Rumbek Rehabilitation Project - USAID/Leahy War Victims' Fund/Omega Initiative (2003 - 2009)
In 2003, MCDI received funding from USAID under the Leahy War Victims' Fund of the Omega Initiative to provide orthopedic rehabilitation services to the disabled in southern Sudan. Under the initial grant (2003-2006), MCDI and its partner Africa Expeditions (AFEX) renovated an existing workshop on the grounds of the Rumbek Regional Hospital, and provided long-term capacity building to local Sudanese staff both in-service and through training at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC). The project provided orthopedic services to more than 700 disabled individuals in the initial three-year period and aims to provide services to another 700 by 2009 under the extension grant. Services provided include fabrication and fitting of custom-made prosthetic and orthotic appliances and training in their proper use; provision of other mobility aids such as crutches and wheel chairs, repair and maintenance of existing appliances, and physical therapy services. The project has also trained persons with disabilities in skills such as gardening, carpentry, cooking/hygiene, handicrafts and bicycle repair as well as providing literacy classes to in-patients at the center. The Rumbek Rehabitilitation Center (RRC) is currently one of only two orthopedic rehabilitation facilities in all of southern Sudan.
In 2006, MCDI was awarded an extension grant by USAID/The Omega Initiative to provide continued services to the disabled in southern Sudan through its Rumbek Rehabilitation Project between August 2006 and October 2009. In addition to continuing to provide orthopedic services for three years, the extension phase is focusing on ensuring the sustainability of the Rumbek Rehabilitation Center in the long term through local capacity building. This will involve further training of Sudanese staff in orthopedics, prosthetics and physiotherapy at established institutions in Tanzania and Kenya, as well as continuing to provide them with in-service training in Rumbek when they return, through the support of MCDI's expert team of expatriate staff. In addition, the Center will be permanently incorporated into the Rumbek Regional Hospital's Department of Rehabilitation.
