Thought of the day - a new perspective

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As a first time visitor to Uganda and on the Ugandaid team as a newbe I wanted to share a few words. It is an absolute privilege to be sharing space with beautiful people both on the team and in the country. I am bold over by the love and appreciation that flows both ways and have enjoyed all the stories I am hearing about past and present students. The one that touched me to date is Yunusu’s story ( see previous blog posts………. ) It was an absolute pleasure to meet him and his wife in their shoe making shop. He is such a  smiley friendly warm person who openly invited us into his incredible shop. It reminded me of Timpsons in England but with a much more personal touch. His expertise was reflected in the variety of objects he created from leather. He should be so proud of the way in which he has used his skills to produce such amazing goods. I am hoping he will make me a pair of my own personal sandals for me to take home. It is incredibly inspiring to see someone overcome such difficult challengers and it is something that we can all learn from. When I return to England I will share his incredible story as a way of hopefully motivating others to strive in the face of their own adversity.

Day 3 - 10/2/2024

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Today was another wonderful day of decorating at NVI. We worked really well as a team and managed to accomplish so much, although working with the paint rollers on the end of very long sticks (see pictures) meant we were all accidentally splodged and prodded!! It was so lovely getting to know everyone on the team better while we decorated. Due to it being a Saturday the students had the day off. The site was a little bit quieter than usual however we were lucky enough to enlist the help of James and Brian, two students studying to become electricians. Getting to work alongside them and chat with them was so wonderful. James is sponsored by Ugandaid and getting to hear his story and how grateful he was for our support was so inspiring. The head of the textiles department, Deo, also helped us and spent time with us over the snack breaks. The team had lunch at Java and I think it’s safe to say that between us all we ate enough ice cream to last us a very long time (or maybe until tomorrow). After lunch we continued with the decorating. One of the best things about NVI is no matter where you go and what you are doing you share so many magical moments with others. Lucy and Isabelle bumped into Edith, the nurse at the medical centre we decorated last year. Edith remembered them both and told them how grateful she was for all our hard work. Edith said two things that particularly stuck with the team; ‘you don’t know us but you are still so willing to help, its amazing’ and ‘I wish I could tell you in English how grateful I am but I don’t know how’ she then showed the girls how she thanks someone in her culture by shouting and dancing in the most joyful way. After cleaning the equipment at the water harvester’s (Isabelle funded these last year, you can read all about this in last years blog), we enjoyed one final snack break. James and Brian enjoyed the snacks with us. This was so wonderful as it’s not something they’d usually get the opportunity to do. Seeing their faces when they were invited to join us was something we will never forget.

Some of the team then decided to walk home from NVI. There were so many beautiful views and it was wonderful to see the monkeys running across the bridge over the Nile. After a quick shower to wash off all the paint the team then went for their evening meal at a local restaurant, enjoying great conversation and food.

'Just pray and get on with it' - A day 2 account

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It was great to get to NVI today and to begin work. 

We were greeted by Edison (the school's Director) and some of the leadership team. Edison shared NVI's philosophy and their passion for empowering young people from the most challenging backgrounds to learn skills which will enable them to gain employment, bringing themselves and their families out of poverty. He also spoke about their commitment to educating the students to be effective members of society through devevoping characteristics which will enable them to relate well to others, be the best they can be as employees or employers and gave back to socitiety in anyway they can.

Edison and his team truly believe that through changing the lives of the young people they work with they can create a better future for them and their country. 

Work started in the textiles department and what was originally going to be a project in one large room has turned into two! It was all hands on deck to wash the walls of years of red dust, fill the many holes and begin to apply undercoat round the edges. Everyone worked tirelessly but there was lots of laughter too and the team used the time to get to know each other better. There were lots of spiders and at one point an experienced member of the team said to another, 'I'm not going under that sink there are lots of spiders', the response was ' oh just pray and get on with it!'..... more laughter ensued.

NVI are always incredibly hospitable and it was lovely to be given delicious food, prepared by the students in the fantastic food tech facilities renovated by team UgandAid 2023 and served in the Oasis Cafe, the hospitality training base renovated by the 2023 team too. 

A long but very satisfying day. We will all sleep well tonight ready for full a day of painting tomorrow!

Thought of the day - Returning to Uganda

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“Following a long, tiring journey the team began day one of this year’s project. I was unprepared for the feelings this would evoke and felt at home straight away; it hardly seemed a whole year since we had been there! What I found really special was seeing the work again that we had completed the year before - the medical centre. It brought a tear to my eye. The staff had been so inspired by what we had done on the inside that they had painted the whole of the outside of the building which looked fantastic. We were able to have a peep inside and I was delighted to see that not only was the medical centre kept clean and tidy, the new equipment that we gifted to them was as shiny and clean as the day it was bought.”