Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to save children with disabilities
Sep 28, 2008
THEY have always loved adventure, most of the time for the fun of it. But when they discovered that they could do a lot more than enjoy from their expeditions, Sam and Abby Baguma decided to use one of their favourite pastime activities to help the disadvantaged in society.<br>
By Stephen Ssenkaaba
THEY have always loved adventure, most of the time for the fun of it. But when they discovered that they could do a lot more than enjoy from their expeditions, Sam and Abby Baguma decided to use one of their favourite pastime activities to help the disadvantaged in society.
Sam is the director of Africa Development Office, CURE International; an organisation that caters for children with disabilities.
Abby is the partnership manager of African Palliative Care Association, an organisation that supports patients suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS and other terminal illness. It also trains healthcare professionals.
In April, the couple climbed Mt. Kenya on a four-day expedition to raise public awareness about the plight of terminal illnesses in Uganda and to mobilise financial support for training doctors in this field. The initiative fetched about $4,000(sh6.6m) through corporate and individual sponsorship.
Now, Sam is leading a team of six individuals to a six-day expedition, this time around to Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro.
The team comprises Dr. Julie Bataringaya, a CURE International board member, Geoff Bataringaya, Craig Hammon, the executive vice-president of CURE International, Layton Shoemaker and Dr. Kachinga, a Zambian neuro surgeon.
The expedition, which kicks off today, is intended to raise public awareness about the plight of children suffering various physical disabilities and the services provided by CURE International children hospitals in Africa.
“Many children suffering from preventable physical disabilities are left to die without any treatment. We would like to use this expedition to draw the world’s attention to such children,†says Baguma.
According to Baguma, over 30,000 children in Uganda suffer from hydrocephalus (water on the brain), one of the common yet preventable disabling ailments among children.
“If not treated, these kids would never live to their fourth birthday.â€
An average operation for the same, he says, costs about $1,000 (sh1.6m) and $15,000 (sh2.5m).
Through this expedition, Cure International hopes to raise funds that will help such children acquire treatment.
“Our target is to raise $50,000 (sh82m) for Cure Children’s hospitals in Uganda.
All the money raised will go towards subsiding costs on surgery for children with disabilities whose families cannot afford to pay for treatment,†he said.
Despite this, Baguma says, the organisation does not turn away individuals who can meet treatment costs.
He says by going up the highest mountain in Africa, his team will have perhaps the best platform to pass on their message to the entire world.
“It is the highest point for us to shout out to everybody to get our message for help across.â€
He is hopeful that the initiative, which has so far realised sh10m, will raise even more funds for the good cause.
Dr. Bataringaya says: “I am looking forward to this expedition. It is quite an undertaking; one which I believe is worth the endeavour because it is for a good cause.â€
CURE International is a charitable non-governmental organisation that builds and operates specialty hospitals for children in developing countries.
CURE Children’s Hospital of Uganda (CCHU), located in Mbale, was their second facility. It was established in 2000 to provide comprehensive paediatric neurosurgical care to the children of Uganda.
It comprises four main strands of support for children with neurosurgical disability: specialist medical care; emotional and spiritual counselling and follow-up; academic contribution to neurological advances; training of specialists in neuro surgery.
CCHU has become a national referral hospital for paediatric neuro surgery. It is the only hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa exclusively devoted to the neurosurgical care of children, attracting patients from Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.
The hospital’s clinical volume has grown progressively over the past seven years (30% annually).
In the first five years, over 20,000 outpatients were seen and 5,000 major neurosurgical operations were performed.
THEY have always loved adventure, most of the time for the fun of it. But when they discovered that they could do a lot more than enjoy from their expeditions, Sam and Abby Baguma decided to use one of their favourite pastime activities to help the disadvantaged in society.
Sam is the director of Africa Development Office, CURE International; an organisation that caters for children with disabilities.
Abby is the partnership manager of African Palliative Care Association, an organisation that supports patients suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS and other terminal illness. It also trains healthcare professionals.
In April, the couple climbed Mt. Kenya on a four-day expedition to raise public awareness about the plight of terminal illnesses in Uganda and to mobilise financial support for training doctors in this field. The initiative fetched about $4,000(sh6.6m) through corporate and individual sponsorship.
Now, Sam is leading a team of six individuals to a six-day expedition, this time around to Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro.
The team comprises Dr. Julie Bataringaya, a CURE International board member, Geoff Bataringaya, Craig Hammon, the executive vice-president of CURE International, Layton Shoemaker and Dr. Kachinga, a Zambian neuro surgeon.
The expedition, which kicks off today, is intended to raise public awareness about the plight of children suffering various physical disabilities and the services provided by CURE International children hospitals in Africa.
“Many children suffering from preventable physical disabilities are left to die without any treatment. We would like to use this expedition to draw the world’s attention to such children,†says Baguma.
According to Baguma, over 30,000 children in Uganda suffer from hydrocephalus (water on the brain), one of the common yet preventable disabling ailments among children.
“If not treated, these kids would never live to their fourth birthday.â€
An average operation for the same, he says, costs about $1,000 (sh1.6m) and $15,000 (sh2.5m).
Through this expedition, Cure International hopes to raise funds that will help such children acquire treatment.
“Our target is to raise $50,000 (sh82m) for Cure Children’s hospitals in Uganda.
All the money raised will go towards subsiding costs on surgery for children with disabilities whose families cannot afford to pay for treatment,†he said.
Despite this, Baguma says, the organisation does not turn away individuals who can meet treatment costs.
He says by going up the highest mountain in Africa, his team will have perhaps the best platform to pass on their message to the entire world.
“It is the highest point for us to shout out to everybody to get our message for help across.â€
He is hopeful that the initiative, which has so far realised sh10m, will raise even more funds for the good cause.
Dr. Bataringaya says: “I am looking forward to this expedition. It is quite an undertaking; one which I believe is worth the endeavour because it is for a good cause.â€
CURE International is a charitable non-governmental organisation that builds and operates specialty hospitals for children in developing countries.
CURE Children’s Hospital of Uganda (CCHU), located in Mbale, was their second facility. It was established in 2000 to provide comprehensive paediatric neurosurgical care to the children of Uganda.
It comprises four main strands of support for children with neurosurgical disability: specialist medical care; emotional and spiritual counselling and follow-up; academic contribution to neurological advances; training of specialists in neuro surgery.
CCHU has become a national referral hospital for paediatric neuro surgery. It is the only hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa exclusively devoted to the neurosurgical care of children, attracting patients from Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.
The hospital’s clinical volume has grown progressively over the past seven years (30% annually).
In the first five years, over 20,000 outpatients were seen and 5,000 major neurosurgical operations were performed.