Ministry Team:
Olive Okoro, Karina Smith, Oryagi Geoffrey
Namiti Base and Clinic
Hearing the cry of the need for healthcare from those of Namiti and neighboring islands, SHIM agreed in 2010 to partner with YWAM (Youth With a Mission) and the island communities to reopen the unoccupied YWAM base and medical clinic on Namiti. The clinic has successfully for the last three years and treated hundreds of patients and saving many lives.
The Namiti Health Centre, operated by SHIM in partnership with YWAM.
Prior to the re-opening of the base and clinic, the southern island residents had been without healthcare. This was especially troublesome for women and children, who would have to travel several hours for anything from immunizations to childbirth. In the past, YWAM was providing both preventative and curative healthcare for the area, but had been unable to reinstate those services.
After receiving God’s confirmation and provision to begin renovations, SHIM began remodeling work in January 2011 and officially opened the clinic in June 2011. Since then an adjacent building was renovated to serve as a maternity ward, and a team of healthcare professionals, including nurses, a clinical officer, and community healthcare workers, oversee the clinic’s operations and participate in mobile outreaches for teaching and immunizations to surrounding islands.
More skilled and faithful health-care providers, whether Ugandan or foreign, are still urgently needed to help meet the medical demands in this area of the islands. The biggest needs are in community teaching, midwifery, and family practice.
Other needs include: Finances to restock the clinic with essential supplies and equipment, and to pay the monthly salaries of the medical personnel until such a time as the clinic becomes self-sustaining.
Inside the Namiti clinic.
“For some time we have felt burdened by the needs of Namiti and the other southern islands. They are in such devastation, both physically and spiritually,” commented Karina Smith in a 2010 update.
Having already worked in the southern islands through evangelism and discipleship, as well as water and sanitation, SHIM is anxious to see how God will use this expansion of vision to bring His light and life to the people there.
For more on how God is using healthcare to promote the Gospel of Jesus in the islands, visit the SHIM Facebook page.
SHIM Administrative Director Andrew Smith with Namiti Health Centre staff and committee members.
Dr. Jon Miller of the U.S., assists Karina Smith in treating a young island boy’s leg.
Curious children and patients wait outside the clinic.
The Namiti shore.