Giving Stories Blog

In a bid to celebrate the health workers fighting against coronavirus, artistes from 11 African countries came together and recorded a song. The song, carefully executed in three different languages, is a project by Dr. Rasha Kelej, the Chief Executive Officer of Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the pharmaceutical giant, Merck. More

As the world withdrew into their homes due to the deadly coronavirus, people with special needs were forgotten. When it came to community sensitization, for example, people with hearing impairment were barely considered for the messaging approach. There was a gap that urgently needed bridging, one that could have easily been ruinous. Sunday Olyel, the founder of Persons with Special Abilities - Africa (PESA - Africa), saw this gap in Gulu District and did something about it. More

When The Independent magazine first run a story of a good Samaritan disinfecting Entebbe Hospital and police stations in Entebbe District, we took note. Semu Nsibirwa, an ICT Engineer and proprietor of Mobile Computers LTD, a software and hardware store on Kampala Road started this exercise when Uganda confirmed its first COVID-19 case in March. More

Kasese District in Western Uganda was recently hit by floods, which left many people displaced. Atop imploring the government to rescue her people, the Kasese Woman Member of Parliament, Winnie Kiiza, started a fundraising drive.

“In an effort to support and provide basic amenities to thousands of persons displaced by the Kasese floods, l have partnered with the Rwenzori Social Justice Initiative to launch a fundraising drive under the theme, Contribute and Restore Hope,” she said. More

Bunyoro’s Wispa, Burnic MC, and Servant PRO have a coronavirus song out to sensitise the Banyoro on the deadly virus. The hip-hop song titled coronavirus is laced with street language, a formal style that is known to sit well with the youth. They are deliberate about what they want to communicate; without mincing words, the three artistes start the song with strong caution: Coronavirus is here. Stay home. Wash your hands. More

Her passion for women’s rights is unequivocal. Her commitment to ensuring the female vendor's plight is heard, remains unmatched. Esther Namboka will be found almost everywhere issues of the female vendor are being discussed. It, therefore, didn’t come as a surprise that she would remind all and sundry of the female vendor’s plight during the lockdown. More

When the ban on public transport was introduced, a trained social worker, Ivan Okoth, foresaw the worst for diabetic patients in need of a daily dose of insulin. Until the lockdown, his time at the Sonia Nabeta Foundation working with Type 1 Diabetic (acronym, T1D) patients had seen him deliver the much-needed daily insulin with ease. More

Given the current health crisis, the Rugby Africa Executive Committee has approved the immediate release of EUR 170,000 (over UGX 700M) from a solidarity fund. They say that all member federations are eligible for this financial aid to support their rugby communities. More

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