Learning new skills and changing lives
‘Don’t ignore a child with a disability.
The little you can do will change his or her life forever.’
Mary Anthony Babirye
Mary Anthony, who likes to be called Anthony, developed a disability when she contracted tuberculous in her spine, aged four.
She tells a heart-warming story about her life and the hardships she endured as she grew up in Msaka, Uganda before a kindly doctor introduced her to disposable diapers in her teens.
Being in control and retaining her dignity completely changed her life. For the first time, she was able to make friends and think about a future.
She dreamed about becoming a seamstress
But disposable diapers are expensive and they’re not environmentally friendly. This made it challenging for caregivers who looked after children with disabilities like Mary Anthony.
Once we heard her story, CreateCare Global was determined to do something about this issue. We had come to learn that there are nearly two million children in Uganda similarly affected, many of them who endure incontinence.
Firstly, we introduced the organisation, Medcare UK who was caring for Mary Anthony at their Wellspring Home for Disabled Children to the organisation Smiling Hearts, both in Masaka. To our delight, Smiling Heart’s offered her a one-year training program to become a seamstress.
Then we appealed to you to raise money to help Smiling Hearts purchase the fabric in Uganda so they could train Mary Anthony and the other girls in their care to make reusable diapers.
What is so beautiful about the picture above, is that these are younger children who Mary Anthony used to live with, holding up the reusable diapers she and her team mates have made.
It really is the perfect win win
Mary Anthony gets to become a seamstress and will be able to care for herself and lead an independent life. The children at Wellspring Home for Disabled Children can use reusable diapers instead of disposable ones. And the environment benefits too.
For just $10
$10 a month ($120 a year) will supply eight children a year with reusable diapers, as well as support the training of many young women, like Mary Anthony. Your support can contribute to the wellbeing of young children with incontinence, and the engagement and education of young girls internationally.
