Spirit of Mormon Helping Hands Continues

Even as the formal "Mormon helping hands" season drew to an end, members of the Gulu main and Bardege congregations of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have since gone ahead and performed two major service projects in their communities to the delight of the local leaders.

Members from the Gulu Branch of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Days saints, gathered Saturday morning, 14 Sep 2013, at the chapel to begin preparations for that day's "Mormon Helping Hands" service project at Lacor St Mary's Hospital in Gulu, Uganda.

Founded in 1959, Wikipedia indicates that the hospital currently handles over 600 inpatients and their relatives and  500 outpatients on a daily basis.

Even as the formal "Mormon helping hands" season drew to an end, members of the Gulu main and Bardege congregations of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have since gone ahead and performed two major service projects in their communities to the delight of the local leaders. 

With prior approval from Dr. Martin Ogwang, Lacor's Institutional Director, the volunteers built eight Tippy Tap washing stations at various locations on the hospital campus. These were installed near latrines that family and friends use when staying on the grounds of the hospital to attend to family and friends who are hospital patients.

A Tippy Tap is a simple devise that allows people to wash their hands after using a toilet, thereby reducing the likelihood of becoming ill and spreading diseases to other individuals, including the patients they are tending in the hospital.  A couple of perpendicular poles, a horizontal pole, a jerry can, a stick lever, a bottle of liquid soap and a laminated set of washing instructions will go a long way towards reducing sickness and even saving lives.  (See www.tippytap.org/ for health statistics)

Dr.Ogwang was deeply moved by the service rendered. He sent the following in a note of appreciation:

"May I take this opportunity to thank you and the Church community for installing Tippy Tap for attendants of our patients. This donation and sacrifice is in line with our mission which aims at improving quality of patient care as well as health promotion and prevention. We now have the knowhow and we shall install it all over our facility including the health centers under our control. We shall also endeavor to give health talks to enhance its proper usage and we shall maintain the standard by providing liquid soap.

"Convey our warm greetings to the whole [church] community.  God Bless"

Similarly, under a bright Ugandan sky, members of the Bardege congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered early September 7th to build Tippy Tap hand-washing stations in two nearby neighborhoods.  They installed 20 Tippy Taps at the direction of Local Counselor (LC1) Michael Chris Nyerotoo who resides in one of the neighborhoods. 

Mr. Nyerotoo welcomed the Mormon Helping Hands volunteers expressing gratitude for the valuable service they were providing to the people of Gulu in these neighborhoods.

A Tippy Tap consists of a water-filled jerry can hanging on a pole, alongside some hand or liquid soap.  A rope or line is attached to a stick which tips the can so a small amount of water will disperse for hand washing.  A two-sided laminate instruction sheet was hung from each Tippy Tap explaining how to duplicate the wash stations, how to properly use them as well as the importance of washing hands regularly to prevent disease and death.  This laminated message was written in both English and the Acholi language.