Cascadia-Kigatto Community Health Clinic – Building Care with Community Wisdom

BRIDGING Global CARE WITH COMMUNITY WISDOM

A Promise Born from Loss.
A Clinic Born from Hope.

My name is Umar Ndiwalana, Founding Director of the Cascadia–Kigatto Community Health Clinic (CKCHC).

When I was twelve, a preventable waterborne illness took my mother and two of my brothers. My mother had diarrhea and became dehydrated; she died on the way to a far-away hospital. That loss shaped my path and planted a vow in my heart: no other family in Kigatto would suffer what mine did.

In 2012, I made a vow that carried me across the world to train as a nurse at Oregon Health & Science University and work in hospitals across Cascadia. I arrived in the United States at 27 to discover that I had tuberculosis. In all my time in Uganda, I had never been vaccinated for a single disease, experiencing regular recurring and untreated illnesses. This is the reason vaccinations are a core service of our clinic.

Ten years later, my son Levy was born with switched heart valves. If he were born in my village now, he would die and no one would ever known why. Thanks to Emmanuel Legacy Hospital, where I work today, Levy is alive and well.

Today in my village, families still walk long distances for basic care. Children still fall sick from preventable waterborne illnesses. Malaria, tuberculosis (TB), HIV, and congenital diseases still take lives that should be saved.

Our Mission

Our mission is to bridge western integrative primary care with local community wisdom to promote healthy habits, prevent infectious diseases, and provide preventive, culturally-appropriate healthcare to the people of Butambala Kigatto.

The community will receive preventive care, health education, and basic non‑emergency treatment. We work to ensure every child, mother, and underserved family receives the preventive healthcare they deserve; close to home, rooted in dignity.

Welcome to Our Clinic

Excuse Our Appearance!
We are Under Construction

The Cascadia-Kigatto Community Health Clinic will be built, owned, and governed by the people of Kigatto through an associated registered Ugandan community-based organization called the Cascadia-Kigatto Village Health Association. The Clinic itself will be operated by licensed professionals under the Ugandan Ministry of Health.

In the very near future, we will dramatically change the quality of life for over 1000 people in Kigatto and more in the surrounding area. They will walk 10 minutes instead of 10 miles for life-saving vaccines, first aid, maternal care, malaria treatment, tuberculosis testing, and essential medicines. To prevent long walks to the hospital, the clinic will serve as a center for community health workers who will bring compassionate, culturally-relevant health education and referral services to households throughout the village.

Free Services We Will Offer

We’re preparing to offer free health services to all long-term residents of Kigatto and the surrounding area.

Preventative & Primary Care

Our professional clinic team will provide primary care services as well as prevention and early detection of diseases common in Kigatto through vaccinations, testing, treatment, and hospital referrals.

Areas of service include:

Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health

Nutrition and Growth Monitoring

Community Case Management of Common Illnesses

First Aid and Emergency Response

Community Engagement & Health Education

Our Village Health Team of certified Community Health Workers will:

Provide home visits to evaluate health and offer personalized education, and make referrals to the clinic or hospital when needed.

Advocate for patients and help them through everything needed to restore health.

Provide first aid and emergency stabilization.

Host community education events.

Environmental Health

Access to clean water can cut potential visits to the clinic by 30-50% and prevent unnecessary suffering and death. Our team built a well in the village in 2022, which the village has maintained to date. Keeping it running now is more important than ever. If the village is forced to return to the dangerous surface water supply, they are more susceptible than ever.

Our clinic will provide simple water quality monitoring and ensure its smooth operation. We will engage the village to assist them in additional priorities for a survivable climate-ready village.

Our Impact to Date

“I don’t trust vaccines. But I trust Umar. He is our son. When the clinic opens, all my children will be vaccinated there.”
– Sheikh Ayub, one of the most respected elders in the village during the community engagement to review the Community Health Worker Training Manual

We are building strong community trust and momentum over time:

2022: Clean water well constructed.
2023: Back‑to‑school supplies have been provided for five rural schools.
2026: Land for the clinic has been secured, and construction is underway.
2026: A Community Health Workers Training Manual grounded in OHSU public health and OHSU School of Nursing frameworks, promotes evidence‑based, culturally responsive care and was community‑reviewed for relevance and accessibility.
2026: With the advent of the Training Manual and the clinic building, village spirit is renewed.

Tiny Team — Big Difference

Adults from top left to lower right:
Namirembe Rossi, Chief Operations Officer
Mary Rossi, Donor & Funds Manager
Umar Ndiwalana, Tribal Member, Founder, & Executive Director

Kasirye Ahmed, Clinic Coordinator & Local Liaison

The residents of Kigatto are suffering and dying from preventable diseases, but it doesn’t have to be so. Almost immediately after Mr. Ndiwlana became a licensed nurse in the United States, he started the clinic. Finding no suitable building in the village with adequate electricity and resources to offer the CHW training, a small international team of funders and volunteers who have already worked together to build a drinking well in Kigatto have ensured that a brand new clinic has been built there.

The people of Kigatto believed that no one cared if they lived or died, but that’s not true. The culture of care and village spirit are now enlivened, even before a single training has been offered. The cultural preservation of the indigenous African Batwa people is already a major achievement. Our team is excited to partner with them to extend their lives and reduce their pain and misery.

Donate Today

Through generous donations over the years, Mary Rossi, or Mama Mary as everyone in the village calls her, has ensured that her own money and donations from others have been used as intended. Mary will continue in this role so you can donate with confidence.

We’re “keeping it local” with a plan to purchase everything in Uganda. This isn’t a non-profit that uses up half of your donation in program administration and bloated CEO salaries. It’s direct aid, from your community to Ours.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the early stages of this work, we have not completed our registration for non-profit status in the United States, so your gift is NOT TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

Please add this note to the memo or notes: Gift for Clinic

Currently, we can accept:

Venmo (US only): @MaryRRossi

Zelle (US only): mary@tenspiders.com

Paypal (International, accepts credit card payments, fees apply): paypal.me/MRossi47