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Ugandan Medical Clinic

The Rotary Club of Seaford’s first international project is the provision of a medical clinic in Lukhonge, Uganda. This project was adopted by our club following a visit from our member Kally Hooper to Uganda as a volunteer delivering mental health training to local medical professionals. Whilst visiting Uganda, Kally attended a meeting of the Rotary Club of Mbale, where she learned that the club was looking for support for this project.

Below: Kally visiting the Rotary Club of Mbale and the property donated to the club for the project.

Each month approximately 5 people die in Lukhonje because of inadequate access to medical treatment for preventable childbirth complications and illness, and unclean water supplies. This is because existing medical services and clean water sources are too far to be accessed by foot, which is the main mode of transport for these communities.

The nearby Manafwa River is used for growing crops, watering livestock, bathing, washing clothes, and sometimes for
drinking water. It is infected with parasites and disease-carrying bacteria, and thus cannot be considered as a safe
source of potable water for the community.

Due to the size and complexity of this project it has been necessary to break it into several stages.

Stage 1 involved construction work to transform a building shell into a secure, lockable facility. We are keen to use a Rotary Foundation Global Grant to assist with the funding of this project, but some elements such as construction work are not eligible for a global grant, so we need to find other financing methods. This stage included internal fitouts, painting, and installation of a sanitation system and connection of mains water. The total budget for Stage 1 was $24,213 which included $12,214 in grants from the Rotary Foundation via District Designated Funds (DDF).

Stage 2 of the project is about to commence in partnership with the Rotary Club of Elgon Maisha, Uganda. This involves the fitout with fixtures and furniture, mains power and solar panel connection, water storage tanks, security system inc CCTV, signage and paving. The stage of the project has a budget of just under $76,000, of which around $72,000 is by the way of grants from the Rotary Foundation; $40,000 in DDF and $32,000 from the World Fund.