Blog - World Concern

The Diocese of Soroti, Uganda, is the newest partner for Pilgrim's distribution of deworming medication. Pilgrim's Aid & Relief Program, supplied with medications through the Agathos Foundation, delivered 2 million doses of mebendezole, a deworming medicine, to the offices of the Diocese of Soroti in early July. World Concern, a non-profit humanitarian organization providing community development and disaster responses, donates these medicines to the Agathos Foundation and Pilgrim for distribution. Bishop George Erwau of the Diocese of Soroti received the meds on behalf of the Church of Uganda (Anglican) from Rev. Dorsey McConnell, Pilgrim Board President, at the offices of the Diocese. Rev. MCConnell was accompanied by James Ochan, Pilgrim Operations Manager, and Patrick Ongodia, Pilgrim Country Coordinator. The Church of Uganda (CoU) will distribute these doses to outlying villages and church clinics in the Teso region, as well as to local hospitals and other clinics.

Dr. Oonyhu Taabon, a retired physician who volunteers with the Diocese, cited Matt 11:5, as he talked about the church's work among the Teso people. "This is the place of the church-the sick are healed, and the gospel is preached this way." He will be assisting with distributions of these much-needed meds.

Deworming is an important public health intervention with immediate benefits for children in poverty. One dose of mebendazole kills all kinds of intestinal worms for 6 months, allowing children the full nutritional benefit from their food. Intestinal worms can steal up to a quarter of the food a child eats, and further weaken the immune system. When mebendazole is administered with vitamin A, the combination boosts immunity for vulnerable children, and can mean survival for many. As part of a deworming and micronutrient consortium of humanitarian and aid groups, Pilgrim receives and distributes millions of donated doses of both these meds in sub-Saharan Africa through partnerships with local organizations.

Related Links: Pastors' Conferences

Pilgrim's Agathos Relief and Aid Program completed the distribution of clothing, hundreds of yards of fabric, and musical keyboards donated to Pilgrim, and transported to Uganda courtesy of Thain Boatworks and Earthwise Ventures. Included were thousands of new clothing items from a Seattle, WA clothing distributor, dozens of musical keyboards given to Pilgrim, and numerous rolls of cotton flannel donated by World Concern in Edmonds WA.  

 Pilgrim Uganda's Director of Relief, William Denis Omara, organized and directed the multi-site distribution effort. Six staff from Pilgrim travelled with him to transport and give out the goods; they were assisted by volunteers at each distribution point or village. Targeted recipients for this distribution were the elderly, women with small children, pregnant women, the disabled, and most destitute of each area. The elderly in Ugandan society are often very needy if they have no living children to support them. Each beneficiary received two pieces of clothes; mothers received fabric for baby blankets and diapers, and elderly persons were given flannel fabric for bed sheets.

One distribution site was Namuwongo Revival Church, an inner city church pastored by Pastor Opio Wilson, located in Namuwongo, a large slum in Kampala. Clothing, mostly pants and shirts, and fabric yardages were handed out to the needy, amid much rejoicing (see photos).  These were timely "Christmas presents" to about 600 church members.

Teso Safe Motherhood, a sister nonprofit in Teso, NE Uganda, assists pregnant women and new mothers in the Teso region.  The many rolls of cotton flannel given to that organization will in turn be divided to give out to new mothers for their babies' needs.

Many rolls of fabric were given to the Beacon of Hope Medical Center for various uses such as sheets and nursing needs. The students at Beacon of Hope College received fabric yardage to make bed sheets. The majority of students at the College are completely sponsored by Pilgrim, so this fabric donation helped keep supply costs down. 

The final distribution sites were the vulnerable population of Amotom IDP (internally displaced person) Camp in the Amuria subdistrict, and the village of Kapelebyong, also in Amuria. Local government officials assisted William Omara's staff with the identification of the most needy, assembling people, and distribution.  Notice the large but orderly crowds gathering to line up for clothing and fabric in the photos.

The final kinds of items distributed were piano keyboards. As Pilgrim works with local churches, finding eager takers for these keyboards was not difficult.

Pilgrim's distributions activities of food and other things to the most needy occur when significant amounts donations are given, and often in cooperation with other organizations.  A special thanks to Thain Boats and Earthwise for their generous gift of shipping these goods for Pilgrim.

Related Links: Beacon Of Hope Secondary School, Beacon Medical Centre