ORGANIZATION:
Connect Africa – Uganda
Connect Africa is a team of several leaders from different churches who come together for the sole purpose of serving others in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Members volunteer their time (sometimes weeks) to minister in remote village areas and IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps. Internally Displaced Persons are people forced to flee their homes but who, unlike refugees, remain within their country’s borders. There are as many IDPs in Africa as in the rest of the world combined.
Twenty years of war and insecurity have left two million people of northern Uganda isolated in IDP camps. In these overcrowded conditions, the people suffer from a lack of food, healthcare, and basic necessities, leading to outbreaks of disease and one of the highest mortality rates in the world.
In 2006, the government of Uganda and the rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) entered into negotiations for a peace treaty, which has brought a measure of security on the ground in the North that enables groups to work in the IDP camps. It is into this open door that Connect Africa has been able to get into the IDP camps, as well as work to develop BioSand water filter factories.
In 2006, Connect Africa began facilitating Village First Aid Training in the north of Uganda. The team has been able to enter IDP camps with a conference tent that seats 200, a crusade truck that enables large community-impacting outreach events, and a demonstration tent that allows introduction of appropriate technologies like BioSand water filter training and Village First Aid Training.
The Connect Africa team had the significantly impactful experience of living on the ground with the people of Acet IDP camp for a week. They came to realize just how sick the major part of the population was, living with water infected with parasites, as well as malaria and other diseases. Upon their return to Kampala, over 75% of the Connect Africa team came down with a myriad of illnesses which took months to cure. Upon recovery from this experience, the team was acutely aware that teaching First Aid, Hygiene, and Sanitation, and equipping IDP camp leaders with the supplies to change this situation was immediately necessary.
Ten IDP camps have now been equipped with training, first aid supplies and medicines, and future trainings are planned for October, 2007. By the end of the initial training, participants had learned about infection and disease prevention, were able to begin treating wounds and burns, and had enough knowledge to administer acetaminophen, dewormer, and a general antibiotic (Amoxil). All participants were encouraged to use the kit in their IDP camps free of charge, for the benefit of the entire community.
As the Uganda government and the LRA reach the point of signing the peace treaty, the government has begun moving almost 2 million IDP camp people out to establish villages, after 20 years of forced IDP camp living. The result is that these IDP residents are leaving bore holes and protected water sources, and must now re-establish life in the bush, drinking from polluted ground water sources. This is greatly affecting the health of the returnees. With the help of infrastructure tents and trucks, Connect Africa’s team has traveled throughout the IDP camps in Northern Uganda to introduce the BioSand water filter technology and to scout suitable locations for future BioSand water filtration factories.
In August the first factory was begun in Gulu town, followed promptly by the rollout of a factory in Atiak IDP camp. Camp leaders can now build a cement container and obtain quarry sand media from local sources. This is significant because there is currently nothing being produced in these areas, and it encourages the leaders to break the handout mentality developed over 20 years of food handouts, as well as provides much-needed jobs in the post-conflict north.
Expected Results / Outcomes
Connect Africa estimates that over 100,000 people will be impacted by the medical, health and hygiene training in the IDP camps of Northern Uganda and follow up events next year will continue to equip these village health care workers to bring much needed change to these people.
With the successful introduction of the BioSand water filtration technology to tribal leaders, political leaders, religious, military, and educational establishments, Connect Africa envisions building, within the next year, many BioSand factories in key central locations throughout the IDP camp areas of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan.
Organization: Connect Africa - Uganda
Email: trevortychon@yahoo.com
Phone: 011 256 778 79227
Contact: Trevor Tychon
Date Established: 2003
Contact for Request: Trevor Tychon
Email: trevortychon@yahoo.com
Geographic Region: Africa >> Uganda
Program Area: Holistic Transformation
For giving to this ministry through a U.S. Organization, please contact the following:
Contact: Bob Norsworthy
Email: Bob@NFFoundation.org
Request Amount: $122,000.00
NFF Funding: $61,000.00
Other Funding: $61,000.00
Balance: $0.00
The Newman Family Foundation
