How many potatoes can you peel in a day?

So that was our last day of work here. We’ve another day in Soroti, a day to visit Sipi Falls, a day of driving, and a day in Entebbe before our midnight flight on Wednesday. Once again, we’ve been made incredibly welcome. We’ve reconnected with our Global Care Soroti family and made some new friends. We’ve been truly blessed and spoilt with good food and chat. We’ve written more logframes than I care to remember.  The exercise reinforced our impression of the inspiration, vision and care of this team. We’ve asked difficult questions and left them with more work, and really hope what we did has helped them with their proposals for new interventions. We’ve talked about budgets and business plans – for anyone reading this who really knows me, I had a giddy moment when I showed the team how to write a Gantt Chart!! We’ve looked at reports and recording and thought again how hard it is when you keep paper records or don’t have access to computers which have become so much part of our daily lives.

There are some moments I will never forget:

·         Mike and Sam stripping corn cobs so they can take the maize for milling.  A pile of maize sacks was an encouraging example of the great harvest they had this year. As their knives peeled the kernels, yellow mini hailstones rained around them. By the end their chairs and bowls were islands in a sea of corn.

·         Meeting sponsored children and hearing their stories. Shy teenagers and confident young men, the little 4-year-old boy. Knowing how grateful they are because they say without GCare they would be ‘nothing’.

·         Listening today to Francis, a National Representative for disabled people speak with passion and wisdom. It was uncomfortable sitting on my wrap on a hard, dirty stone floor, with other women. The men sat on chairs or benches. Francis talked to the executive committee of the new Abeko Disability Support Group, helping them understand the legal process and constitutional requirements for a village group. People arrived slowly – some walking miles in the heat. One exhausted women arrived with an IV cannula in her hand, and lent against a tree trunk, sweat pouring off her face. But they came. They want to learn how they can improve the lives of people with disability.

·         Peering into a tiny dark hut to see our friend from the Ark and her beautiful smile as we left.

·         The mother cradling her disabled son with compassion and love pouring over him like a sweet balm of peace.

·         Listening to people talk about the problems for people with disabilities – some similar but most vastly different from the UK. How can you fetch water if you can only crawl, or if the borehole is too far away, or if you’re blind? How can you build a house if you can’t use an axe or climb a tree for branches or get a job to pay for materials or labour?

The laughter and smiles in the Ark. The peace and joy covering the children. Seeing a child count from 1-10, standing in a standing frame, talking – all huge improvements from last time we were here. And the child who was like a different boy. Gone was the miserable, unsociable child and here was a laughing healthy boy who wanted to play and was cross if Uncle wasn’t with me.

·         Seeing tiny, tiny babies at Amecet – motherless or sick or both. Little faces crying for comfort and love and milk. And the awesome caring team who look after them.

Today I thought I’d give you some money facts.

·         We paid a similar amount for 11 nights at our hotel in Soroti as the families were given to set up businesses to provide for their disabled children and the rest of the family, when children were discharged from the Ark.

·         We pay our driver Kampala Muzungu rates and the daily cost of the car and driver is the same as someone in the village gets for a month.       

 Peeling a 20 -25kg basin of potatoes pays 1,000UgS (about 20p). An elderly grandmother supporting herself and a child can probably peel 3 – 5 /day. That’s their only income.

·         We paid 3 times as much for a meal in the hotel (which is full of foreigners) as we paid in the café in Mbale, and one hotel meal is not much less than the price of a chicken (£4).

·         In the village you pay someone to maintain and protect the borehole – nothing is free here.

·         In town in a poor area, renting a small hut will cost you £6/month and you share a latrine with 30-50 people.

It really is a crazy world. The grandmother could never afford a 40p rolex – she has to provide for everything – not just food. 

I suspect we’re going to go home and consider our giving again and as we go back to our lovely home, I hope we don’t just count our blessings but remember the need here too.

I am incredibly grateful to Global Care for allowing us the privilege of seeing the work first hand, meeting families and communities who benefit from their work, children with hope for the future, and the utterly wonderful local team. 

Help, I need somebody

I’ve just handed a package to a small shy boy. His clothes are dirty and although he’s wearing shoes, the laces are missing. He doesn’t seem familiar with unwrapping a present – eventually I help, and we rip it apart. He holds up the T-shirts, I don't know if he's pleased. He speaks Kumam... His friends and teachers speak Ateso. Fortunately David speaks Kumam.  We show him the coloured pencils and drawing pad and he draws a tree and a cup. He lives alone with his Grandmother in town. They can’t live with the family in the village because a land dispute ended in violence, and it isn’t safe for them. His mother has left him but brings him today. His father died. His grandmother earns money by peeling potatoes. She’s paid 20p per basin of peeled potatoes. That’s what the pair of them live on.

Because of sponsorship, this boy can go to school – his fees are paid, he’s provided with uniform and books. He will receive soap, healthcare and general welfare care. He will have lunch at school every day.  He’s 4. Without Global Care he would be unlikely to start school until he is much older... If ever. Living alone with his grandmother, he helps with chores around the house. He will get gifts from GCare which may include fruit trees, a mattress, water carrier, oil lamp, cup and plate – even livestock. He’s been given a chance to have hope for the future.

Blog followers will know there is always a blog about sponsorship. We’ve been excited to meet up with our own children and those sponsored by friends. We met a tiny frightened hungry child in 2008, with his baby brother and desperate widowed mother. Now he’s a strong healthy teenager training to be a motor mechanic. We've seen the value of this programme. We’ve sponsored children who were bright academically, and met ex-sponsored children who are doctors, lawyers and engineers. For others the outcome may be different. Girls may get pregnant, thinking a man is a good option for financial support. That is rarely the case. We’ve sponsored children who’ve moved away, who’ve completed education and we’ve lost contact, and some repeat primary school years so many times they are 18-20 yrs old when they go to secondary school. They have gaps.in education...  the weather is too bad for the walk to school along several miles of muddy flooded tracks.  Their family may prefer them to work at home. One option is to apply for vocational training schemes. We’ve seen ex-sponsored children working in carpentry, hairdressing, sewing, welding and mechanics. Some even have their own business. Global Care sponsorship is about enabling children to gain skills to be able to support themselves and their family one way or another. We’ve come up with a phrase this week ‘improve life chances’.

Yesterday we saw barefoot children in ragged clothes living in dark, tiny claustrophobic huts. Some of these children have no hope of ever going to school. Some will struggle to get anything other than casual labour. In villages, we see small children fetching water, looking after cows, caring for younger siblings, cleaning, working in the garden, fishing for mud fish - all tasks focussed on survival, some jobs are dangerous or unsafe. We’ve seen poverty in many guises, including lack of basic needs such as food, clothing and sanitation, but also in terms of loss of respect or being ostracised and alone.

What excites us about this charity is that it isn’t afraid to attack the most difficult situations – they really do bring hope and light to places of fear and darkness.  We’ve seen schools with wheelchair ramps, school gardens with successful crops providing food for all the children, safe storage for books, concrete classrooms where once there were leaky thatched roofs. And you can’t underestimate the impact The Ark and the Disability Support Group have made to families with children or adults with disability, and the slowly changing attitudes amongst local people to disability. In Soroti there was a feeding programme during the drought, there is a skills training centre for sewing, they are working on their own garden as part of a self-sufficiency plan. Everyone you speak to who has encountered Global Care is full of praise and gratitude, every family, child and community.

Trust us, this system works. It takes a holistic approach to children and families in the context of their community. It works to improve the lives of as many people as possible and always looks for self sustainable solutions. The staff are inspirational. Go for it - £22/month for sponsorship, but as little as £3/month to be a project supporter. You know it makes sense!

https://www.globalcare.org/product/sponsor/ 

Today we also did a session on Business Planning, wrote reports, suggested recommendations, and visited the wonderful YWAM centre for abandoned babies and sick children... See  Drtomgoesglobal  for more.  

The Mummy: Unwrapped

I’m a Global Care volunteer, a wife, and a Mum with 3 adult sons. When my children were small, my husband worked long hours and helped where he could. My friend has 4 children. One has learning disabilities. Her husband also works long hours and is away from home most weeks. Her son goes to a special school, so during term time it’s the evenings and weekends that are hard. They get some respite through social services. She's one of my heroes!

We visited three of our old friends today - children discharged from the Ark. We also met their mothers. Their families attended Physio sessions when the children were at the Ark. They leant how to care for their children at home. They’ve each been given money to invest – after discussing their ideas with the GC managers in Soroti and agreeing a plan.  First, we went to a tiny hut, where a girl with athetoid cerebral palsy (we'll call her Susan), was lying in clean clothes on a clean mattress being fed by her sister. A very different situation from when she started at the Ark 5 years ago. There are 11 people in the family. Both parents were casual labourers, earning a pittance on the days they worked. With their GC investment, the mother started a business selling dried fish, and the father selling cassava. During the day, Grandma cares for Susan and the younger children, while others are at school or working. Susan was distracted by her breakfast banana while we were visiting, but we had a lovely smile as we left.

Our second visit was to ‘James’ who lives with his extended family in a house built through his grandmother’s nursing pension. James is an active child who puts everything in his mouth and has an unhelpful habit of escaping the compound in his wheelchair, heading for a busy road. It was great to see him playing with his sister. His Grandma told us they've moved things into the house so James can't eat dusty dirty objects. I can’t imagine what its like looking after James – and at night he can be noisy. His mother used her money to set up a clothing business. She buys bales of clothes in town and sells them by the roadside. She says she makes a good profit. She can provide for her family and care for her disabled son. 

At the final home, we were all moved by a mother holding her son with love and compassion, bent over him rubbing his back and nuzzling his head.  Her love and care radiated round the room.  17-year-old ‘Emmanuel’ and his mother live in a teacher’s house at the school where she works. Ema had un-diagnosed meningitis when he was 1.  He has no functional movement in his limbs. He can hear and see some things, but doesn’t speak. Ema is sick. Very sick. His mother takes him to hospital for treatment but he’s so big its becoming difficult. He’s in too much pain to sit in his wheelchair so they take a boda-boda motorbike. The guards at the hospital won’t let the motorbike into the compound so she has to carry Ema to the doctor. Then she carries him to other buildings for tests, back to the doctor for results, then the pharmacy for medication. Then they have to get home again. Today Ema was silent and kept drifting asleep.  Carrying and caring for Ema has left his mother with a painful back. The doctors say there’s nothing else they can do except relieve Ema’s symptoms. School starts tomorrow. If she works, Ema is alone at home. When he was well, he’d go to the Ark and at home  other children would push him around in his wheelchair. His mother told us that before the Ark, he stayed home alone when he was well, she missed work when he was sick. This was their life for 12 years. She's an amazing example of a mother's unconditional sacrificial love.  Ema’s mother has spent most of her money on medical bills, but also plans to buy a cow - an investment here.  Her strength and courage were inspirational, her love overwhelming. 

I'm in awe of these mothers and grandmothers. I'm in awe of how hard GCare worked to find ways to relieve the suffering of parents and children when Tom was doing his research. Back then these children were hidden away, in the shadows or even under beds. No special schools or social services.

Today the mothers were incredibly grateful to GCare. They found hope when they realised people not only understood how difficult their situations, but wanted to help. GCare reaches out to individual children in unique situations, supporting extremely vulnerable children, families and communities...  with wisdom and integrity. Days like today may bring me to tears, but also bring stories of change and hope. These 3 children are no longer behind the curtain, their families not alone and outcast, and they have people who will continue to care for them and regularly visit. 'We can't do everything, we mustn't do nothing, we can do something.' 

Incidentally,  the wheelchairs all came from GCare. 

We also visited a school where wheelchair ramps had been installed, some boys on vocational training schemes, and met lots more sponsored children – but that’s for another day! I'm not blogging about the 2 hours of logframes... 

Hugs and Mugs, Hearts and Charts, Mouse and Spouse

I’m woken by the hacking cough of the woman next door and lie still, hoping I’ll go back to sleep. A few minutes later the buzzing starts. It’s our 6.30am alarm.  Its dark outside but already noisy. We hear birds, chickens, cars, other people's bathroom activities, and early morning cleaning, through the ventilation grille. There's the scraping clunk of the corridor door followed by the click of light switches, then slapping flipflops.  Pulling back the mosquito net I go to the bathroom. After a cold shower I get dressed - a long wraparound skirt and a smart top. We’re in the office today so I put on regular flat sandals, not my usual scruffy walking ones.

Breakfast, which starts at 7am, is served at 7.15. Tom gets his special chapatis at 7.30. Our driver, Charles, is already waiting, so I go to the room and pick up my bag. I’ve got the first aid kit, my camera, a wrap, a frisbee, painkillers, hat and sun cream, notebook and pens, phone, purse, a bottle of water, and 2 slabs of Parkin. Charles is by the car, and eventually Tom arrives. We set off for the Global Care Centre a 10-minute drive away. It’s a bumpy ride. The road is rough, uneven and dusty, full of potholes and even a pile of bricks. Boda-bodas and bicycles career along the road avoiding hazardous bumps, each other, people walking and cars.

We arrive at the Centre in time for staff devotion. While the team are singing, Tom gesticulating – he wants me to record the gorgeous harmony.  He’s forgotten I used Fred’s phone yesterday as I'm hopeless with the audio recorder! Tom brings a 'thought for the day'. The session ends with much hand shaking and greeting.  Everyone else has jobs to do, so I take photos round the Centre - annoying everyone by interrupting their work or asking them to sit in a particular way. First, I go to the girls at the (outside) kitchen. They're cleaning the area with a hand broom, then collect branches to make a fire and boil a kettle. I realise this is for our morning tea.  I'm spoilt here – I rarely make a drink and no meals. They start washing the dust off yesterday's pots. The Ark is being cleaned too... floors swept and washed and everything prepared for the children. Hmm, maybe I should stop moaning about housework at home – I don’t have to contend with living in a hot dusty climate, fetching water from a standpipe, and I have an array of domestic appliances. Imagine what it's like in the rainy season! 

Its time to start work. Some of us are having a lesson from Tom on logframes. He tells me a logframe is a way to record the intended effects of a project and how you’re going to report them. I’ve been to this lesson before – I still struggle. In a classroom, we’ve decided to start with an exercise. Fred is blindfolded and told to give Brenda instructions to make him a cup of tea.  At the end he’s given the result– a cup with a few tea leaves. He didn't tell her to put in water or sugar. We hope this explains the importance of clear, detailed project planning!  The team want to look at a proposal to build a shelter at a school.  Younger children currently have lessons sitting on a log under a tree. An hour later, we’ve nearly done, but we’re desperate for a tea break.  It seems pretty obvious to me that its better for school to be a shelter with walls and a roof rather than a tree, but to bid for funding, the team have to consider how the lives of the children will change, and how they will measure the results. Its hard work. The Parkin is a success alongside Mandases (doughnuts) with our tea. Fred has hot, wet, sugared tea! We finally have a draft logframe and decide to stop and rest our brains.

On the way back to our office we pass a girl who's come to see David. I shriek with delight. She's sponsored by one of our friends. She didn’t know we're here and it’s a real treat to hug and chat and give her a gift and letter from her sponsors.  She's delighted, and reads the letter carefully, then says I must take back a hug.  We have the warmest hug I’ve had from her in 10 years. Its coming with me. She tells Brenda excitedly about the gift of soap and clothes. Golly I’m lucky to be able to do this.

Tom and I go to the Ark and spend time playing and chatting, watching the staff give Physio and number and alphabet lessons to the children – see drtomgoesglobal for more.  We’re given the children’s files – records of the targets they’ve been set and their progress. I can’t imagine having to only have written records – and prepare reports from them. Fred asks me for help with report writing as Mrs Boring loves a report as much as a spreadsheet. 

Lunch is posho and beans then its back for another logframe. This time the team want to buy garden hoes for a school. Tom sits back and tells Fred it's his turn to lead the discussion. It’s a team effort. Its still hard work, its hot, we’re tired and thirsty, my skirt is sticking to my legs with sweat. We don’t quite get a draft – but make a good start. I wonder how the team are going to find time for this as well as all their other work. All day children and guardians arrived at the centre asking to speak to someone. A sick relative was taken to hospital.  

We agree a programme for the next 2 days then Charles brings us back to the hotel.. And aircon and a shower.

Our friends will have gone home on a motorbike or boda-boda or walked.  Most days Fred and David leave nearly 2 hours after us.  Once again I'm in awe of the dedication of the team. They work hard physically and mentally in airless heat. They have difficult decisions to make every day. Some of the team visit families, schools and children, others work in the Ark or at the Centre, and the kitchen team beaver away in the background.  I’m beginning to understand how they achieve so much – they’re always looking for new initiatives to change vulnerable children's lives for the better-and they want to make an impact for whole communities, always looking at  self-sustainability. We have another logframe tomorrow.  I must be positive and supportive and not own up to being logframed out.

Dare You Look Behind the Curtain?

Today we have carried out another video interview, spoken to a local representative for disabled persons, recorded a poem, visited our lovely friends at the Atiira Disability Support Group (ADSG), eaten lunch made by ladies at the ADSG, and walked to visit a house being built for a local family. I’ve totally failed to master the Global Care audio recorder – so Fred recorded the poem on his phone and its already been WhatsApped to the UK office.  I think I’m getting better at videoing but can’t find an App to view them on this dodgy laptop. I’ve worked out where the hot water button is for the shower. So its been a pretty good day. However, I’ve decided today to let other people speak and I’m going to write some quotes from people we talked to today.

Sponsorship

‘I am now studying to be a doctor. Without Sponsorship none of this would have been possible. When I joined the programme I could go to school, got scholastic materials, food and medical care – all that was sponsorship. In 2008 I had a chance to meet the kind lady who sponsored me. When they told me, I was like, ‘Wow. I can meet this person who has sacrificed to send me through all this education.' I was so grateful, so grateful. I was writing all these letters to her – and she told me she read them. I worked hard because someone gave me an opportunity to be in school.  I gained so much. I wish many more could go through education.’

On working as a Regional Representative for the National Council for Persons with Disability (PWD).

‘It is hard for people with disabilities. The numbers of PWD are increasing because older people understand they can register as disabled and when people have accidents they register too. There is not enough money for all these people. If a woman has a child with disability (CWD) her husband will divorce her. Parents feel their children are outcasts. We are trying to explain to schools that when they buy desks, they need to have some that are suitable for CWD. We need ramps at schools. We need trained special needs teachers.’

On education in rural villages

‘When a child from the village arrives at school, he or she has already done chores, maybe fetched water, looked after animals and younger children, then walked 3-6 miles to school. He arrives hot, tired, and hungry. Usually he is late. When he has finished he walks home again to more chores, still without a meal unless the school provides lunch, and when he’s finished chores it’s too dark to do homework. Children in rural settings spend less of the day at school, they are too fatigued and hungry to learn well and if they are not a biological child in the family, they may be kept at home to do housework.’

I’m not going to tell you much about our visit to ADSG – read Tom’s blog at DrTomGoesGlobal, but I have a few quotes:

-         'Don’t wait for someone to see you have a problem, wake up and solve your own problems. Claim your basic rights to food and clothing. Let us own our disability.'

'Global Care gives you money and must account for it. You have never disappointed us. The group flourishes because you don’t think of your own needs and support those in greatest need.'

And a few lines from the poem:

Behind the curtain I tell you,
there is something precious

Something unseen to the naked eyes of society. Do you believe me?

…. Behind the curtain I lived in ignorance,
close to my heart

To me it seemed like a dream
when reality dawned into my ears 

That disability is not inability

                                                             And my future glitters, like the bright morning star.

                                                                                   … What is it that able people can do that we cannot?  

It was great to be greeted with ululation and clapping and joy, to be welcomed with handshakes and hugs. But that’s twice already this week I’ve been reminded that disability is not inability.

I only pray that I look behind the curtain and see the truth - that I don't forget about people with disability hidden from view or rejected and disowned.

PS Favourite quote today: Everyone looks at him and thinks he's just a nice old man. But he used to be a rebel. He's really a Ninja.

Why did the chicken...?

Today has been long, hot and dusty. I’ve had a very nice tepid shower and rested on our comfy clean bed while Tom boiled our travel kettle for a cuppa. I put on a clean sundress and the aircon is nicely cooling the room. Aaaah, the luxuries of a Muzungu in Uganda.

This morning started with staff prayers at the GC Centre.  Then, an unexpected event, sponsored children arriving to be interviewed (programmed for Friday).  We hadn’t tested our equipment, planned interviews or decided on location. After a hurried chat we nominated Tom ‘Cameraman’ and me ‘Interviewer’. I hadn’t shown Tom the brief – a potential problem - I hope there’s a fantastic editor in the office. Sorry UK Boss.

We met 4 young people who had been sponsored. 

·         ‘Mary’s’ Mum was a widow with 5 children. When Mary’s father died, his family threw them out and refused the Mum’s inheritance (a piece of land).  The family of 6 lived in one room. There wasn’t enough money for the children to go to school. Mary was sponsored in 2001 and was successful in her studies. This year she graduated from nursing school.  

·         ‘Michael’ lived with his mother, 6 siblings, a second wife and 4 step-siblings. They had no other support. Michael was sponsored through primary school and then for vocational training in motor mechanics. Now Michael owns his own workshop and is responsible for providing for the whole family. He employs some of his brothers and provides training.

·          ‘Susan’ lives with her 7 siblings and their parents, who both have poor health and struggle to support the big family. They are subsistence farmers, working their land to provide food for the family and sell any excess. They have very little food. Susan was sponsored and is waiting for her final senior exam results. Then she’ll decide what to do.

Our conversations left us encouraged and excited. Once again we’ve seen how sponsorship changes lives, not just the sponsored children, but their whole families. I’m committed to the Global Care sponsorship programme because children are treated as individuals, but in the context of whole communities. The programme works towards self-sustainability for families and communities.

For some, life is even less straightforward.  ‘Steven’ told us a shocking story of abandonment, abuse and discrimination.  He and his siblings were more-or-less ‘rescued’ by Global Care. Steven was sponsored and recently completed vocational training as a barber. Now he shaves hair in a salon in Soroti.  His job allows him to survive but his future is uncertain. His inheritance of land has been taken from him. We were all became quite emotional as we saw the pain and suffering in this young man’s eyes. He still has a long hard struggle ahead.  He feels alone, and afraid for the future. He said he’s very grateful to Global Care… Imagine where he would be without this awesome local team.

Reeling from this story, we travelled to a rural village deep in the bush - 1½ hrs of bumpy tracks and paths out of Soroti. Our vehicle carried 6 people, bottles of water, boxes of food, flipchart paper and pens – and a live chicken. We were visiting the newly formed Abeko Disability Support Group to carry out a workshop to help the team supporting the group.  



We met in the Baptist Church, an isolated mud structure with a thatched roof.  By the time we left there were 50 men, women and children (the latter mostly sitting on the floor). The aim of the session was to identify key problems for the group so that when we go back on Saturday, we can help the committee prioritise the problems and start thinking about potential solutions.

This isn’t the first time we’ve sat in a stiflingly hot room with struggling parents and children. It always leaves me sad and frustrated. After giving everyone the opportunity to share, we summarised the problems. If you live in a remote rural community with a child with a physical/sensory/intellectual disability, you can’t meet their care needs, they can’t move around (no aids, rough ground – impossible in the rain), you and they experience discrimination, exclusion and abuse, school is an impossibility – too far, no adaptations, no expectations for disabled children. 
That’s about a tenth of the issues.

None of these people will have an electric shower, or a comfy bed. Many will go hungry tonight and have to walk some distance to the pump to fetch water. In their hot airless accommodation, most sleep on the floor, the disabled children may lie on a thin dirty sheet, their incontinence making them prone to infections. Today has been difficult for us – but I can’t imagine the hardship of these people. So as you run your next shower and eat your tea, remember Steven, and the adults and children with disability living in Abeko.

The chicken didn’t come back with us. At least we know those 50 people had a meal today (don’t worry – they’d already been given 3 more chickens!).

If you want to know more about sponsorship, visit: https://www.globalcare.org/ways-to-give/sponsor-a-child/ 

Lifeguards Love Me

This afternoon I’m counting my blessings! Today is the last day of what can only be described as a ‘holiday’ and we’re refreshed and rested ready to start work at 8am tomorrow. No more late breakfasts and lazy days...

Today we went to church (started at 8.30, we arrived at 9, finished at 11.15), relaxed at the hotel, then my fantastic friend Fred (who reads this, and tomorrow I’m calling ‘Boss’) took me out for a treat.

So here goes:

1. I’m privileged to be able to come to beautiful Uganda.
The people are warm and welcoming and it really is beautiful. Today lizards played in the sun and flowers and bushes wafted in the breeze. Soroti has plains and swamps, Rukungiri mountains and jungles. Game Parks are fascinating - not going to forget seeing rhinos, crocs, elephants and giraffes. Next week we visit waterfalls. 

2. I’m blessed to be allowed to be part of the Global Care team.
Volunteering on the comms team, means learning about the work and children in all the countries where GCare works. In Uganda I’ve met local staff and their families and made fantastic friends. Staff here have incredible enthusiasm and vision for vulnerable children. And I get to visit projects and meet sponsored children. 

3. Coming here changed my attitude to disability.
Anyone who visits the Ark disability centre has their eyes and mind opened.  I'm beginning to understand what it means to say that we're all the same, except some people have disability.  To realise its about ability and potential not a disability. 

4. I  have two home churches.
This morning we attended Deliverance Church – we're as much part of the church family here as at Hope House in Barnsley. We are greeted with kindness and love by our friends. I respect the leadership. Today we had laughter, powerful testimony, challenging words and the best exhibition of leadership dancing I’ve ever seen. The overwhelming joy of a man released early from prison and now starting a prisoner rehabilitation centre was expressed in an exuberant song of praise to God. As he began to dance, enthusiastically bopping and jumping (proper jumping, hitting backside with ankles jumping) he was joined by Pastor Robert and several other men. They shook and shimmied in their full suits in the uncomfortable heat. Love this church!

5. I am constantly challenged about hypocrisy and complacency.
Last night, our friends, who happen to be deaf, suggested its easier to be deaf in a foreign country because generally everyone communicates in the same language.  I haven’t even been bothered to learn sign language – we communicate by writing.  I assumed their driver wasn't deaf... wrong. Each time we come we recognise obvious poverty - and realise we've blotted out and forgotten hidden deprivation. People in the middle of town cluster round a water pump - we've forgotten the reality of not having access to running water/ clean water/ sanitation.

6. I've learnt to appreciate little pleasures

We’ve had a room upgrade. Woohoo! Bigger room, air conditioning (??) and somewhere to sit. For a huge £2 extra a night.  Tom is currently resting in the cool as he recovers from next door’s party which went on till about 1.30am last night. Not having a party tonight is fabulous. We have regular meals.

7. I have great friends and family

Thanks for all the support from home - loving the comments and messages.

And finally:

Lifeguards love me

Fred took me swimming today - we drove to a pool outside town (he thought the one in town would be too small for me). He knows I swim regularly and have never swum in Soroti. For many people here swimming is a luxury. Entry to the pool cost more than Charles and my lunches in a café. So - I was a novelty in my goggles trying to swim lengths of front crawl. The lifeguards decided to create a 'lap area' for anyone who wanted to swim lengths with the white woman - and one of them went off to get an energy drink so he could join me (Swimyourswim chaps laughing like drains at this #slowestswimmerinthepool). By the time they'd found something to attach to two ends of a rope I was ready to come out  - but it would have been rude.

I am blessed and privileged. Tomorrow we travel to Abeko to meet people wanting to start a disability support group and start interviews with sponsored children. Tomorrow the real work starts.