Under the mango tree they used to gather to find health solutions. These were HIV/AIDS affected and infected women of Lukojjo in Nama sub county Mukono district in Uganda.
These peasants then came up with a community based organization called Mpoma Community HIV/AIDS initiative in the year 1999. The main aim of the organization was to help the members to improve their livelihoods through good health, food security, better incomes and education of their children.
Recently, Mpoma formed a partnership with Global Health Corps (GHC) which has now lasted for three years. Through this time GHC has been placing their fellows in the health and food security/agriculture fields.
Through this partnership came a dream of setting up a health center – an answer to the hardship the community goes through to acquire quality health services. Some of these problems included: distance from the health center, lack of services, affordability of services, frequent drug stock outs and attitude of health workers. These were discovered through regular health outreaches conducted by the GHC health fellows together with the health team.
With two magnificent, spacious buildings up, the dream of a health and youth center has come to pass. The health center is going to serve 30,000 peasant households, which is equivalent to a total of 150,000 people plus the sugarcane and tea plantation workers. The latter earn the lowest salary in the whole country.
It’s starting as a health center II in the name of Nama Wellness Center with an active “out patient department” (OPD) but will in a short time upgrade to a health center III with 24 hour services. These services will include: treatment of common illnesses and non communicable diseases, specialized services like dental, ear, nose, and throat (ENT), maternal & child health services and not community outreach.
Lots of love, appreciation and gratitude go to all those who planted this seed, especially Ashely Rogers, Edmond, Moses, Alexis and Jane who worked tirelessly for this cause and our funders Komo Learning Centre (KLC), but most especially Antoine for the work you have done to make this dream become a reality.