Smack students donate to Butabika Hospital

Six students from St Mary’s College Kisubi through their organisation, Liberalis Audientis, donated supplies to patients at Butabika Hospital last week.

The items worth Shs1.4million include blankets, toothbrushes and toiletries.

Paul Ocailap, the Smack president of Liberalis Audientis, said one of the main reasons for considering Butabika is to cater to people suffering from poor mental health.

“We are trying to support people with mental health problems in order to bring out the best of them. Coming here, I believe, we are fulfilling what our purpose is,” he said, after handing over items to the health workers at the hospital.

The president noted that donating does not mean you have a lot of money but rather comes from self-sacrifice. 

“As students, we decided that with the excess money that we have in our pockets, we can make change and affect someone’s life positively,” he added.

He revealed the source of their money that some have personal businesses they run during school holidays while others have earnings in form of rewards from their hard work at home. And when they report back to school, that little money is collected and they save it in their club treasury.

The club members explain that Liberalis Audientis is a Latin word meaning ‘listening hearts, giving hands’.

The founding members of the organisations dream of it spreading to all high schools in Uganda that even when they complete school, the organisation will stay and continue supporting the vulnerable Ugandans.

Why the mission

Ernest Kiiza, the president of Liberalis Audientis in Uganda, noted that mental illness being on the rise especially after the implications from Covid-19, they thought through and came up with an organisation that could address this critical issue.

“We have friends that are challenged, but not diagnosed. At Smack, we have mental health clubs and different people come and tell us about their mental health issues. This way, we get to know them and work on them. We want to fight mental health problems through raising awareness,” Kiiza said.

The organisation not only supports mentally ill patients but due to the fact that the causes of the illness are diverse, the group has as well reached out to communities and supported them with seeds and hoes such that they can grow food and transform their lives.  

“Being aware that poverty and anger can as well affect a person’s mental health, we reached out to people of Zirobwe in Luweero District in April, and we gave out seeds to plant. We are happy to inform the public their lives have changed.”

In three years of the organisation’s existence, Liberalis Audientis has had six charity events in different parts of the country.

When these students donate in a place, they go back months later to confirm whether they have changed the beneficiary’s lives.

“During our financial development programmes, the people have really given us hope that we are on the right path. The people of Zirobwe are doing more than we left them doing,” Kiiza said.

The future plans 

These determined philanthropists hope to see their brand grow worldwide through their charity.

They also hope that at least before they leave high school, the organisation will have spread out to all the schools in the country.

The students are now planning to start mental health camps at schools such that they can have talks with students, post things on the noticeboards for them to read.
 
Call to government

Kiiza called upon the government of Uganda to recognise their work and that of similar organisations and provide sponsorship to them such that they can reach out to more vulnerable people because they are non-profit and are looking for the betterment of individuals in Uganda.

Gerald Musinguzi, a Senior Three student at Smack and a member in this organisation, said they chose Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital because it accommodates many mentally ill people from all parts of Uganda and it fits into what they do. 

“I was once a resident in the hospital vicinity and every time I came by, I would notice mentally sick people walking naked because some lacked clothes. This made me feel bad and I felt the need do something about it,”  Musinguzi explained.

He conceived the idea of touching lives of the mentally ill, interested his friends in it and they supported the idea. 

“They saw it as a good idea of building a good relationship with this institution,” he recounted.

Upon taking up the idea, they started collecting donations from their peers and they were taking things such as clothes, shoes and other items they were not using.

“We moved around with the bags and at some point, some students and family made money pledges,” he elaborated.

This time, the Liberalis members thought through their charity activities and approached the hospital management which in turn revealed how they were struggling with mattresses, blankets and food for the patients.

“We were not able to get the food due to the limited funding, but we realised that blankets would help them because most of the patients struggle to sleep because of coldness.” He said after the donation.

Dr Harriet Birabwa, the head of Clinical Services at Butabika Hospital, said they have an overwhelming number of patients and most of them are picked from streets with no relatives or caretakers.

“The needs of the patients shoot, especially when the numbers are high. Things such as beddings become inadequate. Any helping hand is highly appreciated for the good of our patients,” she requested.

She said most of the patients who are taken to the hospital without any relatives are usually cared for by the nurses and staff.

“The hospital has to provide basics ranging from clothing, food, to beds. And some patients may not be visited while they are here. We appreciate these students for this kind gesture,” she lauded the Smack students.

Dr Birabwa noted that there are different types of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia.

Causes of mental illness

Dr Birabwa classified the causes of mental illness in predisposing factors and noted that the causes at times may be genetic, sometimes as a result of physical illnesses like HIV, imbalances within the brain and imbalances of the hormones from drugs and alcohol among others.

“Stress in families and relationships, divorce, financial challenges, trauma, emotional neglect, abuse and other global threats such as war trauma can as well result in mental illness,” he says.