Story
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Cambria;">Four of us (Ewan Wilkinson, Jim Devaney, Katy Ayres and Tom Ingham) are going to cycle 330 miles in five days across rural Uganda to raise money and awareness for Kisiizi hospital's mental health service. </span><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Cambria;">All donations will go towards buying a vehicle for the hospital's mobile clinic service. This will enable greater reach into the local community and more effective after care for patients. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Cambria;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Cambria;"> A third of the distance will be on dirt roads and we will stay in small local accommodation, as we will be well off the tourist routes. There will be no back up vehicle and limited space for spare parts. To make things that little bit more entertaining there are no detailed maps for much of our route so in some areas we don't know what to expect in terms of terrain climbs etc. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Cambria;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Cambria;">We are using smaller roads as the main roads are busy with trucks going down to Rwanda, and cyclists get no quarter from traffic, being expected to get off the tar road if there is other traffic around.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Cambria;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Cambria;">We are cycling from Kampala (1312m above sea level) to Kisiizi hospital (2000m).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cheshire and Wirral Partnership Mental Health trust have a link with the hospital and are helping them develop their mental health services.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Cambria;">We have set up a blog at</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://bikeuganda.wordpress.com/">http://bikeuganda.wordpress.com/</a> so you can hear about our adventures.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Cambria;">We are raising money to buy a vehicle to enable the mental health staff to increase the number of community clinics they run. This will cost £9000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At present there are only two outreach clinics, which makes it harder to ensure that former patients get their maintenance medication, as it is only available from the hospital.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Cambria;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">The hospital is run by the church of Uganda and has to raise 80% of its budget, with just 20% coming from the government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All patients are expected to pay fees, but often those with mental illness have no money, as they may have spent all on traditional medicines before reaching the hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Cambria;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">So we are also raising money to pay for patients with mental illness who have no money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just £10 will pay for someone to stay and be treated for 2 weeks.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-no-proof: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-no-proof: yes;">For more information relating to Kisiizi Hospital's link to the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership please follow this link: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a title="Hospital link" href="http://www.cwp.nhs.uk/Publications/Leaflets/Documents/CWP%20and%20Kisiizi%20Hospital%20Link%20leaflet.pdf"> http://www.cwp.nhs.uk/Publications/Leaflets/Documents/CWP%20and%20Kisiizi%20Hospital%20Link%20leaflet.pdf</a></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.</p>
<p>Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.</p>
<p>So please dig deep and donate now.</p>