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UMR is introducing the Adopt a Village Project. The goal is to improve the lifestyle of the village people in poor countries.

Life in Kenya – Wajir County

• 48.5 Million population
• 35.6% of the population live on less than US $1.90 per day
• People in Bulla Elmi, Bulla Abdiaziz 1, Bulla Abdiaziz 2, and Bulla Hareri are ethnic Somalis.
• Over 70% of the population derives their livelihood from livestock and livestock production.
• 2.9% rapid population growth. Food-insecure families live in rural areas. They depend on daily agricultural labor for income.

UMR’s Intervention

UMR wants to improve access to basic social, health, WASH, and education in Wajir County. Also to increase safe houses, expand economic opportunities, and enhance environmental management.

UMR’s Stages of Rebuilding follow a 6-step process:

1. Education: Rehabilitate and restructure local schools
2. WASH: Build boreholes to make water more accessible
3. Housing: Construct mud houses
4. Primary Health Care: Build medical centers in schools
5. Environment: Build eco-friendly solar systems and eco-san toilets
6. Community Committee: Community engagement through committees

Adopt-a-Village Project (AVP) Approach

The Adopt-a-Village Project (AVP) is a great initiative. It implements a holistic approach toward the overall livelihood improvement in Wajir County. We do it through synchronous development efforts in health, water & sanitation. Also in education, housing, energy and environmental management, and community participation.

AVP covers four villages in Wajir County:

• Bulla Elmi
• Bulla Abdiaziz 1
• Bulla Abdiaziz 2
• Bulla Hareri
• Elmi Primary School (shared among the villages)

Steps of UMR’s AVP

AVP is an effort to develop village-level capacity toward meeting the SDGs. It is part of an integrated community-level development strategy. The goal is to end extreme rural poverty. This strategy is in line with the recommendations of various U.N. sectoral monitoring commissions. The goal is to end inequalities (especially the urban-rural gaps) in service delivery. And to “leave no one behind”. As such, we want to take a new approach to reduce poverty by combining the best ideas about development. By the help of local knowledge and a commitment to sustainability.

Contract Surgeries 

Contract surgeries occurred between the 25th – 27th of February 2020. An ophthalmologist from UMR led an eye team that screened 300 patients. Out of the tested patients, 134 qualified for and received free cataract surgeries. 77 of them are female & 57 of them are male. The remaining patients received the necessary medication to treat their eye conditions. 

Another 300 patients were treated as outpatient cases. They were provided with eye medication, reading glasses, protective sunglasses, and health education. A total of 103 were unable to receive surgery due to the limited time frame and resources. They were provided with interim treatment. Such as – eye drops, ointment, and eyeglasses. They were placed at the top of the registration list for the next eye clinic.

Water Wells UMR  

UMR built two shallow wells in two villages, Maygag and Star Wario. The shallow wells serve 300 households. They ensure clean water, improve essential health and increase hygiene levels. Ultimately these will develop alternative livelihood opportunities. The water wells will regenerate the arid lands of their environment. So they can produce alternative sources of food security and income. It would result in an overall better health outcome.

Orphan Protection UMR 

UMR distributes vouchers to orphans and their caretakers. It will continue to do so quarterly. This sponsorship is a vital lifeline for orphans. Many of them are in families where the assigned guardian earns very little. Our intention is to ease the financial burden for not just the child, but the entire family as well.

Education UMR 

UMR will be distributing over 17,000 children’s backpacks. They will be filled with school supplies and books.

Healthcare UMR 

UMR delivered two 40ft. containers of assorted medical supplies to Wajir County, Kenya. They are valued at $2 million USD. The medical shipment consisted of facial masks, gloves, and pain relievers. Also diabetic and cardiovascular medications, wheelchairs, hospital beds and many more.

UMR is trying to complete the project as soon as possible. Because it will do great things. Immediate improvements in holistic livelihood conditions will enable the community to regain self-reliance. It will improve their standard of living. It will continue to maintain such standards with locally-driven community efforts.

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Cataract Missions – Life with Blindness

Cataract accounts for 30%-50% of blindness in most African and Asian countries. In impoverished countries, eliminating blindness and repairing vision returns four times the investment. This places eliminating avoidable blindness among the most effective interventions available. Cataract surgeries are life-changing and require no follow-up visits.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) “Cataracts are the primary cause of blindness and visual impairment. It has about 20 million cases and 5 million new cases each year.”

Life With Hearing Loss and Deafness

Loss of hearing can happen for many reasons. Such as –

• Genetic Causes, 
• Complications At Birth, 
• Certain Infectious Diseases, 
• Chronic Ear Infections, 
• The Use Of Particular Drugs, 
• Exposure To Excessive Noise, and 
• Aging.

Loss of hearing means that you can’t hear as well as someone with normal hearing. It means that your hearing level is at least 25 dB in both ears. Loss of hearing can happen in one or both ears. This makes it hard to understand words or hear loud noises.

Hard of hearing means hearing loss ranging from mild to severe. Hard-of-hearing people communicate using :

• Spoken language, 
• Hearing aids, 
• Cochlear implants, and 
• Other equipment.

Deafness is profound hearing loss. It implies very little or no hearing in an individual. They often use sign language for communication.

• 60% of hearing loss is because of preventable causes, in children under the age of 15.

• 1.1 billion individuals are at risk of hearing loss due to exposure to high noise. High risk for ages between 12–35 years.

• Over one-third of people over 65 years of age are affected by disabling hearing loss. Greater prevalence in South Asia, Asia Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa.

• The current production of hearing aids meets less than 10% of the worldwide need.

UMR Interventions

Since 2016, UMR has sent cataract surgery missions to Kenya, Jordan, and Bangladesh. UMR provides quality medical care to the elderly, disabled, refugees, and vulnerable. Many of them live without family or government support. We have helped them by healing curable blindness. Our kind contributors have funded over 1,000 cataract procedures. In this process, we have collaborated with partner NGOs and Ministries of Health. Our $100-per-eye operations are 100% successful with no problems.

Since 2016, UMR has sent cataract surgery missions to Kenya, Jordan, and Bangladesh. UMR provides quality medical care to the elderly, disabled, refugees, and vulnerable. Many of them live without family or government support. We have helped them by healing curable blindness. Our kind contributors have funded over 1,000 cataract procedures. In this process, we have collaborated with partner NGOs and Ministries of Health. Our $100-per-eye operations are 100% successful with no problems.

Hearing Aid in Palestine/Jordan

UMR partnered with Community Rehabilitation Centre for the Disabled/Gaza camp (CRCD) – UNRWA. Our aim is to integrate disabled people into their communities. Also, we are trying to improve their living conditions. The center assisted UMR with its local program team and project need assessment. Phonak Jordan performed all medical exams, measurements, and modeling before distributing the hearing devices and gave UMR a considerable discount. It offered 2 years of device maintenance and monitoring in Jordan.

UMR’s Hearing Aid project helps Palestinian refugees in Gaza/Jerash camp and Syrian refugees in random camps in Al-Mafraq. We have helped people with no health benefits and social security numbers.

Lastly

When thousands of people in a community suffer from health issues, it can be nearly impossible for a society to grow and become self-sustainable. At UMR, we believe that in order to improve the quality of life in a community, everyone must have access to primary healthcare. That’s why we have launched this cataract & hearing aid mission.

As we continue our mission to help beneficiaries, we will be providing free cataract surgeries and hearing aids to as many people as possible.

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UMR Partners with SAAB RDS to launch holistic "Adopt A Village Project (AVP)" in Wajir County, Kenya

AVP is aimed at providing a multi-faceted approach to developing village-level means of meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 23, 2021

Contact: info@umrelief.org | Phone: (202) 370-6963

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] — UMR aims to bring together the best parts of development thinking on local knowledge and sustainability to create a new approach to poverty alleviation. Partnering with SAAB RDS, a leading international business development, program management and technology company, UMR is launching the Adopt A Village Project (AVP) in Wajir County, Kenya focusing on six components that reflect the needs of this underdeveloped area: education, water and sanitation, housing, healthcare, energy, and community engagement. The project is in coordination with the local authorities, community leadership, as well as local private construction companies.

The new project will begin immediately, and have several phases beginning with the rehabilitation of Elmi Primary School, which will include the remodeling and furnishing of classrooms, fencing of the school, and building dining facilities. Later phases will include the construction of Wajir County’s first ever MRI imaging center, a medical clinic to provide services to the surrounding 4 villages, boreholes for water provision, solar panels, and the construction of a community center that will include a public library, psychosocial support programming, and a soccer field. Procurement of supplies will be done locally in Wajir to support the economy and create over 250 direct jobs.

UMR has been working in Kenya for several years, sending multiple medical missions for hearing aids and cataract surgeries annually, providing nutritious food parcels year-round, constructing water wells to ensure equitable access to clean drinking water, and supplying local hospitals with medical supplies and equipment. “Our commitment to reaching rural areas of Africa begins with Wajir County, Kenya, but will not end there. We plan on replicating this holistic approach in other communities across the region,” says UMR’s East Africa Regional Representative, Abdul Ghani Ismail.

SAAB RDS simplifies complex needs and delivers cutting-edge sustainable programs and solutions that boost industrial productivity, academic and research performance, and provides tailored programs that upskill and reskill the digital economy workforce of the Middle East and Africa.

UMR is an international relief and development organization focused on providing disaster relief and recovery services to the underserved both domestically in the U.S. and internationally across the globe. Since 2013, UMR has helped over 10 million beneficiaries living underserved and marganlized communities build their capacity toward resilience.

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