Elderly Outreach
How often do you hear of organisations and charities aiming to help the elderly in Africa? These people are a forgotten sector of society.
At the beginning of our Non-Governmental Organisation registration, we had to prove to the Ugandan NGO authorities that we were acting out our aims and objectives as an organisation. With little funds at that point, we unfortunately could not afford to run full-scale clinics. Therefore we decided to help people on a very personal scale with our ‘Outreach’ projects. We discovered that this service was crucial, so we have continued to run this project. ‘Outreach’ is usually aimed at elderly women, as tragically many elderly women have lost many, if not all, of their children to HIV, they usually outlive their husband, and their grandchildren are in the same cycle of poverty so cannot afford to help them. By talking to local communities, our volunteers are able to find those who are usually cut off from society due to lack of physical mobility and health problems such as HIV.
Our outreach projects are totally dependent on the needs and wishes of each individual, but usually our team of volunteers will:
This project has highlighted to our Ugandan team of volunteers that there are so many people hidden from day-to-day society in Uganda, who live in unbelievable conditions because they do not have anybody else. We aim to provide these individuals with love, care and basic services that help them immensely in their day to day living and reduce their chance of falling ill.
This costs next to nothing in Western terms, a one-day Outreach Project costs around £45 for Mwenya Uganda to run.
At the beginning of our Non-Governmental Organisation registration, we had to prove to the Ugandan NGO authorities that we were acting out our aims and objectives as an organisation. With little funds at that point, we unfortunately could not afford to run full-scale clinics. Therefore we decided to help people on a very personal scale with our ‘Outreach’ projects. We discovered that this service was crucial, so we have continued to run this project. ‘Outreach’ is usually aimed at elderly women, as tragically many elderly women have lost many, if not all, of their children to HIV, they usually outlive their husband, and their grandchildren are in the same cycle of poverty so cannot afford to help them. By talking to local communities, our volunteers are able to find those who are usually cut off from society due to lack of physical mobility and health problems such as HIV.
Our outreach projects are totally dependent on the needs and wishes of each individual, but usually our team of volunteers will:
- Educate each individual with basic healthcare guidelines and what they can do to reduce their chances of contracting disease.
- Cut back bush areas from around the house in order to reduce the numbers of mosquitoes.
- Make sure the house is watertight.
- Dig a rubbish pit to avoid the spread of disease.
- Dig a pit latrine to avoid the spread of disease.
- Provide a 'washing room'.
- Build a table from local materials to provide somewhere to keep plates clean.
- Cook a healthy balanced meal for the individual.
- Do all their laundry.
- Visit them at least once a month.
- Most important of all: show them that they are not alone, that somebody cares and wants to help them.
This project has highlighted to our Ugandan team of volunteers that there are so many people hidden from day-to-day society in Uganda, who live in unbelievable conditions because they do not have anybody else. We aim to provide these individuals with love, care and basic services that help them immensely in their day to day living and reduce their chance of falling ill.
This costs next to nothing in Western terms, a one-day Outreach Project costs around £45 for Mwenya Uganda to run.
