Kyebe January 2024
Update 6th April
1. The midwives’ house has been completed with plumbing, tiling and painting
2. The medical equipment in Maternity Ward has been transferred to the refurbished midwives’ house to temporarily provide maternity services as you proposed.
3. The main maternity ward has been brought down and the debris is being carted away to pave way for reconstruction
4. Most of the materials, required for construction of the foundation, have been procured and construction is expected to start on Saturday 6 April 2024
5. Our Rotary Club of Konge Lukuli has proposed that our Rotary District Governor visits the site, to symbolically pass over the Midwives’ house to the sub-county health leadership and also lay a Foundation Stone for the main Maternity Ward on 13 April 2024.
6. We are in touch with the local leadership and are working together. The District Health Officer has blessed our undertaking with gratitude.
Albert Park Rotarians visited Uganda in January to oversee the start of the renovations of the Kyebe Maternity Clinic, in partnership with the local Rotary Club of Konge Lukuli. Matthew & Stella Proctor travelled to Uganda in January to meet with community members and staff of the Kyebe Maternity Clinic, a rural facility in desperate need of repair and renovations, with members from the Rotary Club of Konge Lukuli.
The Kyebe Maternity Clinic is located in the Kyotera District of south-western Uganda, and cut off from the region due to flooding for months on end during the wet season. The facility is around 130km from the capital of Uganda, Kampala, and serves a local township population of around 3000, and the wider district of 25,000.
After a 5-hour drive from Kampala they met by community leaders and representatives of the clinic (including the midwife-on-duty), and toured the facility, including the main Maternity Ward and other mbuildings, to learn more about the current state of the facility and it’s needs. Matthew & Stella spent the day with the community leaders and midwife learning more about the challenges of the facility, their current and future needs, and starting the conversation about specific renovation goals and timelines. We inspected the facility in detail, including structural aspects, the equipment being used and (lack of) consumable items. See photos (here)
The renovations were agreed upon with local representatives of the village, the staff and members of the Rotary Club of Konge Lukuli. These include:
- Repair and replacement of many broken/missing windows
- Repair of deteriorating internal walls
- Resizing the delivery & examination rooms
- Replacement of collapsed ceiling collapse (from a large tree that fell many years ago)
- Repairs to rainwater tank, to provide fresh water for the facility
- Replacement old/worn mattresses and beds
- Provision of addition obstetric consumables
The team is focusing on using as many local resources, contractors and builders, to help support the local community and provide valuable employment opportunities.
The Rotary Club of Konge Lukuli is overseeing the project locally, with support and guidance from Albert Park, and are visiting the site on a monthly basis to ensure works are on track. So far, the Rotary Club of Albert Park received support from Rotary Clubs around Melbourne and the world,
including Balwyn, Brighton North, Randers Sondre (Denmark), Konge Lukuli (Uganda), Gaba (Uganda) and Newmarket (New Zealand).
including Balwyn, Brighton North, Randers Sondre (Denmark), Konge Lukuli (Uganda), Gaba (Uganda) and Newmarket (New Zealand).
Learn more about the project at http://https://www.kyebeuganda.org.au/