Bega Kwa Bega

Last Friday, our cousin David Ssagala took us to see a few of the Bega Kwa Bega project sites around Kampala, Uganda. For those of you that do not know about Bega Kwa Bega, it is a non-profit organization that my mother started some years back to help orphans of the AIDS epidemic in Uganda. BKB means shoulder to shoulder in Swahili and "...works with communities to improve the living conditions of orphans, vulnerable children (children who have mentally or physically disabled parents or who have special needs themselves) and those who care for them". This organization, along with my mom's school, keep my mother and David, who is the BKB manager, very busy.

Our first stop that day was to visit a family farm that BKB supports. The farm is currently growing tometillos and raising goats. The land for the farm was donated by a BKB board member to help BKB support their goal of providing one goat for every orphan. The income generated from this land has helped to run the mobile clinic.
After visiting the farm, we visited another BKB family. BKB donated a cow to the family, which has helped by providing milk and a source of income. Income generation is one of the many ways in which BKB helps families in need.
Next on our list of stops was to visit the BKB mobile clinic. The mobile clinic provides health care to villages which would otherwise have to access to such care. Prior to a mobile clinic visit, BKB works with the village/community leaders to ensure they have their support and to establish a suitable time and location. The mobil clinic consists of two or three nurses who treat each of the villagers and prescribe pills for them. The pills are distributed to them by another BKB worker. At the site we visited, there were probably about 100 people there, mostly women and children. Mom said at first men would not come, but we saw a few there. Before we left Mary Kay helped one of the nurses distribute some children's clothes that her's niece Campbell gave to her to bring over, plus some clothes Mom's friend Lynne donated. The kids were definitely excited, but we didn't except so many...next time we'll bring more so hopefully everyone can get something.
Our last stop on this trip was to visit a borehole provided by BKB to a village. A borehole is like a well, except that the water is already flowing through a natural spring. We traveled down to the borehole, and met along the way members of the village also on their way to collect water for their families (our cousin David said some people will walk a mile to collect the water). We noticed a number of boys walking barefoot and limping. Mom said that is looked like the children suffered from jiggers, which are tiny bugs that burrow in your feet if you don't wear shoes. When asked, other villagers offered that their father has passed and their stepmother does not provide adequate care for them. Sad stories like this one are not uncommon in Uganda, and BKB does everything in their power (and budget) to help children like this out.
According to BKB's latest annual report Mom gave us to read, BKB currently manages programs in over 122 villages in six districts of Uganda, benefiting over 4000 orphans, school children, families and caregivers. BKB's manages education programs (paying school fees, funding school improvements, and providing clean water for schools), the mobile clinic (immunizations, health care workshops, treatments), clean water programs (boreholes, water tanks), income generation programs (donate knitting machines and training, small scale business support, milk cows, goats) and their latest project, the BKB Demonstration farm we visited last week (which provides a working farm to provide agriculatural education). If anyone is interested in more information, Mom has a BKB website: http://www.begakwabegaugandaorphans.org.uk/