The quiet garden in front of the St. Joseph Health Center has become a bustling meeting place for patients who have already been cared for, awaiting and are currently undergoing treatment, their familiess, supporters and staff. Since Rotary's district grant for the provision of prostheses to amputees in Iganga, materials have been procured, new staff have been hired, and word of the centre has spread, "St. Joseph" has been overwhelmed. More than 150 patients have currently enquired whether they can be fitted with prostheses. However, current resources are only sufficient to treat 45 to 50 patients.

But maybe with your donations we will be able to increase capacity.

St Joseph 2022/2023

After a long break, we were finally able to visit the orthopaedic centre "St. Joseph" in Iganga again. Despite all the economic difficulties that the pandemic and the associated lockdown had brought to the people in Uganda and above all the Ukraine war which caused price increases and food and fuel shortages all over the world, especially in Africa, the orthopaedists keep up their important work. Word of the centre has spread. The small garden around the workshop is bustling. Patients go in and out and gratefully accept the services offered by the centre.

We were fortunate to recruit Isaac to the team, a young dedicated employee, who has just successfully completed his training.

His inventiveness and passion for his work enable cross-project linking of veterinary and orthopaedic activities. For his first project he faced an extraordinary challenge:

A newborn calf had broken its forelimb during its difficult birth procedure. Sadly, the leg had to be amputated, but Isaac, together with TOKA employees, developed a prosthesis that could then be fitted to the calf.

A great One-Health and Animal Welfare Project, which not only spared the calf pain and suffering, but the owners of the newborn did not lose the animal which is so important for their income and livelihoods!

Another success is the moving story of the young man from Iganga, who had lost his foot 15 years ago and had suffered enormous muscle atrophy, which now had to be gradually rebuilt. Treatment attempts 8 years ago in another hospital failed, because this muscle wasting had not been considered and the prosthesis did not fit as a result. At that time, all the financial resources at his disposal had been used up, and so he was forced to walk with two wooden crutches for many years until he heard about the orthopaedic centre "St. Joseph". After a painstakingly long process, involving the help of transitional walking aids, he finally received his proper prosthesis.

Unimaginable his joy when he took his first steps with the new prosthesis after so many years. Changing his face from scepticism and fear of renewed pain to excessive joy.

It is with great pleasure that we can present Lawrence Angatai, Director of the St. Joseph Orthopedic Health Center, with the pledge of a €10,000 District Grant secured by the Rotary Club. Following a long appeal for partners by the Rotary Club Niebüll and application delays caused by Corona the grant was finally approved in September 2022. We immediately set to work planning the budget. This is a logistical challenge for the centre, as they have not yet had such extensive resources to provide patients with prostheses in large numbers.

A big thank you to the North Frisian Rotarians who make this work possible!