Supporting the Jews of Namutumba

• Most structures in Namutumba do not have electricity. When residents can afford them, solar panels can provide some electricity, but wiring is often faulty and power can be unreliable.

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• Homes and buildings are often constructed by hand out of local mud, with thatched roofs. These buildings are extremely flammable, and since cooking is often done inside over open flame, these homes have often caught fire--even sometimes killing or severely burning the occupants.

• Most villages in the area, including Namutumba, do not have plumbing or running water. Villagers often and depend on water supply from rain water collected in local wells. If drought occurs, villagers may resort to drinking dirty water, which can be contaminated with typhus and other diseases.

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• ​Other sources of water include community boreholes, but borehole water is only accessible through manual pumping. And, lines for water collection (usually in large, often dirty jerrycans) can be hours long, and involve standing in the hot sun. Heavy, water-filled jugs are then carried back home (sometimes kilometers away) by hand. 

• The Abayudaya face many health challenges in Namutumba and the region. Mosquito-borne Malaria is rampant, and nets to prevent bites during the night are expensive and wear out after three years of use. 

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• Because of the lack of plumbing, waste can sometimes leak into water supplies, causing typhus, yellow fever, and other deadly illnesses.

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• Medical treatment is not free in Uganda, even for those who cannot afford it on their own. In Namutumba, everything from psychological problems to crippling burns to premature births to congenital disabilities have been forced to go untreated due to financial hardship, leading to severe sickness and high mortality rates. 

• The Abayudaya of the village of Namutumba subsist mainly on small farming and raising goats, chickens, and other animals for sale. Yet, drought has plagued eastern Uganda for some time now, damaging the Abayudaya's subsistence farming efforts and resulting in widespread food shortages. 

• In rural Uganda, higher, and even secondary or primary education can often be prohibitively expensive. Many families can't afford event the school fees required for young children to attend public schools, and scholarships for college and university students are virtually non-existent. ​

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• Schools can also be farther away than walking distance, and transportation options are thin on the ground. There are no school buses to pick up and drop off students, personal vehicles are difficult to obtain, and gasoline is extremely costly.

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• If students can enroll in and get to school, they are often learning with less than optimal supplies and materials. 

• Many of the Abayudaya yearn to take part in Birthright trips to Israel or to make aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel via the Right of Return) from Uganda. However, the Israeli Interior Ministry recently ruled against the legitimacy of the Abayudaya conversions--meaning that the  government does not currently recognize the Abayudaya as Jewish (despite their fastidious observance of Jewish law and recognition by most branches of Judaism). The Abayudaya are thus prevented from participating in such programs.

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• Namutumba is mostly without access to the internet. While some of the adults can get online using inexpensive smartphone devices, most of the community have no way to communicate with the outside world, and little access to news, online resources, and educational tools. 

• The Abayudaya are pious and do their best to observe Jewish law and tradition. However, scant resources prevent the community from fulfilling Jewish mitzvot (commandments) fully.

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• Namutumba has no Jewish cemetery, and the Jewish community often must bury its deceased members in opposition with Jewish custom. The community also has no mikveh (Jewish ritual bath), and members are not able to spiritually purify themselves as Jewish law requires. 

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• The community also makes do with old, battered prayer books, few resources for teaching themselves Hebrew, clergy that have not been able to become fully and officially ordained, and a single part-time mohel (a specially-trained rabbi who performs brit milah--Jewish ritual circumcision of male infants at eight-days of age) who serves multiple communities located several hours' drive from one another. 

• Most of Namutumba's townsfolk survive on very little. Inflation rates are high, goods and services are expensive, and most families have many children (including local orphans they may have taken in) to feed.

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• Finding work outside subsistence farming in rural Uganda can be very difficult. Locals report that without special connections, many jobs will not consider qualified candidates. Moreover, it is often necessary to offer bribes to employers to obtain employment.