Saving Lives through a Facebook Group

By Wesley Spartan

The Rwenzururu Discussion Board (popularly known as ‘RDB’), is a Facebook group that brings together people from the Rwenzori region of western Uganda.  Started five years ago, it now has over 2,000 members with admission to the group being strictly administered by a group of ten Admins.  Over the past five years, the RDB has positioned itself as a popular brand among people from the Rwenzori region with its insightful discussions on issues affecting the region and beyond.  The group has a viewer traffic of more than 500 people per day.  At least five topics are actively discussed each day.
In February 2015, one of the members who is a Clinician at Bwera Hospital in Kasese district, shared a picture of a severely malnourished child.  Many of the group members were touched by what they saw in the picture.  It opened their eyes to the fact that many people are dying of preventable illnesses while they, as the elite of the community, were spending lots of time on Facebook – chatting, arguing and actually doing nothing.  So they decided to do something about the situation.  They started an online campaign to collect money to support malnourished children. Seventeen group members responded to the call, raising 530,000 shillings.
With that money, they bought a few nutritional supplements to distribute to malnourished children at Bwera and Kilembe hospitals, all in Kasese.  A total of 60 severely malnourished children were identified.  Each of them was given 2 kilograms of nutritive food supplements and a kilogram of sugar.  The RDB members who visited the two hospitals also conducted health education and sensitization in the pediatric wards of the two hospitals. 
Because of what they saw at the hospital, they decided to continue with the initiative, so they committed themselves to contributing small monthly amounts to support the needy.  For this continuous support, they selected three children who were extremely malnourished and at the brink of death.  Unfortunately, one of them died four days later, but the other two have gone on to recover successfully.
In Kilembe Hospital, they were also introduced to a severely malnourished 20-year old pregnant girl, a one Mary.  She was admitted in the Maternity Ward, but she had no one to look after her.  She was severely emaciated; looking at her, she looked like a walking corpse. She reported that she was a total orphan and had lost contact with her relatives. She had nothing to eat, no money to pay her bills, no trace of who had made her pregnant and no one to nurse her.  The members decided to help her.  They nursed her up to the period of giving birth.  She gave birth but remained under intensive monitoring. 
The RDB team negotiated her release from Kilembe Hospital, with the hospital waiving her bills.  One of the RDB members offered to house her at her home.  Unfortunately, after three weeks, Mary’s baby died.   Mary herself remained at the danger of death, but the RDB members did not give up on her.  They committed to contributing monthly amounts to support her as she lives with one of the members.  Through coordinated efforts, Mary is recovering.
In June 2015, the National Organization for Youth Development (NAYODE) joined the RDB in supporting Mary.  They bought for her clothing, food stuffs and other nutritive supplements.  They also donated money to continue supporting her feeding and recovery.  They have promised that once she recovers and gains strength, they’ll include her in their skills development program.
That is the power of social media.  Now a desperate young girl who was orphaned as a child, never went to school, does not even know how Facebook looks like has been saved by Facebook!