COVID 2nd Lockdown Urgent Aid for At-risk Ugandans

It has now been a little over a year ago since my last COVID crisis fundraiser that helped deliver essential supplies to vulnerable children and families living in the slums of Kampala, Uganda. Thanks to your generosity, about 50 families were given timely assistance. Things began to improve and continued to do so until the current Covid lockdown that was imposed on Uganda in June 2021. Unlike the previous lockdown, this has been far more strict and has been causing extreme hardship to those with the least resources. Uganda had adopted strong measures to fight the Covid-19 epidemic as early as March 2020 and the country had been relatively spared from the virus but in recent weeks infections have been spreading and the number of severe cases has been increasing, especially in the capital, Kampala.

After hearing about the situation in Kampala from Dash Meizler, the founder of the vegan humanitarian Podrska Foundation (www.podrskafoundation.com), I have decided to launch another fundraiser. Although the Ugandan government has promised to send money to those in need via mobile phones, it has been more than a month and no sight of any financial support. The government’s proposed payment method also means that individuals who cannot afford mobile phones will not receive anything.

With donations from the last fundraiser in June 2020, the Podrska Foundation and its volunteers were able to deliver 1056 meals to those in need through the provision of raw foods such as rice, matooke( East African Highland bananas) beans peas, potatoes, cassava pumpkins and other fresh fruits and vegetables. I have created this new fundraiser to raise money so that once again vulnerable families such as single parent families, the elderly and individuals with health issues (such as HIV) can be provided with fresh food to cook. At the same time, the Podrska Foundation will also distribute plant based food to two other categories of people who are at-risk: 1) the homeless – especially women, children, and refugees – who live on the streets in Kampala; and 2) those infected by COVID -19 and housed in local clinics and village hospitals. As both categories of vulnerable people have nowhere to cook a meal, the Podrska volunteers will deliver home precooked meals to them as often as the funding allows.

Please join me in helping Dash and his volunteers at Podrska support the most needy during these difficult times. Please note that I will give regular updates to show how your donations have been spent.

Thank you in advance for your support and feel free to contact me if you have any questions by clicking 'Contact' next to my name on this fundraiser or call me on +1 3103079132

Arvind Thomas (Assistant-Professor of English, Dept of English, UCLA, Los Angeles)

Below: some pictures of food distribution from last years fundraiser