Kibaale Health Centre III

We are so excited to have finished the major renovation to the Kibaale Clinic, it is now officially operating as a Health Centre III! 

Even with the slight delay due to the COVID pandemic we completed this major renovation and construction of new buildings in just 11 months! It is already such a blessing to the whole community of Kibaale, we are so thankful to Village Church and the generous Golf Tournament fundraiser that took place in Canada last August! 

One of the most exciting decisions that was made early on was to buy as much of the supplies locally as we could. We also hired 120 workers from the community of Kibaale, many of those older siblings or parents of students from the school! By employing people from Kibaale and by buying local supplies first, this project put $350,000 right into our own community.

Let's go on a tour of the new Health Centre!! 

This is the original location of the Kibaale Community Clinic, which still exists as a day clinic although it was expanded and renovated. This building also has the reception for the whole health centre and our laboratory; which now has an upgraded digital microscope that is especially helpful in diagnosing malaria and a brand new CBC machine! 

Rebecca in reception

Brand new open air waiting room

Renovated Pharmacy

Brand new digital microscope

Covered walkways from the clinic to the overnight ward and maternity unit

Towards the maternity unit

Jeff and Dominic, our construction manager have worked very hard over the past year completing this project, but even before construction began they were working on the plans, meeting with our medical team and X Architecture to design the entire Health Centre! 

It was very exciting when we could start cleaning and moving beds in! 

The midwives had a lot of control over setting this up and have done a great job! 

One of four labour suites

Our friend and one of the teacher's at Kibaale Primary School, Miriam, was the very first to give birth at the new maternity unit, with twins which is so special!! 

Babies are pretty much my favourite thing ever so this was a very good day!! 

There have already been more than 30 babies born at the new maternity unit! There are very few safe, clean places like this for women to give birth in this region of Uganda!

Walking back towards the overnight ward and the health clinic.

The overnight ward building also has a staff room, storage rooms and then a male, female, and children's ward. 

We've already had more than 100 people using the ward since it opened on August 3rd!

You can see in this older photo above the building with the roof that is a different colour is the only existing building. 

Here are the buildings all complete! 

Opening the Kibaale Health Centre has been years of dreaming, praying and planning, to see it complete and being used every day is overwhelming and a huge answer to prayer.

 We are extremely thankful to Village Church for choosing Kuwasha as the recipient of the Golf Tournament last year, to everyone who so generously gave and was involved in that event, to everyone in Canada who has helped with the plans and a very special thank you to the amazing staff in Kibaale who have been working so hard to make sure that this is built well, within budget, and on time. 

Construction, Community and Corona

Our days have definitely looked a bit different lately. Schools are shut down, our ability to drive between Masaka and Kibaale is very limited, construction continues but on a much smaller scale and there are strict guidelines in regards to giving out food assistance. Our health centre is open still, but it's not without some fear towards COVID-19. During this time we have been working with our staff to continue creatively helping our students, their families and the community of Kibaale. 

One of the biggest changes to our normal work day was the new rules put in place by the President to not give out food in the community. At this time when our community is especially hurting by the work restrictions and rising costs of food and soap, they are more in need of our help than ever. Thankfully the Kibaale Community Centre has a long standing relationship with our local government and they have realized that they can not help everyone in this community without us. So they have asked us to continue giving out special gifts and food assistance to families in need. We are keeping with social distancing rules, the new curfew, and are involving the police and government to make sure our community is helped. We are so thankful for all of your donations and support to help Kibaale in this way! 

Twinning with Cossy! 

This is not what a usual home visit looks like, I just wanted to give everyone a hug, sit down, and visit, but we're thankful for the opportunity to still help in this way. 

Construction can continue but everyone working has to live on site and we are only able to use materials we had on hand. So yes things carry on, just slowly. 

Jeff and Dominic, our construction manager, are staying at a distance while walking through the maternity clinic to check on the progress. 

One of the four delivery rooms. 

Shaban is doing some painting and touch ups in the reception area. 

Grass is being planted outside, this is the overnight ward building. 

Our family is doing very well; we are so thankful to be in Uganda where we feel right at home, to continue with our work, school, and to have this beautiful weather and yard to enjoy together! 

If you are in a position yourself to help a family in Kibaale, you can can donate Family Food Assistance which will provide them with maize flour, rice, beans and soap for the month.

DONATE FAMILY FOOD ASSISTANCE

Thank you!!

Greetings from our family in Uganda!

We started 2020 with everything going as planned! 

 The construction crew in Kibaale had been working hard through term break to get the primary school renovation complete for the first day of school.

Although the majority of work was to the outside buildings; a new roof, and installing a new water collection system, the inside was also freshened up! All the classrooms were painted, given new chalkboards and the windows were replaced. 

First day of school!

Meeting all the new nursery students is always a highlight of our day. 

Finn was very excited to have all the kids back to play soccer with. 

Mazzy loves being in the classrooms with the younger kids. 

Just a couple weeks after school began our first visitors of the year arrived, Erin Clark and her 3 girls. This was their fourth trip to Kibaale and first time coming without a team, which was a unique experience for them. It was such a great trip! It was so nice to see their family continue to build relationships with staff and students that they have been getting to know these past four years. Our kids all had a really great time together; organizing crafts, going on home visits, and also being creative making videos, writing songs and having Survivor challenges. 

Although this was to be the first group of a busy team season, it was actually the only group that went as planned!

 As news of COVID-19 came out we decided to be proactive and have the families of all our new students come to the centre for education on hand washing. The families all left with soap and a new goat. 

 Uganda does not have a lot of cases of COVID-19 but they are taking drastic measures to maintain that. We are on lockdown from April 1-14 and schools are closed until the end of the month. However, an updated list of rules seems to be changing daily. 

We are working alongside the other Directors in Kibaale, our social workers and the local government leaders to best help the vulnerable community of Kibaale during this difficult time. Our hope is to be able to give food and supplies to families as needed. The price of food and soap has risen significantly in the last week and it's very hard for people who live day to day to meet the needs of their families right now. 

If you are looking for a way to practically help out in Kibaale you can donate Family Food Assistance, for $40 you can provide a family with food and soap for an entire month. 

DONATE FAMILY FOOD ASSITANCE

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family and for Kibaale!