Compassion in Action, Delivering Urgent Burn Care in Uganda

During Ohana One's November 2025 Uganda Surgical Outreach Trip, our team was completing post operative rounds at Moyo Hospital and were grateful to see every patient recovering smoothly with no complications.

During that time, an urgent case came in that required immediate action. A 9 year old girl with burns covering 60 percent of her body needed to be transferred to the Burn Unit at Kiruddu Hospital in Kampala so she could receive the advanced burn care and long term treatment she requires.

Her story is heartbreaking, and the Ohana One and Pipeline Worldwide teams wanted to do everything possible other than help her and her family.  In June, her home caught fire and she ran back inside to save her baby sister. Her sister sustained burns to 90 percent of her body and later passed away. The young girl survived, but the injuries were severe. She received skin grafts at Kiruddu Hospital but was later sent back to Gulu for reasons that remain unclear. Most of those grafts did not take. She now needs new grafts for the burn areas and for the donor sites.

Thanks to quick coordination between Dr. David Kulber and Katie Osborn, RN,  arrangements were made for emergency transfer to Kampala. Dr. Jeff Smith from Pipeline Worldwide tapped into his local network to help move the child safely, and the transfer went smoothly.

The team also pulled together financial assistance so the family could travel to Kampala and have food during the transition. Ohana One supplied essential medical items, and Dr. Smith organized transport to get her where she needed to be. The girl's mother received burn dressings and specialty skin grafts provided by MTF Biologics to help support her daughter’s ongoing healing.

This young patient will not be alone in the weeks ahead. Resurge International, another partner organization is sending a team to Kampala that includes a burn nurse who will follow up with her care. 

Dr. Rose Alenyo, an Ohana One grantee who leads plastic surgery in Uganda and oversees the burn unit at Kiruddu, and has taken the case. In addition, Ohana One's Peter Ronoh will be in Kampala on November 19 and 20 for training following the Gulu surgical outreach trip and will have a chance to check on her progress.

This collaboration between Ohana One, Pipeline Worldwide, and Resurge International continues to show what is possible when partners come together with purpose and compassion.