Uganda · under way

Medical and School Truck

Two vehicles that carry care to places no road reaches. Both are paid for. What is decided now is how often they roll out.

See the vehicles Where we stand

€144,851 — purchase and conversion funded
One medical truck, one school truck
Conversion finished — on their way to Uganda

The real problem

Not a lack of facilities. The distance to them.

There are doctors in the region. There are schools — and since March a kindergarten we built ourselves. What is missing is the stretch in between. Walking it costs a day of work. So most people never set out.

A whole day

There and back on foot, a sick child in your arms, on dirt tracks instead of roads.

A day’s wage lost

Whoever goes earns nothing that day. For many families, that alone decides against seeing a doctor.

One child fewer in class

The same arithmetic applies to the walk to school — and it starts over every morning.

The medical truck

Medicine that arrives

Imagine running a fever. Your child has been coughing for days. Or you are expecting a baby. The nearest doctor is hours away — and there is no way of getting there. No car. No road. No money. Only waiting, hoping, holding out.

That is where the medical truck comes in: a converted off-road vehicle that stops where there is otherwise no care at all. Examinations, medication, health advice, minor procedures — right in the village, on a fixed weekday, so people know when it comes.

No waiting room. No journey. No obstacle standing between a person and their treatment.

The medical truck opened up, fitted out for the Mityana region — Rendering of the planned interior

A piece of dignity on four wheels.

The school truck

Education needs wheels

In Uganda, getting to school usually means walking. Every day, in sun and in rain, for kilometres — even for the youngest.

A small van is already running. It was meant as a stopgap, and it behaves like one: too little room, too little safety, no good off-road. In the rainy season the school run turns into a test of nerve — tracks become slippery slopes, the van gets stuck or drops out altogether. And a child who is not picked up stays home that day.

The school truck replaces it: rugged, off-road capable, weatherproof, with room for everyone. A school bus you can count on in November too.

The Jona Foundation school truck on a dirt track near Mityana in the evening light — Rendering of the planned school truck

Filmed at the workshop in Willich

Not a rendering

Here they are

Two Mercedes Arocs on all-wheel-drive chassis, built for roads without asphalt. One stands finished and painted in the yard; next door the second chassis is up on the lift.

Up to this point the truck was an idea, a quote, a drawing. From here on it is a vehicle with number plates that simply has to get somewhere else.

Where the project stands

Where we stand

Most of it is behind us: both vehicles are built, converted and paid for. What remains is shipping, paperwork and the people who will drive them — and we show it step by step.

Vehicles acquired

Done

Two Mercedes Arocs on all-wheel-drive chassis. This was possible because Osterath in Willich pre-financed the vehicles — so we did not have to wait for the last donation to come in.

Conversion completed

Done

At Osterath, two chassis became a mobile surgery and a safe school bus: examination couch, medicine cabinet, water and power supply on one side — benches, seatbelts and a solid roof on the other.

Funding secured

Done

€144,851 has come together, which settles the pre-financing. The purchase and conversion of both vehicles are fully covered — it is all in the annual reports.

Shipping to Uganda

In progress

Shipping to Mombasa, then overland to Mityana. Customs and import papers are being prepared together with our team on the ground. It is the last long leg before the trucks reach the place they are needed.

Registration and local team

Up next

Drivers, paramedics and medical staff — permanent jobs created in the region and staying there. Exactly how we did it with the kindergarten.

First day on the road

The goal

A fixed route plan with recurring stops. From then on the question is no longer whether the trucks run, but how often.

Your part

How far will you come along?

We do not count in donation tiers but in kilometres: your amount becomes distance, distance becomes village visits, village visits become children treated or driven to school. Move the slider.

Basis: running costs per kilometre including fuel, maintenance and tyres. The figures come from our project costing and are updated each year.

150Euro

300kilometres on dirt tracks

1village visits

45children reached

Fund this distance Talk first

Our answer

We turn the direction around

Instead of bringing people to care, we bring care to people. Two vehicles built for dirt tracks — here is what is inside them.

The school truck is a transport vehicle. Lessons happen at the school and the kindergarten, not on board.

Setting off

The engine is running. All that is missing is the distance.

Thank you for reading this far. You know how much it matters when help is there at the right moment — that is exactly what these two vehicles make possible, on every day they are out on the road.

Donate now Talk first

Two children arm in arm outside the kindergarten in Mityana

A girl in an orange dress in Mityana, Uganda