Arklow Youthreach YSI project wanted to bring awareness to their local community of the plight of disabled children in Uganda.
Children in Uganda who have been born to mothers who are children themselves are often disabled. They are not allowed to attend school and are forbidden to marry for fear of their disabilities being passed on to their own children. Families of disabled children are not allowed to marry either for the same reasons. Disabled children have little access to wheelchairs, crutches, operations or medical treatments, which we in Ireland take for granted. They are stigmatised and are not treated equally in their communities.
The Idea
They made information leaflets containing the distressing stories of the Ugandan children and how they aimed to help them. They distributed these leaflets to the public, videos were shown and articles were written for the local newspapers. They requested the community to donate unwanted medical aids such as Zimmer frames, crutches and wheelchairs.
One of their main goals was to help the Irish charity organisation Zest4Kidz. This charity helps children in Uganda, Belarus and India. In the past, Arklow Youthreach has fundraised for this charity and the YSI group felt after significant research that they could help make a difference.
The Impact
They raised money to give to Zest4Kidz to help fund operations to correct deformed limbs and to buy medical treatments for children with diseases. Their fundraising efforts included a coffee morning/cake sale, football marathon, darts tournament, sponsored sleepover, Zesty Pancake Day and collection boxes at SuperValu supermarket. In total, they raised €2,100! The local community donated several wheelchairs, Zimmer frames and crutches to be sent to Uganda. Members of the community were hugely supportive and enthusiastic about the charity. They appreciated all the support received which made their work a lot easier. They intended to continue fundraising for this organisation in the future with a view to travelling to Uganda to work with some of the children.
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