Now Playing

Ace Of Base

All That She Wants

Manx charity given £100,000 grant to help people in Uganda

Ground Breaking ceremony on 15th January 2024. Picture: The Rotary Club of Rushen & Western Mann

The Rotary Club of Rushen & Western Mann will use it to support construction of new dental and vision clinic there

A Manx charity has been awarded a £100,000 grant to support the construction of a new dental and vision clinic in Uganda.

The Rotary Club of Rushen & Western Mann received the money from government's International Development Small Grant.

The £390,000 facility will replace the hospital's current clinic, which operates from a converted shipping container, and is hoped to improve the care for thousands of people living in the Bwindi region.

Construction is expected to be completed later this year.

On receiving news of the grant, President of the Rotary Club of Rushen & Western Mann, Mark Gilson, said: "Dental and eye care is something many of us on the Isle of Man are fortunate to have access to. However in many parts of the world this is not the case and such services can be much harder to reach.

"Our Rotary Club has been working over the last few years with partners to secure the funding to allow the Dental Vision Clinic to be constructed in Bwindi. This funding support from the Isle of Man Government and others means that the ongoing construction project can hopefully be completed within the next 12 months."

Debbie Young, a Manx-born optometrist who has worked at Bwindi Community Hospital with UK charity REACHBwindi, said: "I am so grateful to the Isle of Man, led by the Rotary Club of Rushen & Western Mann, for supporting Bwindi Community Hospital.

"By allowing us to deliver this much-needed expansion of eye and dental health in Uganda, we can and we will make a real difference to people’s lives."

 

 

 

More from Isle of Man News