Full day Team Building Seminar went beyond our expectations

 

We had an amazing day together as a team of combined Yotkom and Bregma Clinic health workers. Neil Shuker led us through some very worthwhile sessions where we discovered more about our personalities and strengths and gained more understanding of each other. There was a lot of sharing by all the participants and a genuine spirit of hunger for personal growth and an improved work environment where the values of compassion, honesty, respect and excellence in service would define us.

There were 20 participants which was a significant turnout given it was a Saturday and some of the Bregma nursing and medical staff had to remain in  the clinic seeing patients.

Our new Chaplain, Walter spent the whole day with us and shared some inspirational words which really complemented the theme running through Neil's presentations. It has been very encouraging!

Neil shares about values and shapes

 

Andrew Kilama and Vincent participate in session

 

Pastor Walter shares some inspirational words

 

We shared  a great Acholi smorgasbord lunch

 

Pastoral Care and Chaplaincy on the agenda again

Today we have been able to have a meeting with Walter and he has made a renewed commitment to start work half time with the Yotkom and Bregma medical teams. It had been planned for him to start work in January this year,  however, his previous full time work as a counsellor with Food for the Hungry was  extended for an extra  three months . His position there will end this month.
This means he will be able to commence with YOTKOM  at the beginning of May and will come to the clinic three mornings a week . Walter will also be participating in our team building day tomorrow (Saturday ) and this will be a great opportunity for him to build relationships with our team. We believe the position of pastor/chaplain/counsellor  is a vital one  .

Neil is busy preparing material tonight for our seminar tomorrow. He is finding the old style paper, tape and pencil  rather time consuming ways of preparing a presentation !  (no IT facilities at the hotel unfortunately )
We are sure that many issues will be raised tomorrow and that the process will be very worthwhile in strengthening the project.

Medical Team Building in KItgum

Here in KITGUM, Neil has been busy preparing for a one day team building workshop  for Yotkom and the Bregma Clinic . This will be held all day this Saturday at one of the local hotel venues. We expect about 20 people to attend and we are trusting it will be a very valuable time of sharing, hearing feedback and building strong work relationships. We will be sharing together our vision and values and reinforcing the faith basis and motivation of our medical work.
In the last couple of days, Neil has been spending individual time with some key leaders in the Yotkom project. It has been really helpful for people here  to be able to share and Neil has some great insights into ways that we can make improvements. Some of our Ugandan team have also  had some great ideas. Today, it was suggested that meeting for prayer at the clinic in the waiting room every morning would be worthwhile. We will be starting this practice tomorrow at 0830.
Andrew has been able to meet some key people involved in reaching out to the Nodding Syndrome patients. Most interestingly, an Anthropologist who has been doing a doctorate on the subject is living in a house directly across from us and we have met up on the day we arrived . Also, one of the Government officials involved in community outreach has spent some time with us and Mike, a counsellor who works with Lois Ford amongst Nodding Syndrome families came to the Bregma clinic today for discussions. This is all very helpful as we work out ways Yotkom can assist with providing care to Nodding Syndrome patients and their families.  Dr Vincent will also be attending an important meeting in Kampala on Monday (an 8 hour bus journey there and back ). This has been arranged by Dr Bob Colebunders and will be attended by Health Department, WHO and CDC officials.
One of the main goals for our time here is to finalise the employment of a Pastoral Care/ Chaplain within our team. We discussed this today and have some ideas to implement.
This afternoon, Andrew sat down with Yotkom leaders and set out some targets together for what we would like to achieve over the next 2 weeks. We have a lot to do but we  are praying it will be  a productive time together.

Neil and I are very grateful for a house which has been available for us to rent in a compound here. We have a special visitor, Margaret who is cooking our meals!

More news will follow.
 

World Health Organisation Meetings on Nodding Syndrome

During the last week , Andrew has  attended three days of meetings at the World Health Organisation in Geneva.
He was invited to meet with a number of Doctors and researchers within the organisation who have expressed concern about Nodding Syndrome and the effects this disease is having amongst children in our Kitgum district of Northern Uganda as well as Southern Sudan and other potential areas of Sub Saharan Africa which are affected.
One of the other people attending was Professor Bob Colebunders from the Tropical Disease Institute in Antwerp, Belgium. He is planning to undertake some extensive research into the condition and has a theory about the cause he wants to investigate.
Our Yotkom project is hoping to  increase our capacity to deliver better health services to the communities affected by Nodding Syndrome in our area of influence. We will also be aiming to collaborate with the World Health Organisation and researchers like Dr Bob Colebunders to gather more information and data on Nodding Syndrome in the district of Kitgum , Uganda.
We have established some very helpful networks and relationships within the WHO and they have encouraged us to continue in our work and are keen to  maintain  co-operation with us into the future.
This is a wonderful opportunity.
In the next two weeks, Andrew will be in Uganda sharing the information from the meetings with our medical team and also meeting with other agencies and individuals seeking to provide care. We will visit some of the affected villages.
We hope to put together a recommended package of health care and services and seek out specific donors who have a heart to meet this need.  I believe we have a great core team of health workers and strong foundations in place on the ground , giving us  the capacity to grow and do more as we gain the necessary resources.

One of the major steps forward which has already been achieved from our meeting  is the addition of Nodding Syndrome to the World Health Organisation web site , in the Neglected Tropical Disease section.
The NTD department will host this site and encourage the development of this  as a repository of information , a  data base of researchers and a source of  guidelines on best management.
Yotkom may have some input into the content of this web site in coming months.
If you would like to see this go to this site :

World Health Organisation : Nodding Syndrome

Next steps: Andrew will be meeting Neil Shuker in Dubai tomorrow and then travelling together to Uganda.
More news will be coming  from Africa !



 
 

Focus on Nodding Disease in Uganda

On March 26 27 and 28  the  World Health Organisation is convening a meeting of reseachers and doctors to discuss Nodding Disease, a neurological Seizure Disorder affecting children between age 5 and 15. The disease has affected thousands of children, primarily in districts of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan. The Kitgum district where Yotkom Uganda is working  has been one of the most hard hit.
Dr Andrew Wright has been asked to come and be part of the discussions in Geneva.
We are trusting the outcome of this will be steps toward discovering the cause and delivering treatment and support to the children and families affected. The Yotkom Uganda medical team in Kitgum hope to play a part in this process over coming months.
For further information on Nodding Disease-  go visit this link and watch the You Tube video

Nodding Disease


Over the next four weeks Andrew will be updating the website with developments in Geneva and later joining Neil Shuker in Uganda.  We are aiming to encourage and build up our team on the ground in Kitgum Uganda during April.  Stay tuned !

YOTKOM UGANDA PROJECT UPDATE

Yotkom Uganda is a small non for profit organisation registered in Uganda.
The project has 5 directors , 2 from Australia and 3 from Uganda.
The board of management is predominantly made up of Health professionals from Australia and Uganda.
Our vision is to improve access and excellence of Primary Health Care services to Northern Uganda.
We seek to do this through building strong relationships , sharing resources and encouraging self reliance.
Our organisation is faith based  and our values reflect this strong Christian ethos.
We value Honesty, Transparency, Compassion , Justice and Respect within our team and strive to maintain these standards in our care of others.
The community we serve in Northern Uganda is defined by high levels of poverty and unemployment and a lack of infrastructure and services due to over 15 years of civil war.
The disease burden is high with many children under five dying from infectious diseases such as Malaria, Pneumonia and Diarrhoea.
Women on average in Uganda have 7 pregnancies, and with each one the risk of mortality is 20 times higher than that in Australia due to limited pregnancy care and safe birthing facilities.
Yotkom Uganda is seeking to address these needs through training and mentoring of high quality health professionals and provision of good diagnostic services.
We are currently working closely with an established Primary Health Care/ General Practice in Kitgum town, Uganda.
We have a regular financial commitment to assist with medical staff wages, chaplaincy and ongoing education and training of existing professionals and future team members who work in this community.
We also have a vision to build a purpose built medical clinic and maternal and child health centre for our team to work in.
Yotkom has purchased strategically located commercial land in Kitgum and developed  a construction plan for our future clinic building.
We appreciate our donors assistance for our ongoing committments (currently approximately $15,000 per year ) and also toward the $250,000 target for our  building fund . We hope to commence building in 2014. Stage 1 will be a primary health clinic , costing approximately $180,000 and Stage 2,  a maternal and child health centre for $70,000.

Plans for Yotkom Uganda Medical Clinic

We have a BUY a BRICK fundraising effort underway, where $5 given will buy one brick in our new building .  Click on this link:
GoFUNDRAISE: Andrew Rowe : Brick by brick fundraiser

Because of our size we have minimal administrative overheads and can target our donor funds directly to the health needs on the ground. We also have transparent financial declarations and are subject to monitoring by AUSAID through our partner organisation in Australia, Healthserve. This organisation also provides tax deductibility status for our donors.

This web page has a link to our donation site and also videos on our work.
There are also blog entries below, providing a record of our work which has been developing over the past 12 years.
Thankyou for your interest in Yotkom Uganda
Feel free to email us with any further enquiries.
at ;
andrew.wright@yotkom.com
Yours sincerely


Dr Andrew Wright.   MB BS DipRACOG FRACGP MPH &TM
Australian director

Pastoral Care and Chaplaincy

Today we commissioned a key person in our Yotkom Project to attend to the pastoral care and chaplaincy needs of our medical team and the patients we serve.
Walter Otim is a mature man in his 50s who has lived and worked in this community all his life. His parents were Christian leaders and he became a Christian at the age of 18. He attended a Baptist theological college in Jinja Uganda and later was involved in planting a Church in Gulu. He is currently pastoring a church in Kitgum and he speaks regularly on the local FM radio station, where he has a nickname "Muzungu Muno".  He has a heart for evangelism but is also experienced in counselling and rehabilitation. He has worked for Food for the Hungry for over 10 years in a counselling and teaching role.
We are very excited to have him join our team on a part time basis. He will be helping with weekly team devotions and getting to know approximately 40 people who work with Yotkom, the Drug Shop, and Bregma Clinic, providing mentoring, support and encouraging Christian discipleship. He will also be involved in counselling and training other counsellors to work with Yotkom . Patient visitation and care within the clinic will also be a role. We are looking forward to the new influence he will bring to our team. His appointment is  a major answer to prayers as this has been identified as a real need and was a primary focus for our visit this time.