We are now back from Uganda and the last few weeks have absolutely flown! I think we managed to squeeze an awful lot into a few weeks and were completely blown away by everything in Uganda.
The first few days in Uganda were a bit scary, as all the security guards and lots of people on the streets carry massive rifles. We even had a security guard with a rifle patroling our guest house each night. I was a little freaked out by this for the first few nights as i was thinking what if i scard the security guard or something, would he shoot at me?!
Anyways, our first task for Uganda was to build a house. It was hard work as each brick weighed about 5kg. We were very sore after the first day and our backs were certainly feeling it, but Rob, who was the building in the team, gave some great tips on how to stretch it all out! The house took about 5 days to build. The only thing that we didn´t complete was the roof, as contractors come in and complete this later. The house was complete with door frames and windows!
We have the privilege of visiting my mums sponsor child, Donas in the south of Uganda in a place called Mbaraba, which is about 4.5 hours from the capital city of kampala. On the day of the vist, we were picked up incredibly early by our driver who then drove us to the south. We were met at a hotel by Donas, her sister, Doreen and Christina who works for the project which Donas is connected to. It was a long drive on dirt roads to Donas´house and no one told us that she lived at the top of a mountain which we had to climb! We met Donas´ mum and she explained the situation of the family which is very sad, as the father died of maleria and the eldest son, who they were relying on to bring in an income for the family, died in an accident a few years ago and now the mother needs to support 9 children. The only child of the family that goes to school all the time is Donas, as the other children only go when the mother can afford it. The family also have only a small home and no mosquito nets. We realised that if Donas was not sponsored this family would have nothing. I encourage all of you to sponsor children as its not until you see the situations that these familys are in, that you can see the difference. When you sponsor a child, you are not only supporting the child, but the entire family. The family was incredibly generous and made gifts for us and nays entire family, plus they gave us a pineapple and paw paw to thank us for coming all the way to see them. By this time, jay and I had streams of tears and all through our video all you can hear are our sniffles! In Uganda, whenever you visit somewhere, they use the phrase ´you are welcome here´, Donas´mum kept saying this to us and hugging us, all very overwhelming.....plus Donas wouldn´t let go of my hand!!!
After our return to Kampala, the next day we were heading to Gulu, which is in the northern Uganda, about 20km from the sudan border. Previously, it has been incredibly dangerous in gulu due to the LRA (Lords resistance army) controlling this area and kidnapping children and turning bascially into killing machines that would go and terrorise their families and villages. Peace talks are now happening and the leader of the LRA has now fled with his family to Sudan. I had seen a documentry on the gulu area and was a little scared about going up their, especially seeing ´smart traveller website´says DO NOT TRAVEL TO NORTHERN UGANDA!!!! I was reassured several times by our host that it was ´very very safe naomi´.
Kampala Pentecostasl Church has now opened up a KPC - Gulu church which we attended the opening service. It was full of energy and hope for the changes which are now starting to happen in Gulu. Watoto hopes to start building another village in gulu in january next year.
In gulu there are IDP camps which stands for internally displaced people camps. These are full of people who have fled their homes in the country to seek safety near the city. There are about 15,000 people in each camp and there are 50 camps which equals of lot of displaced people. We stopped at one of these camps and were completely surrounded by the children within seconds. You could tell that some were sick as they were dripping with sweat and just didn´t look healthy and clean. A lot of the homes in these camps are child run homes, as their parents have either died or abandoned them, so watoto hopes to place some of these children in watoto homes when the village is built.
So much more to tell, however time is running out, stay tuned for Uganda part 2!!
The first few days in Uganda were a bit scary, as all the security guards and lots of people on the streets carry massive rifles. We even had a security guard with a rifle patroling our guest house each night. I was a little freaked out by this for the first few nights as i was thinking what if i scard the security guard or something, would he shoot at me?!
Anyways, our first task for Uganda was to build a house. It was hard work as each brick weighed about 5kg. We were very sore after the first day and our backs were certainly feeling it, but Rob, who was the building in the team, gave some great tips on how to stretch it all out! The house took about 5 days to build. The only thing that we didn´t complete was the roof, as contractors come in and complete this later. The house was complete with door frames and windows!
We have the privilege of visiting my mums sponsor child, Donas in the south of Uganda in a place called Mbaraba, which is about 4.5 hours from the capital city of kampala. On the day of the vist, we were picked up incredibly early by our driver who then drove us to the south. We were met at a hotel by Donas, her sister, Doreen and Christina who works for the project which Donas is connected to. It was a long drive on dirt roads to Donas´house and no one told us that she lived at the top of a mountain which we had to climb! We met Donas´ mum and she explained the situation of the family which is very sad, as the father died of maleria and the eldest son, who they were relying on to bring in an income for the family, died in an accident a few years ago and now the mother needs to support 9 children. The only child of the family that goes to school all the time is Donas, as the other children only go when the mother can afford it. The family also have only a small home and no mosquito nets. We realised that if Donas was not sponsored this family would have nothing. I encourage all of you to sponsor children as its not until you see the situations that these familys are in, that you can see the difference. When you sponsor a child, you are not only supporting the child, but the entire family. The family was incredibly generous and made gifts for us and nays entire family, plus they gave us a pineapple and paw paw to thank us for coming all the way to see them. By this time, jay and I had streams of tears and all through our video all you can hear are our sniffles! In Uganda, whenever you visit somewhere, they use the phrase ´you are welcome here´, Donas´mum kept saying this to us and hugging us, all very overwhelming.....plus Donas wouldn´t let go of my hand!!!
After our return to Kampala, the next day we were heading to Gulu, which is in the northern Uganda, about 20km from the sudan border. Previously, it has been incredibly dangerous in gulu due to the LRA (Lords resistance army) controlling this area and kidnapping children and turning bascially into killing machines that would go and terrorise their families and villages. Peace talks are now happening and the leader of the LRA has now fled with his family to Sudan. I had seen a documentry on the gulu area and was a little scared about going up their, especially seeing ´smart traveller website´says DO NOT TRAVEL TO NORTHERN UGANDA!!!! I was reassured several times by our host that it was ´very very safe naomi´.
Kampala Pentecostasl Church has now opened up a KPC - Gulu church which we attended the opening service. It was full of energy and hope for the changes which are now starting to happen in Gulu. Watoto hopes to start building another village in gulu in january next year.
In gulu there are IDP camps which stands for internally displaced people camps. These are full of people who have fled their homes in the country to seek safety near the city. There are about 15,000 people in each camp and there are 50 camps which equals of lot of displaced people. We stopped at one of these camps and were completely surrounded by the children within seconds. You could tell that some were sick as they were dripping with sweat and just didn´t look healthy and clean. A lot of the homes in these camps are child run homes, as their parents have either died or abandoned them, so watoto hopes to place some of these children in watoto homes when the village is built.
So much more to tell, however time is running out, stay tuned for Uganda part 2!!
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