Don't forget your jumper

I’ve had a very happy month - spreadsheets, lists, agendas, planning, presentations… The comfortable place for a data and admin nerd! I’m working on the principle that if I work to my strengths in the UK, it’ll be easier for the team to work to their strengths when we get to Uganda. Tom is making sure I take rest days … computer work is as fatiguing as exercise without breaks.

I’m finally becoming excited, feelings of anticipation are outweighing anxiety. We had our Trip Orientation day last Saturday. The team met each other in person at last – we’re a bit spread out geographically and its mostly been WhatsApp and Zoom so far. Talk about reassurance and positive expectations. What a brilliant team of 10! At this point I will admit to a complete failure for any of us to remember to take team photos despite reminding each other several times. Sorry.

The ‘gelling together’ was painless, ideas flowed – and my goodness so much work has been done already. The planned crafts are superb, we sang our ‘theme song’ and had lots of ideas for a creative music session, and the sports afternoon planning is epic –I’m incredibly glad I’m not organising it! I still shudder remembering being asked to prep for children’s activities on two previous trips, being told to expect about 80 – 100 children, and turning up to find 300- 400.  Oh I love a team…

We introduced the team to Uganda, Rukungiri in particular, and the local Rukungiri team.  There was  a lot of practical and administrative detail. Forms and policies to sign, discussions around culture, food and drink, travel, clothing (Rukungiri is cool at night) …and so much more. We all took away more admin/ tasks – DBS and visa applications, vaccinations, sourcing kit – for us and the activities (for some this included buying a below-knee skirt!).

It will take 2 days to get to Rukungiri via Heathrow, Kigali, Entebbe and Mbarara (for the geographers). Huge excitement because two other Uganda staff are joining us – Gertrude from Kampala and David from Soroti. They’re both on my ‘heroes’ list – people who inspire me with their dedication, commitment, care, integrity, and wisdom. Can’t wait to see them again and hopefully have time to catch up.

One of our sponsored girls - 2016

3 groups of children are attending 4 days of ‘kids club’ activities:

Firstly, 114 children are sponsored through Global Care. These children all live in extreme poverty and most families struggle to provide adequate food and basics. Without Global Care, they couldn’t afford education. They receive support which enables them to go to school, and provides welfare, healthcare, and supplementary food when necessary.

From 2018, the Children with Disability (CWD) project helped 19 children with mobility difficulties access education.  Those who started education couldn’t manage to go to school every day and arrived late after struggling to travel 2-3km on unmade roads from their homes. The schools did not have accessible toilets. Global Care provided mobility aids, school transport, some medical care/ physiotherapy, and enabled the construction of toilet blocks with accessible toilets.
Towards the end of the project, families received bicycles to take the children to school and livestock (2 pigs or 1goat - a major form of investment in Uganda). 

Tom & I met most of these children. Their situations were desperate. They were discriminated against at home and at school. Now most are at school and progressing well. The second group is the16 of these children invited to activity days. Some children melt my heart – this group have brought me to tears looking at photos and hearing their incredibly positive stories over the last 5 years. I promise I’ll try not to be embarrassingly emotional!

Thirdly, 393 girls are registered at Girls Clubs at 4 Primary Schools. The project started last year, and the girls learnt how to make reusable sanitary products while also having opportunity to talk about any worries and ask questions.

If they all come, that’s over 500 children over 4 days! But this is Uganda, always prepare to change your plans and expect the unexpected (that’s my Uganda mantra).

Our first trip to Uganda in 2008 changed our lives forever. We returned home committed to support Global Care and the children and families they serve. Over the years, the more GC projects we’ve seen or heard about, we’re increasingly impressed. GC demonstrates how much can be achieved for whole communities, with a little money, a lot of dedication, and partnerships with local people, communities and organisations. On that first visit, we met one of the girls we were sponsoring – we’ll call her Mary.  Our 17-year-old son came with us – Mary was 17 too. They’d been writing to each other for a few years and greeted each other like brother and sister. Mary told us she had our photos on the wall of her home. She finished her education and went to study a degree. Then she set up a business and married a teacher. We saw her again outside her warehouse in the local market with her baby. She told us that without our support she would never have gone to school, and she certainly wouldn’t be able to support herself or her family.

It’s not a scam! These children are real. Often, it’s a struggle to survive day to day – and they certainly have no hope for the future. With the right support, education is still the key to break the cycle of poverty. Disabled children had no hope, we met them at home when they were hungry and isolated, had mixed support from families, and were often rejected and discriminated by their community. Now they dream of being lawyers, teachers, and doctors.

The aim of this trip is to encourage the staff and children. To give the children some fun away from their grinding lives of chores and school. They’ll probably have to fetch water, sweep the compound and prepare food before they come, and I suspect some may bring younger siblings (it’s the school holidays and they have to look after them). Let’s hope they have an enjoyable day of fun!

P.S. We’re providing food at the ‘camps’ and some children/ staff will need transport. We also need to buy kit and small gifts. All money will go to the Rukungiri project. If you’d like to donate, we have a JustGiving site: https://www.justgiving.com/page/barbara-heyes-rukungiri-2024

Rats Ate My Parachute

Can’t quite believe I’m writing this, but…. Hey, we’re going to Uganda!

Since the last blog in 2019, I’ve been overseas once with Global Care - a brief trip to Albania last year, to interview some lovely women working on an agricultural project initiated through Global Care funding. The trip was also a goodbye, as the venture is helping the local project become self-supporting. I went with CEO John White and was much too busy to write a blog!

Over the last five years we’ve continued volunteering for Global Care in the UK – increasing our hours during lockdown. For those who don’t know, I work for the Communications and Operations teams and Tom does some work with the Ops team too. In 2020, GCare gave me work, friendship, & a reason to get out of bed. Reading stories about the devastation the pandemic brought for GCare families and communities challenged and motivated me, and once again reminded me to appreciate my privilege. I got fit – cycling the equivalent of 2.6 marathons in a week and walking ’50 miles in 30 days’ fundraising for Global Care can do that for a middle-aged woman! My friends and family were amazingly supportive, and generous to GCare.

Long story short, I reduced my hours a bit at the end of 2021, then I got covid, twice in six months, and ended up with symptoms which were worsening not improving. A diagnosis of Long Covid led to months of OT, physio, and exercise therapy through the Barnsley LC Clinic, and months of counselling. There were days when it all became a bit much. Plans for the new fit me disappeared in a fog of breathlessness and fatigue. I resigned from another volunteer job and reduced my hours again for Global Care.

Covid has also had an extraordinary impact on the work of Global Care. UK staff and overseas partners worked incredibly hard to provide hygiene, health, and welfare packs for project communities. Many families had no jobs and/or very little food. Many children were orphaned - in countries where there was little healthcare and no vaccines. Schools were closed and there was no online education in poor, rural, and marginalised communities. The effects of the pandemic are still felt by our overseas projects – rocketing prices, high unemployment, increased inequalities. Plus the destruction of livelihoods and lives where families rely on agriculture – due to unpredictable weather patterns and other effects of climate changes.

2023 was Global Care’s 40^th Anniversary - we manged a few events/ campaigns. I can function pretty well with ‘pacing’ and scheduled rests… Several overseas projects celebrated the anniversary, but for various reasons, it wasn’t possible in Uganda. The UK team began planning a volunteer trip for 2024.

I was in the GCare Coventry office, and someone said, ‘Would you be interested in a Uganda team trip?’ I laughed … for too many reasons for 1000 words, it didn’t seem possible. And I imagined I’d be more of a hindrance than a help now. I went home and told Tom. We parked it.

A few weeks later it’s mentioned again. ‘Even if you don’t go to Uganda, how about using your experience of trips to help with the planning?’

Hesitatingly, we say ‘OK’.
You guessed it – a few weeks into the planning, we say we’ll 'possibly' go.
We really can’t decide. We talk, we pray, we talk to other people….
Then we have an idea. Our friends have often said they’d like to go with us. Let’s ask them.  If they say they want to go, we’ll definitely go (half expecting them to say ‘No’). After due consideration our friends say, ‘Yes!’ No more getting out of it… we’re going.

It’s been a busy few months, but now we have a plan. A team of 10 - Steve (Head of Operations), Tom and me, and 7 other volunteers, are travelling to Uganda in December.  The main focus is 5 days in Rukungiri (southwest), running children’s camps and visiting homes.  The children coming to the camps are either on the sponsorship programme, part of a Girls’ Clubs initiative, or were included in the disability project I’ve written about in previous posts.

I’m both excited and terrified. I agreed to go on condition I can sit down any time/ anywhere, and sleep when I need to. Tom’s condition is that I won’t try and play very physical games with the children. For those who don’t know me well – this is an impossible request. I’ll likely fail on day one, then be so fatigued it’s not an option for the other days!

I can’t describe how much we appreciate the spiritual, emotional, and financial support we’ve had from our friends and family over the years for our trips, and for the work of Global Care.  We’re expecting up to 130 children at each ‘camp’. We’re meeting in two schools - we’d like to leave them some of our sports equipment. There will be parachutes (yes - the rats ate one in Moses's storeroom!). We’d love to give each child a small gift like a notebook and pen. The children will have a simple breakfast, some will have travelled a long way to get there, and meal at lunchtime. There are obviously lots of other costs. The team contribute to their flights, accommodation and food. For the children who come, this is an opportunity to play, have fun, meet white people (Mzungus), eat, and know they are loved, appreciated and valued. Many of them have little or no opportunity to play on an average day – they’ll usually be doing chores and looking after younger siblings before/after school.

I've written about *John (The Girl With One Shoe) a disabled boy we met in Rukungiri. John’s mother was told he would die, so she left him with his father and paternal grandparents – who also looked after his cousins while his aunt worked in Kampala. He walked to school (but didn’t go every day) using a walking frame. When we first met him, he was sitting on a mat at the back of a nursery classroom – isolated and not integrated in the class. In 2019 John joined the Children with Disability project.  When we saw him again 6 months later, GCare had funded the construction of a new block of latrines at the school, including an accessible toilet. John had a special chair with a desk and was chatting to his classmates – and he got up and ran to hug me. Earlier this year, Steve, visited 11-year-old John at home. John’s grandparents are elderly and frail now. No one in the family works. John is happy at school, fully accepted, and has many friends. The school told Steve they are waiving John’s fees in recognition of the family’s difficult circumstances – and hoping Global Care will find a sponsor for John. They also provide John with breakfast and lunch. He wants to be a Lawyer when he is older.

I’ll never forget John. It’s worth a bit of fatigue to be able to help give children like John the chance to play for one day.

Next month I’ll give you an update on our Orientation Day – it will all be very real after that!

There’s a JustGiving page…

Boda Boys save the day

We’ve just completed our final day of work… and can happily report that we’ve achieved everything we set out to do here in Rukungiri (and a bit extra!). Moses and Penlope are still waiting for school reports but apart from that we’ve completed a termly report for each child in the disability project. We’ve updated their care plans and budgets for 2020 as far as possible. There are a few outstanding actions that need to be completed – a child needs to go for rehabilitation and treatment of an ulcer at hospital, but the parents can’t spare the time until the harvest is complete. They’ve agreed that her mother will take her in December. She needs to stay at the hospital for up to a month, but not only are the family subsistence farmers, they also have 5 other children. It’s not easy for an adult in this family to be away from home for 4 weeks.

I haven’t really talked about the school latrines Global Care funded. It hasn’t been a straightforward project! Constructors didn’t understand the specification for accessible latrines, and the first latrine wasn’t really what was expected. However, with practice they got better at understanding and following instructions and the third accessible latrine is pretty good… apart from the back-to-front handrails. Moses has some latrine modifications to sort out, but moving and installing handrails shouldn’t be too difficult or too expensive (see how confident we’re being…). Building latrines at schools has had unexpected positive consequences. One disabled girl no longer pays fees ‘as she is responsible for the new school toilets.’  At another school, nursery children used to share the church latrine – a very old, basic structure. Now the nursery has their own toilet block with one stall with handrails, and the church is allowed to use one latrine on Sundays – they’re very happy.

Latrines and latrine modifications enabled disabled children to access school, or use school latrines independently, but we are stunned by the results of much cheaper interventions. Through this project, 13 children attend school regularly and punctually. All these children have improved mobility – children who hardly walked in March now play football or join in PE and run and play happily with their classmates. All the children have settled well at school and have friends and join in activities. Only one child received discrimination – from a teacher.  Moses, Penlope and the school worked together to resolve the matter. The child is now loved and respected. It’s been fantastic to have the opportunity to meet all the children and we’re humbled and excited by everything the team have achieved. For some children, simply providing a boda taxi to school has brought about all these positive outcomes.

I’m not sure how to sum up this week. I’ve seen fabulous improvements in children that rendered me speechless or an emotional wreck – the Boy Who Went Out* and the boy who ran to hug me, children who wouldn’t look at me in March now greeting me like a friend. I’ve heard some incredibly sad stories – the child who has no food, the boy whose mother drinks and doesn’t care for her children or their home, children who may be able to walk to and from school in a year or so but whose parents can’t afford fees or uniforms. So… although we’re thrilled with this project and amazed at what Moses and Penlope have achieved with relatively small funding in a short time, there are still challenges to consider.  

Both this project and the Disability Support Groups in Soroti are changing disabled children’s lives for the better – in very different ways. We need solutions for supporting disabled children that are appropriate for a specific locality and culture. The geography of this area is a huge factor for any project. Sparsely populated areas separated by miles of hills and rough tracks aren’t conducive to a support group.  Today we met a Disabled People’s representative on the local district council. He asked why we hadn’t built a dormitory for disabled children at a school, and we explained that Global Care decided it was much better to keep families together and not take the disabled children away or risk institutionalising them. He was very happy with the decision and with the results of the project. I’m very glad not to be someone who takes responsibility for these kinds of decisions!

Ultimately, these projects need to become sustainable – not to rely on continued donor support. That’s the biggest challenge. Apparently in Rukungiri, pigs are the animal of choice for income generating, in Soroti it’s goats.  Even the questions of sustainability must be locally appropriate. We must do something for these children, it would break your heart to hear the stories and visit the homes of disabled children who don’t benefit from this kind of project. I hope the blog has stimulated you to think about disability and about disabled children in countries without free health and social care, real inclusive education and special needs teachers, properly accessible buildings and schools, and where poverty and disability together drastically reduce your chances of reaching adulthood. Its tough but true that life here for many is a struggle, and particularly for disabled children. So, thanks for joining me and spare a thought and a prayer for all the children you’ve met in my blog in the last 2 weeks, and for the teams in Soroti and Rukungiri and their incredible work to improve the lives of disabled children. Thank you Global Care, for caring about these children, and giving them hope for the future.

*http://darton2soroti.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-boy-who-went-out.html

All God's Children Got Shoes...?

We’re a bit weary this evening.  In 6½ hours we travelled about 100 miles, met 6 disabled children in the project, visited 5 schools (one of which was closed!), had no toilet breaks (although 2 men managed to sneak off at one point), no snacks, got stuck in mud once, moved fallen debris off the muddy path once, got soaked once, dropped 1 bag on a path that had turned into a river, got mobbed 3 times (‘Muzungu, Muzungu, how are you?’), gave 2 boys a lift so they could guide us to a house (child in project, parents failed to tell Moses they’d moved), didn’t get lost.  We drove through a dense forest, up and down steep slippery rutted tracks, and over beautiful rolling hills on relatively OK roads.  When we arrived back in town, 2 of us rushed for the loo then the 4 of us had a huge local buffet for a total price of approx. £10. Phew.

We passed huge rice fields and were perplexed by bright blue structures dotted around the valley. Moses informed us they were shelters for bird scarers. We looked more closely and all over the fields spotted raised mud platforms with rudimentary shelters made from sticks and grass – and occasionally extra protection from a blue plastic sheet. Children and young people perched on the platforms ‘chasing away the birds.’ Moses said, ‘These children have no school, no life.’ It was lashing down with rain. When the sun’s out its blisteringly hot.

It’s been that kind of day.  For our first school visit, we drove down, then walked up, a muddy footpath to the entrance, a gap in a barbed wire fence. Children were clearing grass and weeds and generally tidying the school compound with machetes and hoes.  They were preparing the school for a fundraising day in December – we were invited to attend!  Moses told us the disabled child at the school comes from a family who is ‘not very poor’, so Global Care only pays for transport. He used to be late for school and didn’t come every day but coming to school on a boda (motorbike taxi) means he arrives on time every day. He walks home and is walking much better with the exercise. Apparently ‘not very poor’ doesn’t mean you have shoes, but unlike many of the other children, he was wearing school uniform.

On our second visit we met a subdued little boy. Francis* comes from a very poor family. He lives with his father who Moses described as, ‘A drunkard.’ There’s a huge problem with alcohol abuse in this area, which let’s face it is associated with poverty. There are 100 children in Francis’s class, but the school employed a second teacher and split the class – which of course means the fees will go up. Moses paid Francis’s fees and we talked to his class teacher. He has a club foot which was operated on when he was younger, and he walks with a pronounced limp. The teacher told us he plays and interacts with other children, but, ‘He has a problem...’ She said, ‘He doesn’t have food.’ Francis told us there’s is often no food at home. The children bring packed lunches to school. Francis brings lunch 3 days out of 5. He has no shoes and no uniform.

We were thoughtful in the car but cheered up at our next 2 visits, catching up with children we met in February. Abby was given a standing frame through the project. Her balance has improved since the last time we saw her. George has Cerebral Palsy and can’t walk far, but he’s only 4 so a bit young for school. The project gave him a walker and helped with some costs for George and his father to spend 2 weeks at a rehabilitation hospital. Although his mobility is steadily improving, we think he’ll need a wheelchair for school, so we visited the local school. We were delighted at the positive attitude of the staff to inclusive education. They’ll work with Moses to develop paths and clear ground and there’s a plan for a GCare funded block of latrines including a wheelchair accessible stall. We had similar discussions at the last school.

Today got me thinking about poverty. In Uganda we’re used to seeing children in filthy ragged clothes, shoeless and often not at school. We’re used to children doing heavy chores, fetching water and firewood, looking after younger siblings, helping in the garden.  We’ve become complacent. We visited Simon today. He and his sisters were sheltering from the rain in a tiny smoky hut preparing vegetables to cook on the fire, while their mother worked in the garden some distance away.  Simon greeted us then rushed off to put on a shirt, change into less dirty shorts and wash his face (partially successful). Simon treated us with respect and honour – he deserves the same.  The project provides fees, uniform and scholastic materials, the family lives in obvious poverty.  Its distressing when you hear a child has no food or see children working as human scarecrows.

Poverty here doesn’t fit our Western poverty concept – its extreme. We can’t leave these children isolated and uneducated as well as poor. Disabled children are often last to eat, last to go to school, last to get medical attention. I love this project – we’ve seen 17 of the 19 children receiving help, and all those we met before have a better life. Global Care’s motto is, ‘You can’t do everything, can’t do nothing, must do something.’ And that’s what the disability project is doing – something to change 19 lives.


Tomorrow and Friday we pull all the data and information together, review the children’s care plans and plan and budget for next year. Its going to be hard work but I can’t wait to get started.

If you want to help this project, go to Rukungiri Disability Project on the Global Care website.


*children’s names are made up to protect identity.

The Girl With One Shoe

We spent today ‘in the field’ again. Oh my gosh – we had some brilliant surprises. I’ve decided you can have another day of mostly positive stories, but we might start looking at challenges too!

In February we visited John* and his family. John is an orphan, has Cerebral Palsy, and lives with his elderly grandparents.  He’d just started school, walking with a walking frame and accompanied by other children. When we visited the school, he was sitting at the back of the class on a mat, his workbook on the floor. He couldn’t manage to walk to the latrine, or use it himself, and Moses had to negotiate a small ‘motivation’ for the teacher so she would accompany him to the toilet. The nursery children were using a tumbledown latrine that belonged to a neighbouring church. Then the Global Care project stepped in.

Today, as we approach John’s classroom, his teacher comes out to greet us. I step into the room, and watch John undo the table on his new chair. I’m stunned as he stands up, then he’s running towards me and flings his arms round my waist. I’m hugging him and laughing (and trying not to cry), and all I can think is, ‘this is what it’s all about.’ John now walks to school without the walker, helped by his siblings and friends. He laughs and smiles with us (although no-one’s smile is as big as mine – I can’t stretch my mouth wide enough for the joy and love spilling out for this child). He’s made friends – the other children sing a song to encourage him to walk! His academic work is steadily improving. And… Global Care built a block of latrines, one has handrails. John takes himself to the toilet. This little boy wasn’t expected to walk independently, wasn’t expected to be able to stay at school, look at him now! I think I’ll remember that hug for a very long time.

We meet another boy at the same school who also has Cerebral Palsy. He looks healthy and happy – different from the shy withdrawn little boy we met in February. He talks to us, plays happily with his classmates – he likes to play football and is walking better. GCare only provides transport to school, he walks home for the exercise. The system seems to be working.

We’re thrilled as we climb back into the car and set off further West. We pass tall eucalyptus trees, banana and coffee plantations, and small trading centres by the roadside which serve the villages situated further into the hills. We meet Glory. A little girl with severe kyphoscoliosis. Before the project she was isolated at home, had no social interaction and was somewhat neglected. She’s still shy with us, but we all agree she looks more healthy – Global Care pays for her to have lunch. GCare built latrines at this school too.  The school is so delighted that they allow Glory to attend school for free. They recognise that it is because of her that they have a proper concrete toilet block, latrines are no longer housed in ramshackle huts. Although Glory’s life has radically changed for the better, she needs more surgical assessment – and money is short for medical treatment. This visit highlights two challenges, getting builders to construct latrines to standard specifications, and the high number of disabled children who require costly surgical or medical interventions to correct deformities and/or prolong life.

Our next visit is more difficult. Charles parks the car and we step up a high ledge then climb a narrow steep uneven path through gardens to reach a modest house. A small boy who is clearly disabled is sitting alone outside. I said this would be mostly positive, but this is a tough visit. Martin’s father comes home to meet us, and we discuss how we might be able to help Martin. We think there are ways his life could be improved but there is much to sort out before we can think of school. We'll spend time developing a plan when we’re in the office at the end of the week.

We visit two children at different schools, Mark and Mary, both with congenital lower limb reductions – one leg which didn’t develop properly. We discuss their walking aids. I say ‘discuss’… Ugandan discussions are protracted and heated. We can’t seem to get anyone to translate for us so at both schools I wander off and distract the other children by taking photos and showing them the results to great hilarity.

When we’re ready to leave the last school, we give Mary a lift home. She’s a bit tense as its her first ride in a car. Worryingly, the children at the school follow us. We’re their first white people and the car a huge novelty. Charles gets out and chases them away. They follow at a distance. When the car stops, Moses lifts Mary out and she races off down a hill hopping on her crutches carefully negotiating rocks and plants. We follow her and greet her Grandmother, Mary’s carer since she was a baby. Tom and Moses go to inspect the small basic latrine GCare built at the home. Mary’s Grandmother thanks us for all Global Care has done for the family. They appreciate GCare so much, they never expected to have their own latrine or for Mary to go to school. Tom brings our finger puppets Bob the Mouse and Molly the Sheep to play with Mary. Her face lights up and we decide its time for Molly to move on. She can stay and be a friend for Mary. Mary tells us that she will love Molly and care for her…


As we walk back to the car the whole village comes to wave goodbye. What a day! We’ve seen incredible transformations in the lives of disabled children and their families, and whole communities who’ve benefited from the latrines. None of this would be possible without Global Care, without Moses and Penelop, or without the people who supported fundraising appeals and became project partners. Our last visit of the day is to a disabled councillor at a trading centre to discuss mobility and toilet aids. As we leave, he thanks the 4 of us for caring about the people he represents, for loving disabled people. This project is about equality and justice, ‘no-one left behind’.

I’m going to put a photo of John up in my office, that hug is a testimony to the power of the love and care Global Care has for disabled children. A hug that makes working for Global Care a joyful privilege.

*All the names are made up to protect identity

The Boy Who Went Out

I wasn't sure if I'd manage a blog...there is yet another storm, and power may go off. There is a generator, but it isn’t always used. The hotel promised Moses (Global Care’s Rukungiri Manager) WiFi. There’s no WiFi. The hotel manager told us his boss is coming from Kampala to sort it out. We know what that means… It ain’t likely to happen! Tom's Uganda sim is providing a mobile hotspot which seems to be solving the problem for now.  We have a lovely big room, and hot water when the power is on, so there are plus points. There’s no laundry but one of the waitresses offered to do my washing. We didn’t get supper last night despite ordering food, so this morning we ordered our meal for tonight and we’ll see if that works.  Moses decided we should try this new hotel and he told me, ‘It’s a bit cheap.’ It’s £15 a night. This morning he asked, ‘How is the hotel?’ I said, ‘It’s a bit OK!’

Welcome to Rukungiri – a town in South West Uganda. Rukungiri is a mountainous region, it rains a lot and is often cold.  After our trip in March we were so cold that this time we brought Down jackets and fleece jumpers. We’d worn them within a few hours of our arrival. Today we started in 4 layers but by the end of the day were down to 1. Rukungiri is stunningly beautiful. It’s a shock after the flat plains and swamps of Soroti, the hills are high and steep and most of the time you can see huge mountain ranges in the distance. The crops are different here too – lots of matooke (plantain) and sweet potato.  The trees are tall.  The main road is good but all the roads out of town are local marram and rocks which turns into thick red slimy mud in the rain. Once we’re off the wider roads, the paths become narrow footpaths. Somehow Charles negotiates the Super Custom most of the way.

We arrived in the office this morning at 9am and after a quick catch up set off ‘into the field’.  The Global Care project we’ve come to visit is focussed on supporting children with mobility difficulties to go to school. In March we visited children at home and worked on individual care plans for each child. Accessing school poses many problems but the key things we considered were mobility aids, transport, school fees, welfare support such as a mattress for home or extra feeding, medical help, and accessible school latrines. We met children who had started school but who arrived late because they had to crawl or were in pain, couldn’t make the journey every day, stopped because of discrimination, parents couldn’t pay fees or who couldn’t use the latrines. Other children had never gone to school for all the same reasons, or because the family prioritised able-bodied children. Some children were isolated and neglected.  Over the last 8 months we’ve read reports and seen photos as the children have started attending school regularly and on time. This week we’re visiting children and schools that Moses and his colleague Penelop want to discuss with us – and we’re helping them conduct an annual review and start planning for next year.

Today we were out from 9.30am till 5pm with a one hour stop for lunch and to give Charles a break. Slight digression… when we’re here we eat local food at lunchtime. Today I had chicken stew and mini egg-plant stew with rice, matoke, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. Don’t judge, remember I missed tea yesterday and trust me, I ate half the quantity of the others. Anyway, in the 6½ hours of work, we visited 3 schools and 4 children – that’s how far apart the children live. Up and down muddy hillsides occasionally sliding into hedges and then stomping over muddy and waterlogged school compounds. Great fun!

The highlights were visiting our old friend William* who isn’t well enough to attend school, but who received a wheelchair which has totally transformed his life and the life of his family. When his family used to go out to work or shop, they locked him in the house, unable to move himself. Now they take him to a neighbour who looks after him for the day. His friends take him out in his ‘Muzungu Car’, they took him to a friend’s house last week so he could join in their end of school -leaving exams celebrations. In March he was shy and quiet, today he was laughing and smiling. His brother and sister take him with them when they go to look after the goats. He has a life! His family are no longer worried about him and exhausted from lifting and carrying him. Brilliant.

We visited Mary and Grace at school. Both girls are happy to be able to learn, to be with friends, to play with other children. We saw a change in them too – smiling and laughing and singing to us with their classmates.  Mary has cerebral palsy and we saw a definite improvement in her walking. Grace has a wheelchair and has learnt to get in and out of it herself and her friends push her round school. It’s such a privilege to come here and see the changes in the children and their families. To see laughter where there was no interaction, hope where there was no hope, playing with others where there was isolation.

Today I’m telling you positives, parts that gladdened our hearts and excited us. But behind these beautiful mountains and glorious views children and families are struggling with total poverty. Disabled children live with community discrimination and family rejection. Some schools take a long time to accept disabled children and some teachers are unkind and disrespectful to children with disability.

So don’t get complacent – I’ll tell you the hard stuff another day…

PS - Timmy update, he and his mother are travelling to Entebbe and CORSU hospital tomorrow.


*these are not the children's real names

Uncle Mike and the Play Chain

This morning we visited ‘Timmy’ in hospital, he’s very sick. It is a desperate situation. We heard back from the hospital in Entebbe where we sent the photographs, and they’re willing to assess him for free and provide free accommodation to him and his mother. We’re hoping this will be possible, we trust and respect them having met them in March. They’re NGO funded but have a desire to help the most vulnerable and keep costs low where possible. We were despondent as we left the hospital and talked about options for counselling for Timmy and his mother – and the Global Care staff who know him.  There is nothing here in the way of end-of-life care. The church clinic looking after Timmy will treat any infections – but every night in hospital, every drug, every test, costs money. Its impossible to budget for medical care when you have a very sick child with complex disabilities under your care… and 100s of other children with minor illnesses as well as malaria and typhoid. We've just got the green light for Timmy to travel to Entebbe. If you pray, please pray for Timmy and his Mum, and for Global Care, as they work together to help Timmy.

We drove away from the hospital with heavy hearts and once again travelled the long journey to Abeko to visit the Playscheme (which meets in a school classroom). The minute we arrived our day changed.  The Playworkers at the Playscheme were leading parachute games – and disabled children from the Playscheme were playing alongside children at the school. For so long the disabled children were bullied and ostracised, now they were playing together. I realised they were using a parachute I sent out in March (another Wightman Parachute for those who understand). You’re standing in a field in the middle of nowhere (literally) and there are children shouting, laughing and singing, playing games with a huge piece of coloured material and some plastic balls – and it is joyous. 8 months ago, the disabled children were shy, introverted and didn’t move much. Today they were interacting with other children and there was so much fun about the activity. Pure unadulterated fun!

I realised something else. 11 years ago, I came to Soroti with a parachute and taught ‘Uncle Mike’ how to use it. Over the years he’s developed a brilliant kids club with 100s of children who come to his house to play with him – and the parachute. Uncle Mike visited the Playscheme and taught David, a Playworker, how to use the parachute. It’s a brilliant example of how a charity should work. If we have skills and knowledge that we can share, we pass it on, and then we leave people to work their new skills into their own environment and culture. We don’t tell them how to do it, and we don’t do it for them – they don’t need me to play parachute games, they’ve made up their own Ugandan games. Tom & I might have had a sneaky play ourselves – but Playworker David was in charge.

We spent the day gathering stories and listening to people tell us how the Playscheme has impacted their lives. I was speechless by the end!

We heard about John, whose severe burns left him disfigured and with contractures of his arm. He became withdrawn and uncommunicative. When we first met him, he was leaning against a wall and wouldn’t look at us. Today he was in the thick of the parachute games. He used to be laughed at by school mates, and left school. Now he talks. The other children see him eating eggs and porridge at the Playscheme and they think he is someone important! The school is going to sponsor him so he can attend again. Wow!

When William came to the Playscheme he couldn’t walk – he had polio when he was 18 months old and could only sit and crawl. Since he’s been at the Playscheme he’s learnt to walk. At home he can now take a small jerrycan to the borehole, pump water and bring it back and pour it into a bowl. He loves helping his mother – and she is thrilled that he’s no longer just sitting at home isolated.

Mary has learnt to move herself on her bottom. She used to sit still – now she can move around the compound and takes herself into the shade if she’s in the sun or into the house if it rains. Before, she didn’t interact with anyone and wouldn’t take food at the Playscheme. Now she wants food and if her mother goes shopping, she shuffles over to her, hoping for bread.


This group is inspiring and quite thrilling. Four playworkers and a room, some basic food, a few toys – and they’ve worked miracles. They had some training from the UK Special Needs Teachers in the summer and now the room is bright and cheerful. They received sensory toys and learnt games and parachute play for disabled children.  The parents didn’t understand the potential of the children – they’d given up. Many are loving and kind, but they had no hope for their isolated discriminated disabled children.

Now the parents and the children have hope. The DSG committee met us today and I found their positive attitude to the children challenging – they’re so positive and determined to help these children, sacrificing what little they have to find ways to create sustainability for the group and the Playscheme.  As I write this, I wonder how easily I’ll return to my life of swimming and preparing for Christmas. I’d like to think it will be flipping difficult to forget about this group and slip back into my easy, comfortable life.