Reformation Foundation Empowers Disabled Women Through A Global Pandemic

By Our Reporter

Reformation foundation is a community-based organization that started its operations in 2020 at the peak of the global pandemic, at the time when the countrywide lockdowns had shattered many income generating activities of a multitude of impoverished households. It should be noted that the hardest hit were the women who technically head their families and rely on small retail trade or hands on skills like hair styling and tailoring to bring in a small income and earn a living.

As the pandemic relentlessly raged on and ravaged these communities, Reformation Foundation specifically stood with one special category of women in the community where it birthed its operations.

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These were the disabled in Mpigi. Among the activities that were done to help were; According to assistance to those who needed physical support in going about their daily life; resourcing crutches, wheelchairs, and walking sticks, and Providing them with some supplies like face masks, sanitizers, and food supplies, Connecting with local government and medical institutions to ensure health services are availed to the disabled in Mpigi in the communities whenever the need arises, Supported the creation of different groups and interlinked them with the support networks in the district to make it easy to link services and also discuss ways of improving the standards of living for the disabled women.

What needs to be done during this period the foundation got so immersed in understanding the kind of life that a disabled woman with a family leads. It is unbelievable how strong women with disabilities are. However, one of the most important steps of intervention is mental health empowerment. This is because these women endure a lot of hardship.

Also, there is a need for supporting them through a skilling program, especially in hands on commercial activities like craft, tailoring, shoe making, and soap making among others. This would greatly improve their standard of living.

Reformation foundation is looking to connect with government and funders to increase and improve the quality of support given to the vulnerable women in the different Ugandan communities. The foundation also looks at collaborating with local and international markets in order to increase the income of the disabled.

Conclusively disabled women are generally strong people who are often marginalized in their different communities, interacting with them also proved that disability is not an inability. There is a lot that can be done to continue improving their standards of living.