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.
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