TEXT AND PHOTO: MAGNE REIGSTAD
POINTING. In 2016, we rehabilitated 175 disabled children at our center in Lira, and this work must continue because the need for further efforts along the same tracks is worryingly large. Our people have mapped this through countless visits out in the bush. We need both private donors and government assistance funds to be able to do the job. Adina is popularly called the "Giant" among the aid organizations, but the people's trust and good results alone are not enough to trigger a grant from Norad. They give the individual applicants points in various fields, and this year the Adina Foundation reached 76 - the magic limit for receiving part of the state aid crowns.
THE ROAD CHOICES. The Adina Foundation's path choice in northern Uganda is in line with the political signals the blue-blue government has sent out at several crossroads. We pick up from the villages the very weakest - the disabled that the families will hardly acknowledge. The children are examined and operated on, and after the training they can go home from the Lira Rehabilitation Center as healthy. In our scheme, there are no costly intermediaries. The money from Norway goes to pay our physiotherapists and social workers who work with our children, and we buy operations directly at the CoRSU clinic in Kampala.
SCHOOLING. The government - and not least Prime Minister Erna Solberg, places great emphasis on children's education. We loyally follow up the children with schooling, but education is so much on the outskirts of Uganda. We strive for a good learning environment in our premises at the center and in the village schools where "our" children are students. Adina emphasizes this because we know that the quality of schooling in Uganda is so variable that it worries the country's top political leadership.
THE WHOLE THOUGHT. Food shortages, dramatic population growth and rising unemployment - these are three of the most difficult challenges facing Uganda, in addition to devastating corruption. The Adina Foundation is building a small pattern farm where we teach small farmers to produce products that are both important in the diet and in demand locally. Food production and trade are therefore good building blocks for creating jobs and modernizing civil society.
THE BRIDGE BUILDERS. The rehabilitated children and their families are building bridges between an old village culture and a new way of thinking in northern Uganda. In addition, we hire local labor for the operation of the farm. Village women who travel to work for paid work are a bit of a dramatic upheaval in these communities. It is the women who take the new time the fastest.
THE ORDER. Several Norwegian underutilizations of large global aid organizations did not reach this year's Norad award, but not unexpectedly the largest amounts went to the major players. For the current budget year, Adina will be awarded NOK 720,000. The scope of Norwegian development assistance will always be the subject of debate and ongoing assessments. In recent years, it has been a stated political goal that the number of aid recipients - that is, both countries and organizations - should be reduced. The "order" from the politicians was effected this year and we just came along.
