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WHY FUNDRAISE FOR ST THERESA HEALTHCARE SERVICES, KAMBE, KAKIRI, UGANDA

St Theresa Healthcare Services is a medical arm of St Theresa Endowment Initiative (STEIN).  We are fundraising for St. Theresa Healthcare Services, Kambe Kakiri, for the following reasons:

Providing Healthcare for Mothers and Children in Need

To provide Healthcare for mothers and children in the neighborhood who are poor and cannot access such services. Historically, the founder, Mrs. Lucy Jessie Walusimbi, the first black Chief Nursing Officer of Uganda, provided integrated health outreaches to immunize children, provide antenatal care, screen for NCDs, and treated community members at her own cost. The centre which was started in the 1970s was the only functional unit during the liberation war since the area was part of the NRA guerrilla war zone. Whereas other care providers have been established within the area, majority of the poor cannot afford paid services. Many live with health conditions that are untreated. They come out in hundreds whenever we hold free medical camps at St. Theresa. We therefore need resources to support free medical care to thousands of such people. USD 20,000 can support treatment of approximately 800 people in a year.

Equipping the Talmon Diagnostic Centre

As a family, we nursed and eventually lost our son, Talmon Paul Jjunju, who suffered brain damage due to poor diagnostics in the facilities where he was first treated as a baby. Talmon was our 4th born son. He was a normal baby at birth who started getting seizures at 4 months. We took him to many of what were considered good hospitals and saw various specialists over the years. His condition kept worsening until at age 9 when we took him to St. Luc Hospital, Brussels for one month. When they examined him, they concluded that he was not properly managed when he was a baby. That an infection had hit his brain, causing damage. We soldiered on with him for a whole 18 years as a special needs child hoping from one hospital to the next for a solution until July 2025 when we lost him. It was evident that had his condition been detected early and treated, Talmon would have lived a normal and useful life.

As we looked after him, we saw many other children who suffered the same fate. The 2024 Uganda Census report indicated that 13.2% of Ugandans live with some form of disability. In some districts like Mayuge and Wakiso 67.87% of caregivers reported some level of disability among children, with 48.01% having mild disability, 15.84% moderate disability and 3.96% severe disability. We therefore decided to build and equip a Talmon Diagnostic centre at St Theresa Healthcare Services and install equipment and facilities that can effectively examine and treat all conditions that afflict children. Because we spent lots of money on our beloved Talmon in the last 18 years, we could not complete and equip this centre, hence this fundraising drive. It is our conviction that no other child should suffer, become disabled or even die due to poor diagnostics. We are therefore seeking donations to complete and equip this diagnostic centre to provide services to children and mothers in a timely manner.

For this phase, the initial equipment needed includes:

  1. Ultrasound Machine ($8,000)
  2. Digital X-ray Machine ($15,000)
  3. Laboratory Equipment ($10,000)
  4. Pediatric Ventilator ($5,000)
  5. Infant Incubator ($3,000)
  6. Fetal Monitor ($2,000)
  7. ECG Machine ($1,500)
  8. Oxygen Concentrator ($1,000)
  9. Suction Machine ($500)
  10. Medical Examination Table ($500)
  11. Patient Monitor ($2,000)

Total cost: $48,500

Appeal

We are seeking $68,500 to support free medical care for 800 people ($20,000) for one year and complete and equip the Talmon Diagnostic Centre ($48,500). Your contribution will help us provide quality healthcare services to mothers and children in need, and honor the memory of our beloved son, Talmon. Every donation counts, and we are grateful for your support.