Tag Archives: Theatre at Charis

Week 38 – Build Finished

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After 38 weeks, I am very pleased to announce that the build of the maternity theatre in Lira is now finished.

Week 38 Painting Outside

The Bush Hospital Foundation is in the process of acquiring and donating the necessary medical equipment. The value of this is likely to be about £15,000.

We are continuing discussions with a number of potential donors regarding on-going provision of funds to cover the cost of providing maternity and emergency obstetric services to local women.

You can read earlier postings about this programme by clicking here.

Helping to Improve Maternal Health in N. Uganda

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Women living in Uganda face a 1 in 35 chance of dying as a result of complications during pregnancy or delivery; that’s 134 times greater than the same risk faced by those living in the UK. (WHO, 2010: 26)

At least 16 Ugandan women die each day whilst giving birth and perhaps up to 10 times that number suffer complications that significantly affect their on-going quality of life.

In the UK, 7 children are shared between 10 adult women; in Uganda each woman has, on average, 7 children.

More than 20,000 Ugandan babies are born each year infected with HIV passed from their mother.

So maybe Ugandan women should just have less children, wouldn’t that help to solve these problems? If only it was that simple. Trying to impose our Western culture or world-view on others is not the answer; we must work with those that we want to help, to provide solutions that they will find acceptable and appropriate.

Recent research shows that more than two thirds of women who want to use modern family planning are unable to get regular, sustainable access to it. (Guutmacher, 2009)

Suubi Trust is working with local health teams throughout Uganda to help resolve these issues. In Lira, Northern Uganda, it is partnering with a local faith based organisation, Charis, to implement solutions that will help to improve maternal and child health for the poor living in the local communities.

Some of the local women who will benefit from the Maternal-Child-Health services being provided at the Charis healthcentre in Lira, N. Uganda.
Click for more photos...

These include ante-natal services in which women can access the necessary treatment to help prevent mother to child transmission of HIV and receive family planning after delivery.

We are building a Maternity Theatre that will help provide safe delivery, with emergency obstetrics care, such as c-sections, as and when needed. Friends and supporters of Suubi Trust have raised the necessary funds for this and a generous donor has offered to buy all of the necessary equipment.

The theatre will be operational by September 2012 at which time we will be seeking donor support to sponsor ANC and Safe Delivery for those local women who could not otherwise access such services.

You can read more about this project by clicking here and here.

Building the Maternity Theatre in Lira: Week 13

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It’s Week 13 and the team is making good progress.

The TB Lab now has its roof on and work has started on the internal structure.

Week 13 TB Lab: Click here for more pictures...

 

The Theatre Block is taking shape, the internal layout is now very evident and the walls are ready for the windows.

Week 13 Outside of the Theatre: click here for more pictures

 

Week 13 Looking into Operating Room 1: please click on image for more photos

 

The full picture set can be found here.

Related articles

Suubi Trust Annual Returns

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Since it was registered on July 2nd 2007, Suubi Trust has raised just over £200,000 to help support the work of International Medical Foundation, an NGO providing healthcare services to the financially disadvantaged in Uganda.

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.

Week 07 of the Theatre Build, click on image to see more in this album.

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.

CharityCommissionLogo

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

Jackie and Gary Raise Funds for Charis Theatre

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I’ve been a bit slow in posting this one, sorry.

Jackie and Gary

Jackie and Gary are nurses working with Dr. Richard in the UK. They recently got married and instead of presents, asked their friends to give donations to Suubi Trust for the theatre build at Charis in Lira. They raised over 4 million shillings (about £1,000).

We send them our thanks and very best wishes.

We’ve Started the Build!

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Over the last year we have been raising funds to help build a maternity theatre at the Charis clinic in Lira, north Uganda.

I am really pleased to announce that we have now started the build!!!

The site is being cleared and levelled, ready for the foundations.

Here’s what the site looked like before we started:

The proposed site for the theatre, where the trees are

This tree will have to be removed

and now at the end of Week 1:

Week 01 Clearing and Levelling the Site 111025

 

Last December I posted the photo below and an update outlining our intention to build this theatre. You can read that post by clicking on the photo or read more about our work in Lira by clicking here.

Joel, Leonard, Ian, Phil and Mike discuss the potential building of a theatre

 

New Life Church, Supporting Mothers in Lira

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I’ve just come back from a few days in Menorca with Alan and Lyn. On Sunday I was able to give church members an update on our plans for Maternal Care at the Charis health centre in Lira. I mentioned how we are hoping to create a Safe Motherhood programme at a cost of £75 per enrolled woman. This programme will provide at least 4 ante-natal visits, treatments during pregnancy, safe delivery, post-natal care and immunisation for the baby. We hope to ensure the availability of appropriate family planning to all those that want it.

New Life Church has been collecting each week to support our work and I was very pleased to be there in person to receive their latest donation of £500.

Receiving a cheque for £500 from Alan at New Life Church

Cheque

Click here to read about their previous donation, referred to as “Scooby-Doo Money”.

Scooby-Doo money

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New Life Church in Menorca recently donated another £300 to help support the development of a theatre and maternity services at our clinic in Lira, northern Uganda.

Pamela receiving cheque from Lyn

Last year when I was with Alan and Lyn in Menorca they asked me to say something about our work in Lira, which Pamela followed up with on her recent visit. Since then the church members have been giving their loose change each week.

Faith and Works

Lyn sent us the following:

New Life has certainly embraced Suubi Trust in a big way. They refer to the “Scooby-Doo money” and are so faithful to bring their loose change each week which soon mounts up to a reasonable amount. We originally pledged 50Euros per month from our change but have had other sums come in as well which have brought us to 100Euros!

This extra money came from:

  • Offering from Carol Service
  • Hermann asked for his birthday gifts to be donated
  • One of our members is the Entertainment guy at a holiday resort and had two people donate their Bingo winnings when they heard about Suubi Trust
  • Trisha asked for her birthday gifts to be donated.

Thank you so much for the funds and your continued support and promotion of Suubi Trust, we really appreciate it.

Kevin.