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Showing posts from May, 2022

Osbert's Story

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In 2008, Osbert Muhereza became a sponsored orphan in ACT. He was 14 at the time and in Primary (Elementary) School. Not unusual for such an older student to begin school particularly because Osbert had health issues.  He was born with Klippel-Feil Syndrome which has a fusing of the neck vertebrate. It is physically limiting due to less flexibility but also can cause pain in limited movement.  His sponsor? ACT's first organizational sponsor, Children's Therapy Corner - with three different locations in the State of Michigan. Children's Therapy Corner has a pediatric therapy program providing essential services including physical, occupational, music and speech-language therapies age birth through young adulthood. ( https://childrenstherapycorner.com/ )  They took a keen interest in Osbert!  To know Osbert is to experience his never-ending smile and sweet nature. Osbert worked diligently at school made it through Senior 4 which is the equivalent of 11th grade in the US. When

Promoting Public Health in MUKO

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 The ACT HEAL Program (Health is Elemental to All Life) works in 74 villages from 7 different parishes of Muko Sub-County - Butare, Karengyere, Kaara, Nyarurambi, Kyenyi, Kabere, and Ikamiro Parishes. HEAL has a team of 15 members; 13 volunteer Health Promotion Workers (HPWs), an Assistant HEAL Manager and a HEAL Manger. The HPWs mobilize community members to come for the dialogue. A Village Dialogue with Tom Akwankasa leading The HEAL team members work together with Ugandan governmental Village Health Teams, local leaders and church leaders. They sensitize the different community members in topics such as sanitation and hygiene, gender domestic violence, accidents in young children, alcoholism, poverty, nutrition and malnutrition among others.  The various community members greatly appreciate the services rendered by HEAL which benefits everyone in Muko Sub-County. They have learned many things from the different topics mentioned above. Community members only have one way to get gener

One of Guma's Many Projects

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I am called Alexander Gumoshabe, commonly know as Guma. I celebrated my 12th Anniversary for my job with ACT on 1st May, 2022. My responsibilities among others include providing leadership and oversight for ACT Staff. I am the ACT project liaison with Muko High School Administrators to shape the destiny of the High School that ACT manages. I am also charged with the responsibility of overseeing the infrastructural development at both Muko High School and the ACT Resource Center. I have worked on a number of construction projects but today allow me to talk about the chain-link fence at both the main high school campus and the girls' wing. This was a huge project that required a lot of effort. During the construction of the chain-link fence, we hired local labour so as to enable the local people to benefit by offering both manual and skilled labour. Some materials such as bricks, aggregates and sand were obtained locally but we were forced to travel long distances such as Kabale (45

Generous Leads ACT

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Generous Turinawe, ACT Uganda Director Praise the Lord for he can lift anything from nothing to something! "He raises the poor from dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and he makes them inherit a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord's; on them he has set the world." 1 Samuel 2:8 ACT was born in 2003 between two families: the Turinawe family in Uganda and the Waechter family in the US. It began as an ecumenical Community-Based Organization (CBO) located in Muko Sub County, Rubanda District with one volunteer Tito Tugume who recruited seven volunteers - one from each parish. From that beginning, we now have two registered NGOS (non-governmental organizations/nonprofit) and Boards of Directors (Uganda and US), hundreds of volunteers, ten paid staff in Uganda, and six programs that meet many needs of the 40,000+ residents of the Sub County.  I feel so proud of what God has accomplished through all of us who have co