“Life is really hard right now…” | Following up with Families in Amolatar
ENANGU DAVID AND DAUGHTER, AWELO MARY, STANDING IN FRONT OF THEIR FLOODED HOME & GARDEN. THE ROAD AHEAD WILL BE A LONG ONE FOR FAMILIES OF OUR STUDENTS.
As the rest of the world moves forward with easing COVID restrictions, families across Amolatar District are still facing a long road of challenges ahead. Awelo Mary (GLP student) and her Father shared that on top of losing his income due to COVID lockdowns, their family home and garden have been swept away by the recent floods along the shores of Lake Kyoga. Displaced, they are now staying with their neighbors.
“We are really struggling. Now I can’t afford to buy food for my family — my source of income was farming but now we have had to move because the floods took over our home and garden. Life is really hard right now. I’m not even originally from this village — our home village is far away. I’ve have thought about sending our daughter back to that village [where she would be safe from hunger while schools are closed] but it’s impossible because transportation is banned.” David shared with FAF during a field visit.
The monthly support from our Advocates will help us to bring kids like Mary back to school when it’s safe, where she will have access to daily meals and support through this difficult time.
1,500 residents of Amolatar District will receive masks this month thanks to your support!
Thanks to our community of Advocates & donors, your support this past month also helped us to hire a local tailor to make 1,500 masks for distributions to families across Amolatar District, including our own GLP Students and their families. As of June 7th, there have been 616 cases of COVID in Uganda, 96 recovered and 0 Deaths thus far.
PICTURED WITH THEIR MOM & LITTLE SISTER, AKOLI MERCY & ATUHAWAIRE VIOLA (BOTH GLP STUDENTS) WERE AMONG THE 1,500 RESIDENTS GIVEN MASKS BY FAR AWAY FRIENDS.
One case of COVID was reported in Amolatar District this month, which is highly concerning due to the extreme lack of medical resources available in the region.
In Collines’ Mask Distribution Report, she explained, “Some of the community members that were given this mask directly gave comments like, ‘What would we do without this organization in the district?’ because they truly expected their [political] leaders to have helped them more, but FAF is doing so much and they were all really happy with FAF and the good quality of their new masks.”
The road ahead to safely re-open businesses and bring our students & their teachers back to school will be a long one. We need your support now more than ever to ensure that every one of our students makes it back to school safe & healthy. Join us by Becoming an Advocate or make a one-time gift to support our work here.
EMUL RITAH, FAF-UGANDA VOLUNTEER & BOARD MEMBER, INTERVIEWS AN ELDERLY COMMUNITY MEMBER WHO BENEFITTED FROM FOOD RELIEF PROVIDED BY FAR AWAY FRIENDS (Ritah’s mask was only briefly lowered so the interviewee who was elderly could better hear her questions)
FOLLOWING UP WITH BENEFICIARIES OF OUR RECENT FOOD RELIEF DONATION
EMUL RITAH, FAF-UGANDA VOLUNTEER & BOARD MEMBER, INTERVIEWS AN ELDERLY COMMUNITY MEMBER WHO BENEFITTED FROM FOOD RELIEF PROVIDED BY FAR AWAY FRIENDS (Ritah’s mask was only briefly lowered so the interviewee who was elderly could better hear her questions)
Earlier this month, FAF Uganda Country Director, Angwech Collines, and the FAF-Uganda team were granted permission to travel to Amolatar to check in with our students and their families, and follow up on our recent donation of food relief for 1,000 families across the district. Using census data from their offices, we learned that the Amolatar District COVID Task force distributed our donation to families who were most at-risk of starvation, including HIV+ community members, pregnant mothers, widows and the elderly.
During a field visit, FAF-Uganda volunteer Ritah interviewed Alwala George — a community Elder from Adagkolo village and beneficiary of FAF’s food relief. “Far Away Friends should continue supporting and not give up on us,” he explained. “With the 5kgs of posho I received from the District Task Force, I was able to mingle it and make porridge which lasted me for quite some time.”
Thank you to all of our supporters & our community of Advocates for making this distribution possible!
