A child-crisis centre in Kisoro
Potter’s Village Child Crisis Centre
Potter’s Village Child Crisis Centre was originally set up to save abandoned infants and others in some form of crisis. For some, their mother may have died in child-birth, others may have literally been abandoned in the fields. These infants would be taken in, nursed back to health and a family found for them.
Potter’s has a UK charity, Friends of Potter’s Village, who do much fund-raising in the UK, as well as a management committee in Uganda. The compound that holds the child-crisis centre buildings has now expanded to hold a Medical Centre with a neonatal unit for sick newborns, and a ward for small children whose parents/carers bring them in. The Medical Centre is staffed by highly-trained nurses and Clinical Officers who are knowledgeable in the fields of paediatric medicine and also the treatment of malnutrition. There is a small lab, well-manned for diagnosing a number of conditions; and most recently there has been set up a Physio and Rehabilitation Unit for Disabled Children for which we provide regular support.
We also provide the funding for Community Nutrition Outreach. A specialist goes out into the villages each week to check on the health of the children, especially those who have suffered malnutrition and have recently been discharged from the Medical Centre.
Crops and nutrition advice
During those visits, the parents, local villagers and village chiefs are given advice about what are the best crops to grow to improve the nutrition of the whole village; and the other children in the village are checked over and their sanitation is checked too, so that illnesses such as diarrhoea can be prevented. The nutritionist shares his expertise, advice and support with people who mostly have little formal education, are living hand-to-mouth from the crops they grow in their gardens, and whose income is less than £1 per day.
Benefits of health checks and support
Clinical Officer Rodgers took over this role in late 2022, and more recently he has been going out with Tresor, the new physio at Potter’s Village. Together, these two men are making a formidable team and are helping many more children, as while Rodgers checks nutrition and general health, Tresor checks the children’s physical development.
Each month they are finding infants and children who need extra treatment to survive. In one visit, for example, Rodgers and Tresor found an infant with developmental delay, and another with a heart murmur, both of whom were very sick and malnourished. The little girl with developmental delay was referred to Potter’s Village, discovered to have malaria too, has been given treatment and exercises, while her mother has been taught how to improve the nutrition of the whole family. The little boy was recommended to go into Potter’s Village for more tests, with Rodgers ready to follow up if they did not come.
An effective team
It has been noticed by the local churches how effective this team is, and Rodgers has been invited to speak to health workers, teachers, retired clergy and community leaders on nutrition and health. This is all helping to spread knowledge to the people.
In 2022 HealthTree Uganda started supporting the Rehab Centre for Children with Disabilities. A physio and assistant physios assess children with disabilities and give their parents exercises to do with them. The unit invites families who live in the same area to come in together once a month. In this way, parents and children can form friendships and support one another – particularly important as disability is frequently stigmatized in Uganda. A number of the children have made great progress since coming to this group.
Learn more from the Friends of Potter’s Village website about Potters Village Medical Centre.
