Healthcare, medical and surgical camps, food, education, safety and economic empowerment — all focused on disadvantaged youth and children.
Hope begins with you
From Tororo in Eastern Uganda, EDYAC walks with children and youth living with disability, illness and poverty — from the village, to surgery, and safely back home.
Empowering disadvantaged youth & children to live with dignity
“You can be the solution!”
The words that led Dr. Isaac Osire to found EDYAC
Welcome to EDYAC
A passion to better the lives of those born or left disadvantaged
EDYAC — Empowerment of Disadvantaged Youth and Children — exists for children and young people living with physical, mental or emotional disadvantages, whether from birth or through what life has put them through. We believe the health of the community and the health of the individual are bound together.
Healthcare within reach
We find children who cannot access treatment and walk them through medical and surgical care.
Rooted in community
Community-based volunteers listen to families and help us shape new programmes and services.
Our Programmes
Meeting every need within our capacity to meet
Medical Camps
Camps across Eastern Uganda and the region, where a team of doctors reviews every client.
Surgical Camps
Held two to three weeks after medical camps, for cases the medical camps could not handle.
Healing House
Our facility for wound management and rehabilitation before children return to the community.
Child Care
Children and youth who cannot reach health care are given access to medical services.
800+ cases handled by 2016
How we work
From the village, to surgery, and safely home
A child's journey with EDYAC rarely ends at the hospital door. We stay with families from the first meeting until the child is thriving back in the community.
- FindMedical camps and community volunteers identify children in need.
- TreatSurgical camps and specialist hospitals provide the operation the child needs.
- HealThe Healing House nurses wounds, feeds and counsels until recovery holds.
- Follow upHome visits, mobility aids and Care & Share packages keep progress going.
How EDYAC began
“You can be the solution!”
In Northern Uganda, Dr. Isaac Osire found a young girl who had been cruelly burned and left untreated. Disturbed, he cried out to God — and heard a still, peaceful voice answer. From that moment he began finding ways to help youth and children with disabilities.
Where care is needed
Children waiting for a chance to walk, see and grow
Clubfoot, cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, heart defects and burns are treatable — but not without transport, surgery, follow-up and someone who refuses to give up.
Physiotherapy & CP
Seating, walkers and therapy for children with cerebral palsy
Orthopaedic surgery
Straightening clubfeet and limbs so children can walk
Heart surgery
Mending young hearts through life-saving surgery
Our impact
Small beginnings, hundreds of lives
What began with one doctor's conviction grew into camps, a Healing House, home visits and a network of hospitals and friends who carry children through treatment.
Camps that reach the village
Medical camps in Tororo and beyond, followed by surgical camps for those who need more.
Mobility restored
Crutches, walkers, standing frames and CP chairs help children move, sit and learn.
Never forgotten
Home visits follow every child back to their family, long after the hospital stay.
800+
Cases handled
Disadvantaged youth and children in dire need, as recorded by 2016.
300+
Youth & children reached
Disabled youth and children reached through EDYAC's outreach, as recorded by 2016.
414
Moments in our gallery
Real photographs of the children, families and team behind this work.
From our gallery
Before, during and after — see the journeys
Every album is a real child's road to recovery, photographed by the EDYAC team at hospitals, at the Healing House and at home.
Get involved
There is a place for you in this work
Doctors and nurses for our medical camps, volunteers with every kind of skill, sponsors, donors and partners — together we are the solution.
Make a donation
Your contribution saves lives
EDYAC uses every dollar you give to transform the lives of disadvantaged youth and children. We will keep you informed of exactly what your contribution has been used for — and which children you are touching. Thank you for caring!
- MedicationTreatment before and after surgery
- TransportationGetting children and parents to hospital
- NutritionHealthy meals that build strength to heal
- StaffThe team who walks every journey
Based in Tororo, serving families across Eastern Uganda.
Questions
What people ask us most
Disadvantaged youth and children — especially those living with physical, mental or emotional disabilities, from birth or through what they have lived through — who cannot reach the care, education or livelihood they need.
A temporary home where children who have had surgery, and are not recovering well in the community, can stay for a limited time. There we nurse wounds and sores, keep a clean environment for healing, provide healthy meals to boost immunity, and counsel children and their parents or guardians.
Gifts fund medication, staff, transportation and nutrition for the children in our care. We keep donors informed of what their contribution has been used for and which children it has reached.
Yes. We welcome people with skills and passion — from marketing, fundraising and strategic planning to public health, physiotherapy, counselling and medicine. You will work alongside our skilled Ugandan team. See how to get involved.
Our office is at Plot 21, Market Street, Water Village, Tororo (P.O. Box 509, Tororo, Uganda). Call +256 789 836 845 or +256 754 836 845, or send us a message.
From the field
Updates shared by the EDYAC team
Recovery
“David can now stand on his own without the help of crutches. The surgeries on both his legs were very successful and his recovery process is almost complete.”
Healing House
“Six-year-old Mercy is a case of neglected hydrocephalus. She was so underweight that the size of her head was affecting her spine. She is now able to sit up without support and the pain in her spine has gone down.”
Surgery
“This very young lady almost lost her face, eye, hearing and taste due to the tumour that almost claimed her life — but we are so grateful to God who has granted her a successful surgery!”
Nutrition
“Ronald, a twin, was brought to us suffering from severe dehydration, malnutrition and chronic osteomyelitis. After two weeks of nutritional boost he has greatly improved.”
Gratitude
“Parents of some of the children whose lives have been transformed are very much appreciative of the Healing House, and are giving a hand with food items.”
Stories
Lives transformed, one child at a time
Meet some of the children whose journeys EDYAC has shared — their courage is the reason we keep going.
