We are serious about creating human flourishing zones. That compels us to make sure the people in our villages have what they need for physical health. But we care just as much about their spiritual journey, their relationships, financial empowerment, and we want them to someday dream and create a better future for themselves and their families.
Ourganda has adopted eight villages with a total population of 9,000 precious people. The villages are scattered across the Bundibugyo District and are named Kakuka, Karongoti, Kitsolima II, Kinyante IV, Bulyambaya, Bubandi II, Picfire, and Sarakihombya. Many of the people, especially children, have never worn shoes or used soap, and most have never visited a clinic or seen a doctor. Before Ourganda, their only water was dark and disgusting. A scratch or a fever was often fatal. Life expectancy was estimated to be in the high 30s.
Our two mobile clinics are staffed by four medical clinical officers, two nurses, two midwives and two drivers. Every week, they visit each of the eight villages and conduct health classes, enroll people in wellness clubs, perform triage, and treat patients. When someone arrives with urgent needs, our team arranges transportation to hospitals as far as ten hours away where Ourganda donors cover the cost of diagnosis and life-saving surgeries.
Ourganda tests for sickle cell disease (the only entity that does so for many miles around), offers point-of-care ultrasound for expecting mothers, and performs hemoglobin analysis for diabetic patients. Our team provides birthing kits for pregnant moms, hygiene kits for women, health kits for kids, water systems for entire villages, and water filters for thousands of people.
Everyone is on a spiritual journey. Part of human flourishing is to discover the inner peace and confidence that comes when a person becomes friends with a loving God, unselfishly cares for others, and rests in the assurance of an eternal future in a perfect place. Ourganda aspires to serve as a guide for those who are seeking to know God and live according to His ways. We are proudly non-denominational and we gladly serve everyone without regard to faith, tribe, or gender.
When our teams arrive in the villages each day, the first thing they do is share a Bible story or words of encouragement. Throughout the day as they interact with patients, they offer to pray with those who face a particular challenge or with a child who is afraid. Ourganda has distributed hundreds of solar-powered audio Bibles so that people, most of whom have not had the chance to learn to read, can hear the truths of the Bible in their own language.
The world is a happier place for those who are connected with people who love and respect them. Healthy relationships are especially challenging in a country where polygamy is legal and marriage is more of a work arrangement than a partnership. When the vast majority of people are simply trying to survive, they seldom prioritize happy marriage or genuine soul-connection with someone who loves them.
In the spring of 2022, we became aware of a major domestic violence problem in our district. Our team conducted surveys with 50 random women and learned that all of them are afraid of their husband’s anger, almost all have been physically and sexually abused, and not one feels supported by her family, her church, her friends, or the government. On August 1, 2022, Ourganda hired Esther Birungi to build and lead a comprehensive domestic violence prevention movement. She is focusing on the big three: (1) Protecting women; (2) Engaging authorities; (3) Changing offenders’ behavior.
Esther’s list of accomplishments is impressive:
Ourganda is committed to creating villages where the majority of people say, “I feel healthy, happy, safe and hopeful.” This is only possible when we succeed in creating a new DNA of love, kindness, and respect in our villages. We are well on the way!
The majority of people in Ourganda’s villages live on the brink of imminent financial disaster. A bad storm or an act of violence can sweep away their home and everything they own. People fight with everything they have to survive but they often lose the battle. Throughout the developing world, men, women, and couples lift themselves out of extreme poverty by starting micro-businesses.
In the summer of 2021, Ourganda hired Godfrey Friday, a man who grew up in Sarakihombya and eventually earned a degree in micro-finance. He and his team created an exciting goal: “Our empowerment program will be a smashing success when a majority of the residents of our villages are increasingly enjoying and benefiting economically from their work.” During the first year, Ralph Metzger, a micro-business consultant from Kansas City, travelled to Bundibugyo not once, but twice to get the lay of the land, conduct training classes, and help Godfrey create a strategic plan. Twice a month, Ralph coaches Godfrey in video calls, evaluating his progress and suggesting course corrections. Godfrey teaches financial literacy, meets with potential entrepreneurs, and trains leaders. He oversees and supports business clusters that employ approximately 50 people in bee keeping, tailoring, carpentry, and goat rearing. For the first time. dozens of families are able to pay school fees for their children, and they are planning for a more secure future.
More business clusters are on the horizon. A baking cluster is forming soon. Brick by Brick, the Ugandan construction company that is building Ourganda’s new community center, has hired ten men and women from our villages who are creating a construction cluster. These workers are making sustainable, interlocking bricks; learning how to read building blueprints; and gaining practical construction experience. When the community center project is completed in the fall of 2023, the building cluster will begin building permanent homes in our villages to replace the mud and sticks shelters that disappear during a storm.
We are proud and excited that Ourganda is building a scalable system that will eventually enable people in our villages to enjoy and benefit economically from their work. The road to human flourishing is underway!
Business is the most effective way to fight poverty. Based on the demographics and geography of the Bundibugyo District, Ourganda helps individuals, couples, and teams of people start micro-businesses. Once we refine our systems and experience a high level of success, we will build on our micro-business success and create small and medium-sized businesses that provide employment opportunities for hundreds of others.
People who are truly happy live for others. Whether someone jumps on the Ourganda wheel because of physical needs, spiritual desires, or a passion to start a business, we hope they will realize that their greatest purpose – their deepest fulfillment – comes when they live to unselfishly help others. This principle is the hub, the core of Ourganda’s quest to transform at least 12 misery zones into human flourishing zones by the end of this decade.