Festive greetings from REACH Bwindi,

We’d like to take this opportunity to say a huge, big thank you to all our supporters. As 2023 draws to a close we’re pleased to bring you news from REACH Bwindi and Bwindi Community Hospital (BCH). Over the past year we have granted £26,000 to BCH. This money was used to support salaries for the midwifery, paediatric and community nursing teams, and supported the community team activities by funding new laptops and motorbike helmets.

As a charity REACH Bwindi celebrated our 5^th birthday in April this year. We have raised over £180,000 for the hospital in the past 5 years. This is an incredible amount, and we have all our supporters and fundraisers to thank for this. Thank you to everyone who has supported the charity in many different ways, including donating online, running marathons, giving monthly donations, swimming in cold water for a week in December 2020, raising money instead of wedding or birthday presents or sharing our news with friends and family or via social media.

We have been working on growing our team of volunteers, to ensure sustainability of the charity. We are delighted to have three new volunteers join our team this year. Fran and Tim are doctors who volunteered at BCH between 2021 and 2022 and have joined our team since returning to the UK. Cynthia is an experienced finance executive and is joining us as our new accountant, to work alongside Eva who has been our treasurer since the beginning of the charity. We are very grateful for their support and expertise. If you would like to join us, please get in touch, we are always happy to hear from new volunteers!

We remain in close contact with BCH and value our links with the staff team. Sarah, our chair of trustees, visited BCH with her family in June this year and enjoyed meeting old friends and making new connections.

BCH celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the hospital this year and the 10-year anniversary of the nursing school! This is an amazing milestone. The hospital celebrated in lots of different ways, culminating with a graduation ceremony in November, attended by many stakeholders, including Dr Scott Kellerman the founder of the hospital. The celebrations were shown live on a local television channel which you can watch here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCFiO7BHZf4 or you can watch the speeches from members of the Kellerman foundation, the US charity supporting the hospital, here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYuT_QzXjq0

Other major news from BCH is that Dr Asaph Owamukama was sworn in as the new executive director in August this year, taking over from Mr Murezi Mereth who has been acting executive director. Some of the REACH Bwindi team worked at the hospital when Dr Asaph was a medical student and later a junior doctor; he was hard working, calm and enthusiastic about serving the local community so we are really pleased that he has taken over this role and wish him all the best.

BCH always produce an impressive annual report each year, with lots of detailed information from each department. It’s an interesting and inspiring read and you can find them here – https://www.bwindihospital.com/annual_reports.php

We have been busy fundraising at REACH Bwindi and would like to thank everyone who has supported our different fundraising appeals this year. We hope to bring you news of a new twinning project in 2024.

Our current fundraising challenge to celebrate the hospital’s 20^th birthday is the 20 peaks challenge, encouraging supporters to climb 20 peaks by May 2024 – https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/20-peaks-challenge. We’ve already raised over £2000 but it’s not too late to join us! You can sign up via the JustGiving page.

Our Christmas appeal last year raised £2745 for the waiting mother’s hostel services. You can read more about what the money was raised for here: www.justgiving.com/campaign/bwindichristmasappeal2022

We appreciate that it’s not always possible for people to give money, and we also really value the many other ways that people support the hospital through REACH Bwindi. Earlier in the year supporters in Glasgow knitted 1200 hats for newborn babies at BCH which were very much appreciated by the neonatal ward.

An easy way to support the hospital is to send virtual, printed or photo cards from this website – https://gb.makingadifference.cards/supporting/reach-bwindi A small donation is made to REACH Bwindi with every card that is sent, or you can add a larger donation, making this a good alternative Christmas or birthday present!

One of the easiest ways to support us is to sign up to ‘Give as you live’ – https://www.giveasyoulive.com This is a free way to raise money for charities when you shop online.

We wish you all a peaceful new year. I’ll end with the words of Dr Asaph Owamukama from this year’s BCH annual report: “Together, we will continue to shape the story of Bwindi Community Hospital—a story of care, innovation, and unwavering dedication to our community. I extend our heartfelt thanks to the Bwindi Community Hospital Team and our esteemed partners for their trust and collaboration on this remarkable journey. Your commitment fuels our vision of a healthy and productive community, free from preventable diseases, and providing accessible, excellent healthcare services for all. We eagerly anticipate the chapters yet to be written.”