Giving Stories Blog

When news of a COVID-19 patient in the district broke, Adjumani went into shock. Everyone panicked. Though being hundreds of kilometers away from the capital city, Adjumani was among the first districts to get a COVID-19 case. Immediately, the district leadership convened an emergency response meeting and made calls to health workers, but many initially shunned the call to duty. However, a nurse, Vicky Opia, immediately answered the call and started work that very day. More

At the beginning of the lockdown, Faridah Kwagala sent a text message out to her tenants in Namugongo, a suburb in Kiira Municipality. It read: “I understand what you are going through. Don’t pay me until one month after the President allows us to work.”

Two months later, one of her tenants, Marion Achipa can’t stop talking about her landlady’s generosity. “I am a temporary worker at an institution, there is no way I could have raised three hundred thousand to pay my landlady during this lockdown,” she says. More

For the two decades that I have been alive, I haven’t seen anything quite as scary. It has been a time of global panic, with thousands of people dying on a daily. I have seen many nations struggling to figure out how to help their people, while others have been left with nothing but hope for a better day. More

In the Disney movie Queen of Katwe, she plays wife to British-Nigerian actor, David Oyelewo. That is where many would have recognized the name Esteri Tebandeke. Outside of acting though, the actress takes on many other creative roles; a comic, a designer, a dancer and a chef. Yes, that and more, will define Esteri’s time. In the wake of the coronavirus, through one of her comic characters, Muna-U (urban slang to mean, a Ugandan), the loveable Esteri uses satire to echo messages. More

For about two years now, a young woman called Hamah Nsubuga has been open about her HIV status. “I am an HIV activist and I am also HIV positive,” that is how she introduces herself. Since opening up about her status, she has taken to encouraging those living with the virus to take their medication correctly. That was until the lock down; Hamah is now making sure those on medication have food at the very least. More

A young lady recently had a baby in Mutungo, a suburb in Kampala City. She gave birth just as the country was going into the coronavirus-induced lock down; and that is when everything started to go wrong for her. “After giving birth, the company she was working for decided to audit her and they found that she had made losses,” Araali Muteegeki, a journalist and resident in the suburb, starts the narration into this painful ordeal. “In order to recover the money, the company confiscated most of her house items and she was left with literally nothing apart from her baby.” More

Until recently, Kenneth Kabagambe was mostly focused on Hepatitis B advocacy. Then the floods in Kasese happened! Kabagambe, the founder of the National Organization for People Living with Hepatitis B has since taken to fundraising for the people devastated by these floods. Besides making personal pleas to friends, through his friend, Catherine Freeland, he has also started a GoFundMe page calling upon many to help one of the worst hit places in the district. More

As soon as the lock down was announced in Uganda, philanthropist Brian Mutebi sprang into action. Through an organization he runs called Education & Development Opportunity- Uganda, Mutebi quickly set up what he calls the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. More

When the Economic Misfit first run this story, it caught our eye. It also didn’t come as a surprise to his peers that Dickson Mushabe, an entrepreneur and author, would think of a ‘techy’ way to give during these tough times. Like many, he understood that a large number of people depended on daily income to afford food, accommodation, and other basic necessities of life, a thing the lock down had since made impossible. More

George who stays in Zombo district has a very inspirational story to tell. At a time when many could have chosen to hold onto the little they had, his mother opened their doors to a little orphan girl with a big dream. Verbatim he said: More

A young man, very passionate about environment and health caught the CivSource Africa eye. In prioritizing human health in these times of coronavirus, whilst preserving the environment, philanthropist Ashiraf Ssebandeke has been nothing short of exemplary. More

CivSource Africa asked lawyer and writer Ivan Okuda to chat up Uganda’s wealthiest man on philanthropy and report verbatim. He did. Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia is the chairman of the Ruparelia Group, one of the biggest business conglomerates in East and Central Africa with 28 companies and over 8,000 employees. As the Covid-19 pandemic destabilizes health care systems and plunges economies into uncertainty and anxiety of a global recession, disrupting our normal flow of life, businesses have been hard hit. The Ruparelia Foundation has, despite the upheavals, put its foot forward through philanthropy. More

At the dawn of the coronavirus-induced lock down in Uganda, almost every group physical activity went virtual. Education was one such thing; schools committed to giving assignments throughout the lock down and parents were encouraged to help their children at home said assignments. More

In Bunyole sub-region, the name Patrick Waisana is celebrated especially among people battling Tuberclosis and HIV/AIDS. So when the coronavirus led to a paralysis in movement, it was not news that Waisana would swoop in to save the day. More

When a man only identified as Isma spoke of the rumour that a certain musician had donated food to muslims in Mbale, they didn’t expect it to be singer Daddy Andre. True, the Tonelabira singer had indeed donated specifically to the fasting Muslim community in the Eastern district of Mbale. More

A philanthropist in Teso called Philip Oucor has come to the rescue of the people of Serere district in Teso sub-region. Besides the lockdown brought about by COVID-19, Teso sub-region might soon be staring famine in the face as a result of the delay in the planting season brought about by the locust invasion. But also, just as they thought it might be wise to start planting again, the waters of Lake Kyoga are rising. In fact, experts warn that this will soon see districts like Serere located on the shores of the lake, flooding. More

Remember the nurse in Arua who wheeled a patient in dire need of advanced care to the district hospital kilometers away? Only recently both the health Minister and Permanent Secretary celebrated her.

“During my visit to Arua District today, I had the opportunity to visit one of my very own heroic health workers, Sr. Doris Okudinia, a nurse at Ediofe Health Centre III in Arua District,” Dr. Acheng said. “She wheeled a patient for over 3km to Arua Regional Referral Hospital for treatment. Her selflessness is heartwarming.” More

They had initially thought they would be coming together to see how West Nile can be put on the national electricity grid, the coronavirus happened. So today, a group called Voice of West Nile has decided that they will instead try to make sure the region’s vulnerable poor don’t starve to death. First, they put out a message on Facebook, asking group members to contribute, but soon they realized that this was bigger than them, as well-wishers joined the cause. More

Picture this, a single dad with a severe case of diabetes that has since led to the amputation of his foot. Yeah? Now imagine a world where such a father, despite his efforts, can’t earn a living to provide for his three children. See, unlike the other market vendors who walk for miles to the market, he couldn’t go to work because any and all public means had been ordered off the road in line with the lock down. More

Nicholas Opiyo Ogweng, a 13 year old boy from Gulu district left the district Covid19 task force awed. It wasn’t just that the young man donated Shs50.000 that left many impressed, it was the fact that he had spent time laying bricks so he could donate the money. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, it was reported that teenager, Ogweng, an orphan, walked from Uyama Sub-county, about 10 km from Gulu town to bring the money. more