N4A outreach counsellors in high demand in Uganda

Today’s post is the final in a three-part series on Network for Africa in northern Uganda and reports the progress being made by our outreach counsellors who are part of the Patongo Counselling Community Outreach programme [PCCO].

PCCO’s progress

Psychotherapists Shelly Evans & Dr. Barbara Bauer and PCCO Coordinator Agnes Nyaga Nighty 

lead a training session for PCCO outreach counsellors.

Network for Africa and our partners are tackling numerous threats to the well-being of individuals and families in Patongo.  In addition to the trauma, depression and fear recorded in our community trauma survey, several other factors continue to challenge people in northern Uganda, who have survived more than two decades of violence:

·      Marriage breakdown and shattering of families.  Many wives want to leave their husbands because of their drinking, violent behaviour and inability to provide sufficiently  to feed their children.  The men often do not want to get divorced.

·      Conflict arising from HIV-related problems: mainly, men refuse to get tested yet continue not have various sexual partners.  Their wives/girlfriends want to leave them.  Some husbands also steal their wives' ARV medication to treat their own HIV.

·      In an effort to encourage men to get HIV tested, the local health clinic has not been testing pregnant mothers for HIV unless accompanied by their husbands or fathers. Thus many women go untested for HIV, and therefore untreated if they are positive.

·      Alcoholism is still rife, as is, of course, poverty.

To respond to these challenges, our outreach counsellors provide basic counselling services and social support to local people.  They also help local people who want to start income-generating activities.

The outreach counsellors’ work has been so successful that five more communities in the surrounding areas of Patongo have asked the counsellors to help them, too. This request indicates how badly the counsellors’ services are needed and speaks highly of their ability to help the communities in meaningful ways.

Donations make counselling equipment possible

Simple items like Wellington boots help the counsellors travel even during the rainy season, 

ensuring that the community has consistent support.

Generous donations from Network for Africa supporters have made it possible to buy each outreach counsellor a bicycle, a pair of Wellington boots, a messenger bag, an ID card, and a raincoat - all practical items that we might take for granted, but that help make the counsellors’ jobs easier and more effective.  In particular, having a bicycle means the counsellors can cover more ground more quickly, greatly increasing their ability to offer services to the communities. 

Please help support the services that we are able to offer traumatised survivors as they rebuild their lives: £55/$90 could pay for a bicycle for one outreach counsellor to support 160 people for a year.  You can donate here.

Read about food sustainability in Patongo.

Read about malaria prevention in Patongo.

Stories from Darfur: When the Stars Fall to Earth

N4A founder Becky Tinsley has written a novel, When the Stars Fall to Earth, about the ongoing genocide in Darfur.  The novel follows five young Darfuri refugees on their journey of survival as the Sudanese regime tries to destroy them.  Becky recently spoke with Psychology Today blogger Jennifer Haupt, about the book.  Jennifer asked Becky the question that is bound to be on the minds of many of the novel’s readers: How closely are the five main characters based on real young people you met?

Read Becky’s answer here. 

You can purchase a paperback copy of When the Stars Fall to Earth or order the ebook.

100% of Becky’s profits from the book will be donated to Network for Africa, to help support genocide survivors working to build better lives for themselves and their families.

If you are in the Washington, D.C., area, you can join a book discussion with Becky Tinsley tomorrow, Wednesday, May 24, from 12:30 - 2:00pm at the American Bar Association, 740 15th Street NW, John Marshall Conference Room, Washington, D.C.  To RSVP, contact Rabiah Burks at 202-662-1002 or rabiah.burks@americanbar.org. 

£3 to stop a killer: malaria nets in northern Uganda

Today’s post is the second of a three-part series and features Network for Africa's plans for malaria prevention.  The previous post demonstrated how N4A is working to address the problem of late rains, which threaten northern Uganda’s already unstable food supply.  Please check back with us for the final article, about the progress being made by our outreach counselors who are part of the Patongo Counseling Community Outreach (PCCO) programme.

Malaria in northern Uganda

Causing over 70,000 deaths every year, malaria is Uganda’s biggest killer.  In theory, Uganda has free malaria prevention programmes in public clinics.  However, the northeast corner of Uganda is often forgotten, and its clinics are rarely properly stocked.  Thus, Patongo and the surrounding areas have very high rates of malaria, with thousands of people dying from it each year.

Mosquito nets offer simple and effective protection against malaria, but there is an inadequate supply. Even the relatively small cost can be prohibitive for the vulnerable families that Network for Africa works with.  Since there are not enough nets for everyone, families are forced to prioritize who uses them.  While babies usually merit the nets, other vulnerable young children, especially ages 5-6 and upwards, suffer as they often go without.

Photo by Tjeerd Wiersma

Treated nets are only effective when properly used, and that requires training. For instance, some people mistakenly use mosquito nets as fishing nets, not realizing their importance in protecting against malaria.

Supplying mosquito nets to protect against malaria

A very generous corporate supporter recently gave a donation enabling us to supply more than 2,000 nets to people in Patongo.  Crucially, our outreach counselors will distribute the nets, training each family in how to use them effectively – and in the importance of doing so.




Please help us to reach more families.  Buying malaria nets is one of the simple “baby steps” that can transform an African child’s life chances.  A donation of £3/$5 could pay for a mosquito net and training in how to use it correctly.  Please donate here.

Late rains worsens precarious food supply in Uganda

The people of Patongo in Northern Uganda where we work are being severely affected by drought. As if they don't have enough to cope with, rebuilding their lives after twenty years of conflict, now the seasonal rains are late. Below is the first of three updates from Patongo. This one features the late rains; the last two will feature our plans for malaria prevention and the progress being made by the lay counselors who are part of the Patongo Counselling Community Outreach [PCCO]. 

Late rains

The seasonal rains that usually arrive in Patongo by now have still not come, preventing farmers from planting any crops.  People are becoming worried about the inevitable food shortages that will occur in a few months when there is nothing to harvest.  Because of this unwelcome delay, farmers are not expecting their first harvest of groundnuts, a staple crop, until August or September, even though the groundnuts are usually harvested in July.

Unfortunately, northern Uganda has been experiencing erratic rain patterns for the last few years.  Last year, unpredictable rain meant that most of Patongo’s groundnuts were ruined.  This year’s delay further exacerbates the already precarious food supply.

How Network for Africa and its partners are helping

Water and food conservation

Network for Africa is working with local community leaders in Patongo to determine how to collect and save rainwater when it does eventually arrive, and the best way to disseminate that information to everyone in the community. 

We also plan to experiment with ways of preserving fruit, such as drying mangoes, so that they can be saved to eat later.

Our Outreach Counselors, who provide counselling services in Patongo, have already gained the trust of the community and their advice is in high demand. They are well-placed to train others in the community in techniques like water and food conservation.

Community vegetable gardens

While we and our Patongo partners can’t make the rainy season start on time, we can help the community strategically use the land and water that is available, and to recover traditional techniques used to maximize the farming season.  To this end, we are working with Slow Food to plant three vegetable gardens in Patongo.  Slow Food is a global, grassroots organisation committed to supporting the local and sustainable production of food.  Slow Food assigns an expert agronomist to work with a community to assess their food/farming needs and resources and to then create small-scale vegetable gardens specifically tailored to that community.  We hope many more people in Patongo will follow suit and start to grow their own vegetables.