him to hospital. On arrival at Mulago hospital the nurses and others who saw Mubiru’s father carry his crippled smelly body into the hospital were so outraged they wanted to lynch him. Mubiru’s father was then ‘rescued’ by the police and taken to Luzira prison.

However now that Mubiru’s father was taken away there was no one left to take care of Mubiru while he was at Mulago. Fortunately a kind Ugandan lady (Mable) had compassion on him and chose to look after him, though she did not really have much to offer him but loving care.

Medical personnel at Mulago thought Mubiru was dying and contacted a nurse who works for Hospice Uganda. This lady contacted Hope Ward and asked us to admit him for treatment as she did not think he was terminally ill.

When Mubiru first arrived at Hope Ward, he was in very bad shape. He had sores and wounds all over his body. He could barely support himself in the wheelchair and the slightest movement would make him scream. Mubiru could neither talk nor feed himself, he was incontinent, he was very pale and the hair on his head was so thin, his lips were pale dry and chapped, he looked like a patient with full blown AIDS.

In September 2009:

Mubiru had been on the Hope Ward for about two months. With an improved diet, constant care and daily physiotherapy as well as constant dressing of his wounds, Mubiru’s condition had greatly improved. At this point he was still feeding through a nasal tube most of the time, though he had started a little self feeding. He regained ability to talk and even sang a song to one of our visitors on Hope Ward at the time. Mubiru is a charming naughty boy and all on Hope Ward became very fond of him. One nice cool evening he even requested his carer Mabel to take him out on the wheel chair to enjoy some fresh air in the hospital compound. The physiotherapist noticed that he tried to move his arms and legs (though he would cry while doing so) during his physio sessions.

By November 2009:

Almost all Mubiru’s wounds had healed, his hair had grown back, he was finally fit enough to start a series of surgeries to treat infections in his bones and to straighten his contracted legs. However at this time Mubiru was incontinent and had been wearing diapers since he came to Hope Ward…he had lost ability to control his bladder and bowels because of his long period of abuse.

At this time, Mubiru had gained more strength and began to talk more, much of his memory had returned and he began to give more details of what happened to him before he was brought to Hope Ward. His father had a final court case in the same month (November); Mubiru gave his police statement for the case and we were hopeful that justice would be served but he was only accused of neglect and given an eight month sentence.

We witnessed a very emotional moment on Hope Ward when we called Mubiru’s mother and had him talk to her, he cried really hard and yet she did not commit to come visit him, she was afraid that she would be arrested. Mubiru’s mother has several children from different men, she had left Mubiru with her mother who died shortly after and Mubiru was taken to be with his father where he was abused and almost killed. On the day we put Mubiru in touch with his mother, he asked her when she would come and take him and she said she couldn’t come for him and this really broke his heart. At the time, she had just delivered another baby with her current husband and was not ready to travel to Kampala or take up responsibility for Mubiru.

Today (Feb 2010): We would say that Mubiru has undergone remarkable transformation (as you can see from the pictures). He has had multiple surgeries on his legs, he has had intensive nutritional care and he has grown into a lovely cheeky, healthy boy. He no longer wears diapers and can control his bowels and bladder again; he can feed himself and no longer needs the nasal feeding tube. Mubiru is now receiving physiotherapy to strengthen his muscles and we are training him to walk again. We had braces fitted for his legs which he wears to gradually straighten them. Mubiru’s condition today is much more hopeful than it was about eight months ago when he first came to Hope Ward.

A physiotherapist told me that if you are confined to a bed or if you do not move at all for about three weeks; your body can deteriorate at a very fast rate, and your muscles will atrophy to the extent that you will not be able to walk without rehabilitative physiotherapy. Mubiru was confined to a box and not fed for months; he was left with untreated wounds that transmitted infection to his broken bones. That is why he is unable to walk today. With improved nutrition, tender loving care and good physical exercise, Mubiru will walk again; though this may take a long while.

Presently the hospital ward is not an ideal place for Mubiru to be, if anything he is more exposed to infections from other admitted patients. We have hope that Mubiru will recover and can regain the health and joy a young boy his age should have. However the reality is that his father is now in prison and he cannot return to the people who abused him, broke his bones and left him to die. We are in the process of trying to find a suitable home for Mubiru and we will continue to partner with the home to provide free physiotherapy and any surgery if he needs it to facilitate his return to the normal life of an active and happy young boy. Your kind consideration of our request and compassion for Mubiru will be highly appreciated.

A few weeks ago a relatively young lady (Rose*) walked into my office looking ten years older than she actually was. She came looking for help for her mother with an ultrasound scan report indicating that her mother had a mass in her cervix and another mass nearby as well as a collection of fluids in her abdomen. She told me a horrifying story of a woman in excruciating pain and health workers who could not do much for her because specialists at a certain facility were engaged in an exercise that could not afford them time to attend to this patient.

When I discussed these reports with our specialist gynaecologist and oncologist they suspected that the lady had advanced cancer of the cervix. The Hope Ward team reviewed the case and agreed that there would be no added value in admitting this lady to Hope Ward. She was probably receiving all the care she could at this alternative hospital because she already had a visit from a palliative care nurse and a supply of morphine.

When we broke this news to Rose she could understand the logic behind the situation but pleaded with us to admit her mother. She said that her mother was tired of being at this other facility and had asked them to take her home to die. Her sisters had sent her to Hope Ward in hope that we would admit her and provide better care. Unfortunately at this time the ward was fully occupied. She begged us to admit her mother and at least even provide space for her to sleep on the floor but this was against hospital policy.

After many hours of discussion with this lady, the oncologist agreed to at least review her mother in the clinic and advise the family. So she was given an appointment for the following day. However Rose and her mother did not return to the clinic on the next day. Her mother’s condition worsened and she was admitted into hospital. She came back with the same request, if we could only admit her mother because she felt that she was not receiving adequate care at this other hospital; again our ward was full. We tried to explain this to Rose and she said she could understand but she just had to fight for her mother and could not bear the sight of her mother in so much pain and suffering.

Two days later I came to work early in the morning and found Rose seated on a bench at the Hope Ward balcony and her mother on the floor. She was in too much pain to sit down. Fortunately the Hope Ward team had discharged a patient the previous day, so Rose’s mother was given a bed. The challenge the Hope Ward team now faced was to stabilise the patient;

her abdomen was so distended she felt like it was going to explode and she was extremely anaemic and so pale. Dr. Sheila the medical officer on Hope Ward, had the task of slowly easing fluid out of her abdomen but this was such a delicate procedure as her vital signs would crash if the fluid was withdrawn too rapidly.

The following morning I came in to work and found Rose’s mother on oxygen; fluid had accumulated in the pleural cavity surrounding her lungs probably as a result of an infection or a spread of the cancer to her lungs. At about midday I heard sobbing and wailing out on the balcony, I looked out and saw Rose pacing up and down. She went back to her mother’s bedside and dropped to the floor wailing. She kept on saying that the fluid had killed her mother; and I was thinking ‘no cervical cancer has killed your mother’.

This was one of the most difficult cases I have handled on Hope Ward. During a family conference with Rose, before her mother’s death we had explained the challenge we faced because her mother had presented to the hospital when the cancer was too advanced to respond to treatment. We stressed the importance of having her and all her sisters screened for cervical cancer in good time. All through this difficult period I had not seen any of Rose’s sisters. Within a few hours of her mother’s death there was a crowd of people from Rose’s family sitting on the Hope Ward balcony. I paced around for a few minutes feeling that the right thing to do would be to pass on my condolences to the family but I had a strong urge to grab Rose & her sisters and tell them ‘you need to be screened for cervical cancer, you have more of a choice than your mother did’; but I had to face the bitter truth, that was not a message they would respond to at this time.

Dr. Helena the oncologist at International Hospital Kampala, IHK, notes that East Africa has been documented as having highest rates of cervical cancer in the world; the number of women with cervical cancer in Uganda is amongst the highest percentage in the whole world. As an initiative to help women access cervical cancer screening Dr. Macrine runs a well woman clinic at IHK; in this clinic she screens about 50 women per month and in the first half of this year she has had 6 cases of diagnosed cervical cancer. The good news is that she has had cases of women with abnormal cells in their cervix which she has treated and re-screened after some time; we could say they have been saved from developing cervical cancer in the future. This service is not only offered to private clients but can also be accessed by needy patients through the Touch Namuwongo community clinic.

* Real names changed to protect individual’s privacy & right to confidentiality

Please accept our “thank you” note for your support to Rose’s Journey – we couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you to all the companies that supported us with publicity and other logistical support: Sanyu FM Breakfast show, Power FM, CBS, Rwenzori Water – we thank you.

Thank you to all the walkers / runners – you were stars … your level of dedication was exceptional – well done you all! Your messages after the journey have been very encouraging and we are even more motivated to keep organising this event. We are so glad to hear that this was more than a ‘walk’ or ‘run’ to you – many of you feel that this was an expression of your own journey in life and of the things that touch your very humanity – hope, love, courage, inspiration, victory… and much more.

Rose quotes J Piper on her email signature thus: “Love is a way of saying to another: It’s good that you exist, it’s good that you are in the world” – this is the message that I feel most of you conveyed by support Rose’s Journey and joining us to walk / run the many kilometers from Bamunanika to Kiwoko.

It is rewarding to note that we had at least 82 walkers/runners. We have already collected $15,000 for Hope Ward (mostly from online donations), collected 3,018,000/= in Uganda and are following up 820,000/= in pledges. Your generosity is much appreciated … we know that you have planted the seeds that we trust will yield even more donations so as to achieve our goal of fund raising for the treatment of needy people on the IHK Charity Ward (Hope Ward) and for a nursing scholarship for deserving but poor students. Thank you for touching those around you …

Thank you for bringing hope and adding your voice to Rose’s Journey.

Hannah Magoola

Sunday 10th July Update:

We walked yesterday! So did around 60 people in Uganda. They did it under a baking sun, and we did it in a mix of clouds and monsoon-like rain…

As planned, Katherine walked 11.5 miles to meet Luke, Miriam and Caleb at Dalkeith Country Park, where we were also joined by some friends. Together we walked about 2.5 miles around the park (with quite a lot of stops for playing and a few carries..!), and then Luke walked the 11.5 miles back. A familial total of 33 miles (52 km, like Rose and the team did from Bamunanika to Kiwoko)

We felt very lucky to be part of such a great project, and are extremely thankful for your very generous support.

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Katherine, Luke, Miriam and Caleb will be walking (between them) a total of 52 km on saturday the 9th of July, the same day our friend Rose will be walking that distance in Uganda retracing a journey she made 22 years ago. She will be walking with many other friends and collegues, and Rose’s Journey for 2011 has three goals:

1. Raise $10,000 to establish a scholarship fund for future Ugandan nurses.
2. Raise $15,000 for use in the Hope Ward of IHK where charitable medical care is provided.
3. Provide an additional platform to increase awareness about child sacrifice.

Rose is a very dear friend of ours, who lives a fascinating and inspiring life. This video tells you more about her, and the walk (there is footage from when she first retraced her steps, two years ago)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/8550854.stm

More details of the aim of her walk, and the reason that she is doing it, can also be found here:

http://www.narrowroadintl.org/Narrow_Road__Roses_Journey.html

The funds will go straight to great use where we used to work in and around Kampala. They will help support young people to train as nurses at the nursing school Katherine used to teach at, and to provide complex medical care for patients from around Uganda who would otherwise not be able to afford it. We have really seen the impact that these funds can have, and so we would greatly appreciate any contribution you are able to make.

Thank you xxx

In 1989, as a young girl, Rose Nanyonga was forced to leave her family’s village in Uganda.  She was alone and, as a female in Uganda without family protection, she had little hope. At the root of her forced departure was a conflict between Rose’s practicing of the Christian faith and her family’s desire for her to take part in witchcraft. Witchcraft, which can include the abhorrent practice of child sacrifice, is practiced in parts of Uganda and had driven a wedge between Rose and her family.

Upon leaving her village Rose began a 52 kilometer journey that would take her from her home village of Bamunanika to Kiwoko.  Amidst the hopelessness of this journey she found Ian and Robbie Clarke, Irish citizens working to establish better medical care in Uganda.  This encounter with the Clarke’s would forever alter the direction of Rose’s life.  Under their care, Rose would once again be part of a family.  She also began a career in nursing which would lead to her working as Director of Clinical Operations at International Hospital Kampala (IHK) in Uganda.  Today Rose balances responsibilities with IHK, a Ph.D program at Yale University, and assistance to numerous organizations including Narrow Road, where she serves as a board member.  On July 11, 2009, with the support and company of individuals from 5 different countries, Rose walked the same 52 kilometers from Bamunanika to Kiwoko.  This journey, 20 years after her initial footsteps on this path, was the beginning of a new pursuit that continues on July 9, 2011. You can read about that walk by clicking here and view my tweets on the day here.

Rose is an ambassador for many in Uganda who are unwanted, unloved, uncared for, and without hope.  She holds their stories in her heart, and seeks others to help her in this cause.  Specifically, Rose desires to provide opportunities for young girls to enter the medical profession.  She seeks to provide medical care to those who need it most but do not have the means to pay for their treatment.  And she seeks to raise the issue of child sacrifice so that additional lives are not needlessly lost. Read Rose’s Blog here.

Rose’s walk for 2011 has three goals:

1. Raise $10,000 to establish a scholarship fund for future Ugandan nurses.
2. Raise $15,000 for use in the Hope Ward of IHK where charitable medical care is provided.
3. Provide an additional platform to increase awareness about child sacrifice.

If you would like to support Rose you can give securely online by clicking here, please mark your donation Rose’s Journey.

This video features Dr. Richard and I am so glad to hear him say that he got as much from his time here as we got from him, which believe me was massive. His influence continues through his ongoing support for our TB Lab and community hospital in Lira. We need more like him…

Name: Nansubuga Hajara

Age: 1 year 7 months

Medical condition: Malnutrition, right leg sepsis that required skin grafting

Nansubuga Hajara a 1 year and 7 months old baby born to Ssebanakita Mohammed 25 years old and Namatovu Shadia a 20 year old mom reside in Kawanda Wakiso District. Father is a truck driver and the mother sells second hand women clothes for a living. At two months after birth, Hajara developed complications with her right leg that could not completely stretch, she was taken to a local herbalist who worked on her and she got better. A few weeks later, Hajara was taken for immunisation in Nsambya Hospital. She was immunised on the same leg that the Herbalist had worked on. The injection site became very septic. The family tried treating the septic wound from Home but the wound just continued getting worse. Hajara was taken to Mulago National Referral Hospital, but on assessment, the medical team at Mulago noted that the child had malnutrition and they were referred to Mwanamujimu nutritional Rehabilitation ward. In Mwanamujimu, the child was put under nutritional Rehabilitation, but the septic wound just worsened, continued with the treatment, debridement was done to get rid of rotten Flesh. All this was done on the General ward by Dr Muhamme, with continued daily wound dressing.

Unfortunately there was minimal improvement in Hajara’s condition then Dr Muhamme decided to approach IMF(Hope Ward) to assist in taking up the patient who at that time needed skin grafting to be done but family could not afford the costs in Mulago National Referral Hospital.

Hajara was admitted on Hope Ward where she got under the care of our pediatricians (Dr Jackie and Dr Renjini) and Physician (Dr Edith).She was put under intensive Nutrition Rehabilitation care with high protein/ energy feeds for about 1 and a half months with of course the routine nursing care and treatment as due. Her Nutrition deficiency was then totally eliminated and on the 20^th September 2010, skin grafting was done for the once very septic wound; (Dr Sam) was the lead surgeon for this operation. Wound dressing and antibiotic treatment have been done and Hajara is really doing very well and so are the parents that do greatly appreciate all the medical attention that they have received from Hope ward.

How the parents feel about the services received:

The dad is very happy he was given this opportunity to receive medical attention here at Hope ward and appreciates all the services they have received.