Many Worthy Causes

For anyone who wants to help me do good things for people here in Uganda, please feel free to use the paypal button on the right.

Some ways that I use this money:

• Giving to the "Poor Patients' Fund" on the Medical Ward in the hospital in Mbarara
• Patients in Uganda have to have a caretaker with them to provide food, prepare meals, feed them, provide bed clothes, wash the linens, clean them, help them with toileting, help administer medications, and purchasing medications, lab tests, and radiology studies for their care. Some patients just do not have the money to do this and they go without needed drugs, tests, and even food. This fund provides support to these most destitute of patients and families. 

• Purchasing drugs and supplies for our "Doctor's Closet" in Bugoye
• We work at a Level Three Health Center in a village called Bugoye. For more about Bugoye see: http://www.massgeneralcenterforglobalhealth.org/stories-from-the-field/a-day-with-the-global-primary-care-residency-program/ 
• The health center in Bugoye often stocks out of drugs and supplies. 
• There are no doctors at the health center when we are not there. Certain drugs and supplies are not provided by the government to the health center because there is no one trained enough to use them properly. 
• The "Doctor's Closet" is a small supply closet in the doctor's quarters where we stay when we are working in the village. We stock it with more powerful antibiotics, antimalarials, and the basic medications available at the health center so that we can always treat our patients. We also stock it with basic supplies for simple procedures and tests that otherwise would require patients to travel 45 minutes to the next health facility in town. 

•  Purchasing drugs and tests and providing support to the "Babies Home" in Mbarara
• There is a home for abandoned babies and children in Mbarara. When I arrived there were 30 children. Now there are over 70. 
• I try to spend time with the babies at least once per week to be sure that their medical needs are being met. Sometimes the children are sick and need medications, tests, or even hospitalization. 
• The Babies Home also needs support for feeding, paying the local ladies to care for them, diapers, clothing, toys, and books. 

• Supporting our "Village Health Teams" in Bugoye
• The MGH GPC program is supporting 23 village health workers in 5 villages in Bugoye to implement the Integrated Community Case Management program (ICCM). ICCM provides training, supplies, and drugs for Village Health Workers to diagnose and treat the three leading causes of illness and death in children under five in Uganda: malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea. 
• The funding available to support our efforts with VHTs is limited. There are always additional supplies that would be helpful, including flashlights or lanterns, batteries, bags, pens, and rain gear. 

•  Other worthy causes
• If you have traveled to Uganda, you may have met a family or child that touched you. You may have met with the "women's group" in Bugoye, or the "elder's group" in Bugoye. You may have met a health professional who told you about a diagnostic tool that would be useful.
• If you follow the news, you know there are many other worthy causes to support. 
• If you have a cause and would like me to help you provide support, please feel free to donate, send me an email and let me know, and I will be sure the money goes to the right place.

Help me donate to a worthy cause!

Many of you know that I recently relocated to Uganda to work. Some of you have heard that when I returned to my flat in Uganda last month after 2 weeks away, I discovered that ~$3750 in money and property had been taken from my bedroom. Huge bummer.

I decided to try to make this a positive thing.

Someone stole from me (here in Uganda, I'm rich!), and I'd like to give the amount I lost to the poor. 

If every one of you gives $5-10, I can easily raise this amount in short order. 
Of course, any amount is very welcome!

I'd also love it if you would vote on how to donate the money I raise. I have several ideas. Some of them are specifically related to my housekeeper, who I'll refer to here as Nadia. Nadia was implicated in this ordeal and held on police bond. It often happens here that the weakest are blamed for crimes committed by more powerful people. Fortunately we were able to get her released, but not without weeks of emotional distress for Nadia. She has eight children and works two jobs to raise school fees for them and pay rent. She has a very challenging domestic life, as well, in most of the ways you can imagine. Because Nadia also suffered as a consequence of the theft, I thought it would be a good thing to raise money on her behalf. 

These are some of my ideas:

1) Help Nadia buy a house. She needed 19 million Ugandan shillings (~$7,600 US) to buy a house so that she does not have to pay rent and instead be able to focus her efforts on school fees for the children. She works hard at both her jobs and also has a sewing business that she operates out of another muzungu's house. She sold the land she inherited from her mother. A huge thank you to everyone who has given so far -- your donations helped make this one possible already!!

2) Sponsor one of Nadia's children at school. It probably costs about $1500 per year to send a child to school, including the mats for them to sleep on, their food, and supplies. If we raise the remaining $3200 I hope we can, we could sponsor one of her kids for about two years.

3) Sponsor another child. There are many many children in need of sponsorship, and many women who humble themselves to ask for help from their wealthy friends and acquaintances. I know several Ugandan families who sponsor other children as well.

4) Donate to the Natasha Ward. This is the child nutrition ward for children hospitalized with severe malnourishment. In extreme cases, some adult patients also are able to be fed through this service.

5) Donate to the hospital's Poor Patients Fund. Very little is available by way of diagnostics and treatment at the hospital. What we do have is free, but much of what needs doing costs the patients money. Patients are required to bring their own food, and many go hungry during much or most of their hospital stay. There is a small fund at the hospital for the very destitute that can be used in such cases.

6) Purchase medical supplies. The clinic I work out of in Bugoye (a small village near the Congo border) has even less than the hospital in Mbarara. An ultrasound machine, for example, would be amazing. Or drugs that are not readily available in the health center but which would be of great benefit to the patients there.

If I've figured out how to use "code" correctly, there should be a PayPal button to the right. You can also mail your donation to the address posted. When you donate, please take a moment to let me know how you think the funds raised should be used.

Thank you so much for considering this and helping me turn a theft into a gift! Please feel free to pass this site on to anyone else you think might be interested in helping out.

Peace.
Raquel