It has been a long time. “It has been a long time” is a gracious way to open a conversation in Uganda with someone not recently seen. It has been a very long time since our last newsletter but the work on the ground is continuing with good news flowing from the projects we are supporting. Thanks Thank you everybody for being part of the Gulu Connection family; for praying, for giving and also for using Give as you Live, the website that enables us to receive money for any online purchases supporters make.. Please do use this. If you would like any advice, just ask. Punu Dyang Massive Impact Punu Dyang, the tiny health centre started from scratch in the jungle in 2017 as a satellite from Oberabic has had a massive impact. Currently malaria is on the rise and the single nurse saw 386 patients, mostly malaria, in one month. What a man! Great work saving lives. In such a remote area, death is an ever present danger from Malaria. The picture shows the clinic with a different nurse working. Communal Violence The Puny Dyang area has been subject to communal violence consigning locals to live in very shabby huts or make do with ones that have been torched. Tessa has been researching the conflict and sent some photos. Success Story Fiona sent a moving story Contributed by a grateful father. It is printed here in full. “It was on a Friday when my son fell ill, me I thought it was malaria because he was looking weak, I had some malaria medicine in the house (caortem). I started giving him to take, and he took 2 tablets each day for 2 days. There was some improvement on Saturday and I thought it was okay, on Sunday at around midnight he could not even breath well and was not even walking, I did not know what was happening to him, we carried him very fast and came to this facility but it was closed, we had to run to the nurse at his place, he then came quickly with us at night, he looked at the child and put him on the bed, he started touching him with his machines, he gave him some drugs there and then to take. The nurse also stayed there with us for some times to watch him then he went back and told us to stay there until morning as he will also be coming to check on him. At least he started breathing well when it was coming to morning. The nurse came back again to check on him and told us it was pneumonia and not malaria. Again he added another medicine and gave us some to take and be giving him from home. I don’t know what would have happened if punudyang health centre was not brought here by the Diocese, my son would have died. I give thanks to the nurse, Innocent the nurse you brought here is a good person and also in this facility at least there is always drugs given to patients not like other places and the price is low for us the poor people. Thank you Diocese for bringing this Health Centre here.” Am Opio Stephen. Oberabic Maternity Earlier this year Nick commented “Oberabic had 22 deliveries last month, which is fantastic to see, and the wonderful new delivery suite certainly came at the perfect time both for the health center and the community.” The Trustees say thank you to Gulu Connection supporters who enabled us to get this important unit built. Land Dispute A long-standing niggle with the landowners who provided land for Oberabic came to a head some months ago. Nick was in the UK (see below) and so the matter was handled with great skill by Fiona, administrator to the health care coordination office. Fiona managed to negotiate a fair price for the land in exchange for a document from the family that signed the land over to the Health Centre. Of course there was a cost, actually very modest for a large plot of land, and Gulu Connection was delighted to provide the money for this important settlement which will give much needed security. Meeting with Family Members   Signing Documents by Family Members Nick and Tessa Nick and Tessa returned to Uganda in July having spent some months in Cambridge undertaking higher degrees. It was great to see them shortly before they returned. I forgot to take a photo so here is one from Facebook Thank you again for standing with us as we seek to support the health care team in Uganda With warmest appreciation Pete On behalf of NOCF IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP... You can donate by : Bank transfer and adding your name as reference. Account Name. NOCF Account number : 00190468 Sort code: 30-90-95 Or by making a cheque payable to Nechells and Overseas Care Fund and then sending it to the following address : Mr Peter Hill - Charity Administrator 47 Heneage Street Nechells Birmingham B7 4NF If you would prefer not to receive our emails – please reply with unsubscribe in the subject line ©2019 Nechells and Overseas Care Fund | 47 Heneage Street, Birmingham B7 4NF

EASTER SEASON We have spring with hopes for another beautiful summer. It is Easter season and for many of us an opportunity to reflect on the powerful, life-giving event of the Resurrection. BOMBSHELL Out of the blue we received an amazing document from Fiona, manager of the project in Gulu which is a heartwarming summary of NOCF’s (Gulu Connection’s) support. It is copied here : Thank You Note to NOCF. Words can’t honestly describe how grateful we are to NOCF (UK) for the wonderful assistance and help you have given us as Staff, community of Oberabic and Diocese of Northern Uganda as a whole. Specifically we would like to appreciate you all these things which has brought huge change to the facilities in these areas to mention but a few. 1. Improvement in maternity services. The solar light installed in the facility has greatly improved night deliveries; currently we are conducting 150 ANC from 70 and 35 deliveries s10 on average three years ago. There is privacy with enormous space because of the new maternity block. Facility has gained much confidence from the community and office of the DHO. 2. Staff motivated and happy in a comfortable house. Staff are now happy with the feel of comfort from a small squeezed room to a fully furnished double room house.This has motivated our staff, this translates back to the clients. Amazing! 3. Availability of medicines and Immunization services. With your help, facility has been able to keep a constant supply of medicines at the facility to the clients because we buy in bulk to avoid shortage. Fridge has enabled us to provide immunization services on a weekly basis and promptly. Really good!!! 4. Clean water and easy transport means Borehole is now fully functional and in good working condition providing clean water and easy to pump, no more complain now from the staff and community. Moto bike has been of a huge importance to the staff and Health Unit Management Committee of the facility, they can easily access town and the facility without any difficulty and struggle. Thanks so much 5. Health Services extended to the unreached This among others is the greatest of all, Punudyang outreach Centre is established in a right place and at a perfect time. The small outreach Centre in its very remote location is playing a huge role in providing the basic health services to people Apaa/Pundyang who can barely access medical carebecause there is no health facility around in this area. Most importantly the community take it as their own. May God richly bless the works of your hands. MATERNITY AT OBERABIC One of the success stories is maternity care which has been assisted by the new unit financed by your kind support but is also is totally dependent on the staff. Scovia, a dynamic midwife, has been committed to the unit for some time. She trained at St Mary's Lacor and is fully invloved in ANC, delivery, family planning and outreach. She is very jolly and also very photogenic and so we have plundered Nick’s portfolio to place some pictures below. WHERE NOW? We are still doing the boring work of saving lives. We recently sent our regular support which included financing an annual bonus scheme for nurses. This was a NOCF/Gulu Connection initiative The standard of the diocesan nursing teams has massively improved in the last few years due to the excellent support and supervision of Nick, Emmanuel and Fiona.We hope our bonus scheme also played a part. THANK YOU We are truly indebted to you for interest, prayer support and financial giving. Without this our contribution would not be effective. We are humbled at the donations both regular and the one off's that keep coming in --- just when we need them. Every blessing, Gemma & Pete IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP... You can donate by : Bank transfer and adding your name as reference. Account Name. NOCF Account number : 00190468 Sort code: 30-90-95 Or by making a cheque payable to Nechells and Overseas Care Fund and then sending it to the following address : Mr Peter Hill - Charity Administrator 47 Heneage Street Nechells  Birmingham B7 4NF If you would prefer not to receive our emails – please reply with unsubscribe in the subject line

©2019 Nechells and Overseas Care Fund | 47 Heneage Street, Birmingham B7 4NF

GREETINGS We hope this finds you well, having had a wonderful Christmas celebration. We know some people have been negotiating hard times this year, and we hope that if you are one of them, that you have experienced God’s comfort and strength.

THANK YOU A big thank you for reading this letter, being part of the Gulu Connection family, if you are an intercessor, for praying and if you are a financial supporter, for giving. We really appreciate your support without which we could not provide the level of support we do.

GEMMA DOES IT AGAIN Gemma is working at King Edward’s School, Birmingham and managed to get Gulu Connection considered for a fundraising effort by the boys which resulted in a magnificent cheque of £1000. We are very grateful to the boys and the school for supporting in this way – and congratulate Gemma for more amazing fundraising success.

IT NEEDED TO BE DONE - THE OBERABIC BOREHOLE IS BEING REPAIRED AT LAST The main health centre we support, at Oberabic, has had issues with its borehole / water pump for some years. There have been temporary repairs. The borehole is shared with a small community who live in traditional huts near the health centre. Currently the water is significantly contaminated by sand. Fiona has organised two firms to inspect and provide estimates. The inspection confirmed that major work needed to be done and we were very pleased to be able to transfer funds before Christmas to enable this vital repair to take place. Both the health unit and the local population will benefit.

SAINT PETERS HEALTH UNIT, AWERE - WE ARE CONNECTED HERE AS WELL The main support interest for Gulu Connection is Oberabic with its new satellite clinic at Punu Dyang opened last year, but in addition we provide support for two nurses at St Peter’s Health unit, Awere which is many miles from Gulu and in a medically very needy area with a high incidence of HIV and is also an area affected by the mysterious Nodding Disease. We pay the full salary for a midwife and a subsidy to the in charge nurse. It has been heartening to hear of the improvement in expertise and maternity services here. On January 8th Fiona sent a report and was able to record a fantastic maternity achievement. She said “Maternity services are growing by the day. They had 308, 200 and 228 Anti Natal Clinics and 54,44 and 61 deliveries in October, November and December respectively. We decided to add another midwife as the workload has increased a lot.” This performance is good for the community and also for the finances of the unit which receives assistance from USAid for maternity services that are conducted to a high standard. As ever there are some areas requiring improvement but Fiona is “on it”

The unit is very busy as evidenced by the pictures of the waiting room and we are pleased to have a played a part in it’s transformation.

THE BORING WORK OF SAVINGS LIVES CONTINUES We were also delighted, just before Christmas, to forward a payment of £4133.75 as our regular contribution towards staffing at St Peter’s described above, drugs and staffing Oberbic and it’s satellite at Puny Dyang. Oberacic used to be a lost cause but now with passionate staff, clear supervision, admittance to the USAID maternity project and support from Gulu Connection it is advancing strongly and providing life saving assistance for its rural and deprived population.

WHILE THE BOSS IS AWAY Nick has been studying at Cambridge University and during this time Fiona, Nick’s personal assistant and Emmanuel, education and supervision nurse lead, have been holding the fort. Emmanuel’s main administrative responsibility has been the supervision of the eight brand new units. In addition he orintates new nurses and as an enthusiastic Christian, trains and encourages nurses in how to pray with patients. Fiona supervises the established units, and also does all the other administration and financial tasks. She has been very busy. We are very fortunate to have the services of such gifted and devoted team members.

We wish you peace, joy and prosperity in 2019. Gemma & Pete

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP... You can donate by : Bank transfer and adding your name as reference.  Account Name. NOCF  Account number : 00190468  Sort code: 30-90-95 Or by making a cheque payable to Nechells and Overseas Care Fund and then sending it to the following address :  Mr Peter Hill - Charity Administrator  47 Heneage Street  Nechells  Birmingham  B7 4NF