14/2/2024 - the village experience

Today the team went to visit some of the Ugandaid student’s homes. This was certainly an eye opening experience, even for those who have been before. The students: John, Jovia, Gift and Kelen, were kind enough to agree to let us spend time with their families in their homes. It was a long journey although short in distance. The road (if you can even call it that) was very uneven. We even lost a tire at one point!!! Luckily, it was a spare. The team thanked Steve several times for getting us safely to our destinations. Joseph (the Ugandaid coordinator at NVI) accompanied us and we were so honoured. As well as jumping out of the bus to put large stones on the path to help make the ride smoother, Joseph helped translate with the families. There were many children in the villages and a lot of the team enjoyed playing with them. We took balloons, sweets and bubbles which blew their minds. Most of them were shy at first but they soon warmed to us and had huge smiles on their faces. At one of the houses we tried a new exotic fruit, fresh from a tree. We are unsure of the name but it tasted like a passion fruit and melon mixed together, it really was delicious. The hospitality all the families showed us, even though they have next to nothing, was so inspiring and kind hearted. John’s housed was the last one we visited, however this one was a little more familiar. John is Yunisu’s nephew (see previous blog post)! We were greeted by Yunisu and his parents. It was lovely to be welcomed by them. The Ugandaid team have previously helped the family by building facilities on their land so it was great to see that they were still being appreciated. We finished the visit by blessing his family in the form of a song. It was a truely beautiful experience. Seeing where the students have come from. It really makes you greatful for what you have and inspires you to keep supporting Ugandaid.

In the afternoon a large portion of the team continued decorating and completed the project! We are so excited to share the finished pictures with you all once it’s dry. Deo, the head of textiles, was so thankful that he is preparing a surprise for the team. He has measured us all so we are very interested to see what comes of it.

In the evening we went to a local Indian restaurant in the town. We had the pleasure of being accompanied by Edison. We all sat together, shared stories and laughed a lot. It was a wonderful evening.