This is the CFI team working out of the Lira Uganda office.  They are young, smart, and dedicated to the mission. Every day they see that the need is huge. The organization’s future is in good hands.

Assisted Devices: Wheelchairs continue to be our focus. We fabricate the chairs in our Lira office compound, both adult three-wheel hand-powered units and children’s chairs in two sizes. In October we made and distributed 30 children’s chairs, and in February, while Jane and I were in-country, we fabricated and distributed 25 adult three-wheeled hand-powered chairs, at no charge, in a ceremony at our office compound. It was a great day for the beneficiaries and their families. (photo below) We now have fabricated approximately 125 chairs. As mentioned in my last newsletter, the maintenance of the chairs in the field continues to be a challenge. We have to figure out how to deal with the distances and limited road access. But we will get there… 

We continue to distribute new eyeglasses. It is rewarding to watch a person walk away with a smile that results from improved vision. There is a need for modern crutches and canes. We are working on how we can make those effectively available. 

Beneficiaries and their families have come to the Lira office compound to pick up their new chairs. A few speeches, some refreshments, and a lot of enthusiasm.

Village Savings and Loans: There are now three self-managed rural groups, that all met at our Otwal field office to present their growth, and success stories and discuss the next year. (photo below) And what success stories!! We heard the examples of making 4 or 5 times the return on the amount borrowed by selling produce, raising pigs and chickens, expanding farmland, and even re-selling books. And all loans within the groups were paid back. The creation of these groups is one of the best things CFI has done. Other than the seed loans CFI has made to help provide capital, (seed loans that have all been paid back!!) the participants self-manage the process. I really like this program. I personally promised that for these 3 groups there will continue to be a flow of CFI seed money as long as they continue to pay it back. It is all about elevating the community economy. The issue CFI faces is the spreading desire by other villages to start up a VSLA, asking us to help them get started and seed them with capital. Not sure how much we can handle…. kind of a nice problem.

Dental Service: For the first time CFI hosted a team of dentists and technicians to provide dentistry to the area we serve. Hope Smiles, a Ugandan non-profit that travels to under-served areas of Uganda, providing professional service to people who would otherwise not get treatment, spent five days in Otwal and Agali. Free to some, or the equivalent of $1 to those that could pay, and teeth were cleaned, pulled, or teeth filled. Those with disabilities were given preferential treatment. Approximately 400 were served over the five days. CFI covered transportation, food and lodging, Hope Smiles covered the rest of the costs. This was a big success. We will likely do it again in six months. Hope Smiles impressed Jane and me with their professionalism and were great to work with.

The dental work was performed in a local school. The dental team was housed in local homes, and CFI cooked and provided their daily meals. Every day there were lines of community members waiting their turn, some realizing their first experience with a dentist. 

General Comments: Our initial trial with supporting families with the raising of pigs is still being reviewed. There has been some success, but more failures than expected. Swine flu has taken a significant toll, leaving us with the challenge of deciding how to deal with it. With our rapid growth fueled by societal need and contract work with some major non-profit organizations, while visiting the operation, I spent time working with the team to create a more effective and efficient organization. This will be an ongoing effort as we grow with it. Jane and I had another rewarding and tiring time in Uganda, participating in the activities mentioned above. Once again, we left the country with the recognition that the need is profound, the people are so very easy to like, and they are so very respectful and appreciative of what CFI is doing. 

What you have contributed is providing real material improvement in the lives of people who would not get it any other way, and almost as significantly an elevated awareness among the population of the dimension of the disability that exists within their communities. People of influence and the media are now approaching CFI to better understand the issues. We have become well known for the good work we are doing.

I hope you will continue to support Community Focus International with your contributions. You are doing a good thing!!

Bob Gilbert

Board Chairman, Community Focus International

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On January 1st, 2021, CFI started a project to address the underlying causes of food insecurity and provide immediate assistance to 14 vulnerable persons with disabilities and the elderly in Northern Uganda.
Northern Uganda endured two decades of war, and the aftermath of this conflict is riddled with various kinds of disabilities, trauma, depression, and scars – mostly for individuals directly affected by the Lord Resistance Army conflict. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions, and related social and economic hardships escalated hunger problems for the already struggling persons with disability.

To compound the stark realities, the inflation of food prices has been drastic. Citing data from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Trading Economics states: “Cost of food in Uganda increased up to 14.90% in July of 2022 over the same month in the previous year.”

For many families, we work with, going to bed hungry because there’s no food is an experience so many of our brothers and sisters with disability and the elderly experience regularly.

Upon this background, CFI started the Food Relief Program, where partner Organizations and individuals share items or funds to procure essential foodstuff and commodities, which are distributed to needy families identified through existing community structures, including mobilizers and local leaders across districts in northern Uganda.
The program focuses on increasing food distribution, fostering collaboration, and supporting sustainable solutions that include livelihood training to ensure the self-sustainability of the recipients ultimately.

This intervention complements ongoing programs that include the provision of assistive devices like wheelchairs and eyeglasses, supporting inclusive education, livelihoods, and health and nutrition programs in a bid to ensure comprehensive assistance for persons with disabilities and their families.

Since the inception of the program, CFI has continued to distribute food to over 50 families in northern Uganda every year with the support of volunteers. Volunteering, donating, or advocating together can ensure fewer people go hungry. Click on the link to donate or contact us to explore ways to be a part of this cause.

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Unfortunately, the government did not have any post-COVID economic and social recovery programs or incentives designed to directly benefit this vulnerable class, and almost a year after the full reopening of the economy, PWD and the elderly are drowning in hunger and are not only victims of poor social services but PWD and elderly unfriendly services like accessibility to public buildings.

However, Community Focus International (CFI) last week launched a massive charity act of distribution of old clothes and basic needs to PWD and the elderly starting in Otwal and Aleka sub-counties of Oyam district, items they have been collecting through a charity campaign dubbed “The Mercy Coalition Project” a project in partnership with Radio, Q FM, a lira based local radio station.

This project is intended to provide this class of people with basic needs and clothes to prepare them for more programs that will be directed at fighting poverty and mitigating the effects of the pandemic among the PWD and the elderly.

The well-attended event also involved other CFI activities like the identification of beneficiaries for the wheelchair project, where PWDs are provided with free wheelchairs, beneficiaries for the eyeglasses project, and scholastic materials.

The post A great coalition against the increasingly poorer from the low social class of PWDs and the senior citizens appeared first on Community Focus International.

Fear for HIV-positive results. Unfriendly attitudes in health facilities, Fear of loss of opportunities like education. Cultural myths related to sexual and reproductive health. These are some of the opinions from dialogues Community Focus International held with youth groups in Lira city. They are given as reasons that hinder young people from accessing appropriate sexual and reproductive health services.

Strategic and Impactful partnerships

In collaboration with GLOFORD, with support from PLAN International, Community Focus International is implementing the Safe and Inclusive Cities program in Lira City. The project goal is that children, adolescents and young people are safe and influence decision-making in resilient communities that respect their rights and offer equal opportunities for all regardless of gender.

The project targets vulnerable, high-risk behaviour adolescents and youths living in the wards of Baronger, Bazaar, Kakooge, Barogole and Teso Ward. The creation and functionalization of safe spaces in health facilities and communities for young people to access information, share and learn from individual experiences remains key to helping young people access sexual and reproductive health services.

CFI therefore collaborated with health facilities to conduct community outreaches to make the services more accessible to youths within the city. The outreaches involved health talks, HIV Counselling and Testing services and family planning services at the various wards of the health facilities. The facilities engaged were Ober, Adyel, Ongica and Ayago health centers. 

Making contributions

CFI reached 353 youths through the community health outreaches conducted and donated 6 (six) wheelchairs to the health facilities through the District Health Office. This happened over the last three months based on recommendations from a joint assessment of the youth-friendly spaces in the health centers in Lira City.

The interventions were all geared towards making the services provided by the health facilities more accessible from the premises well into the communities.

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