As the world celebrates and enjoys the festive season, patients battling different life-threatening diseases shouldn’t be left out. Certain people get to reach out and bring comfort to them in various ways. Patients at Kibagabaga, Masaka, Muhima, Nyarugenge hospitals, and the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK) got to relate with that Christmas feeling through community outreach organized by individuals and organizations. Solid’Africa, a local non-profit organisation that promotes health equity for socially and economically vulnerable patients in public hospitals through providing daily meals to patients and other necessities, organized a three-day special delivery to them for Christmas. “The idea behind is for each patient to feel special. That’s why we wrap the gifts and present them to each one of them,” Isabelle Kamariza, Founder and President of Solid’Africa said. According to Sandra de Baydak, Coordinator of the initiative said that they planned three types of packages for the category of babies, mothers and other patients. For the baby package, it includes pampers, feeding bottles, and Nivea Vaseline; and for the mother package, it includes a kitenge fabric, sanitary pads, underwear, and soaps. Another package includes a bucket, toothpaste and toothbrush, and clothes as well. She said that they are giving fifty gifts per hospital and the social affairs department will know how to distribute them accordingly. This is in addition to a total of 928 patients served with meals today across those five hospitals. Another initiative dubbed ‘Caring Heart Christmas’ will also be providing different materials to patients at Kibagabaga Hospital. Richard Ngaboyisonga, Coordinator of the initiative, said that they managed to attract more than 50 individuals who are contributing to the cause with sugar, milk, toilet papers, soaps, adult diapers, and skin lotion, among others. Given the Covid-19 restrictions, Ngaboyisonga said that they will collect all donations and hand them over to the social team at the hospital for distribution. He said that the inspiration behind the initiative which started in 2014 is to express gratitude for the healthy lives they have by taking care of those that are less privileged.
