KUMI COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
MAY 2020 UPDATE
23 MAY 2020
THE ANNUAL KUMI COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OPEN DAY ON 6 JUNE 2020 IS CANCELLED
This is the first time for manyyears, over ten for sure, that our main fundraising event of the year has had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic which is very disappointing. The garden is full of colour and was waiting for visitors so that we could share the splendour of the summer blooms with everyone but it is not to be this year. Other ways of raising funds are proving necessary but with an increased sense of fervour and diversion.
I am pleased to report that the situation in Kumi Hospital is still holding its own. There is one case of a businessman entering the country from South Sudan who tested positive and, on arriving in Kumi, he and his family were quarantined. The country’s lock down procedures are being slowly relaxed and perhaps life will gradually return to normal unlike here in UK where we fear a second peak of cases. The people entering the hospital are all tested with the infrared thermometers and face masks are obligatory nationwide. Our fieldwork will hopefully slowly resume and Ruth and Harriet will be able to continue with the work on the ground. Harriet has managed to visit two of our boys, Okolodong Wilson with the pressure sores following his spinal injury last year when he fell out of a mango tree. She took him a new supply of gauze, gloves and soap as well as food supplies. She also saw Okoloja Moses who had told her that the incontinence pants worked well and so she has taken him a further two packs which his British sponsors are willing to fund. In normal situations, he manages with a disposable rubber glove in lieu of a catheter, but in the meantime, we are looking into self-catheterisation for him.
So, I feel we have a glimmer of optimism and I sincerely hope that my next update will be even more encouraging. However, for us to return to Uganda remains far away and it is with increasing confidence that we can be assured that our work with children with disabilities and malnourishment will continue without our presence.
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