Work begins!

I did promise another update today and some pictures!! So here I am...
 Today we went to Ruth Mother Care, this is a small school where we will be helping to teach.   It was started in 2008 with only 10 pupils, but has steadily grown over the past few years, and is now supporting 46 pupils.  After a bumpy boda boda ride (basically a motorcycle taxi..)  and the drivers taking a couple of wrong turns, we eventually arrived there.  The kids were extremely excited to meet us! Lots of shouting and cheering and running up to hug and grab us. It was very welcoming and friendly!  Rather than teaching today we were starting work in renovating the school building.  Next week a team is coming here from England to build a new structure, but we first need to dig the foundations where the main supporting pillars will be.  Just now Ruth Mother care is a very humble place, not much more than a shed really as you can see below.  Not  water tight, making it very difficult to teach in the rain (when it rains here, it really rains!!) 

the current structure at Ruth Mother Care

As well as trying to keep the childrens work dry.  Over the next couple of weeks, Smile will be supporting the development of the school building.  Ensuring the school can help to educate children and give them a better chance in life well in to the future. As well as create a safer and more comfortable environment to learn in.

This morning we started to dig the foundations where the main supporting pillars will be.  This turned out to be a little bit of a challenge, as we had very basic tools to work with! We were basically using a machete to make the dirt a bit looser and then our hands to scoop the dirt out. The ground was very dry and hard, so it was tough to get started on, it was also tiring working in the midday heat. We are about half way there with the digging, and we will complete it tomorrow! I'll leave you with a few pics to prove we haven't just been lazing around all the time! It has been good to finally start work on a new project!                                                       

Ruth and Kathryn

Ruth and Innocent

Mud,

10 days!

Good evening all!

So sorry I haven't kept you updated...! I promise to keep a much better account of this coming week.. haha we'll see how that turns out...

Anyway....  I can't believe we have already been here 10 days. In  a strange way it feels much longer, but also hardly any time at all!  The past week has been quiet, mostly meeting the other volunteers, and starting to plan for the kids clubs.  Slowly easing in to the work.
 On Friday we visited a few of the sights where we will be working during our time here.  The first place we visited was Family Believers Church (FBC).  Here we will be running one of the kids clubs on Friday afternoons, as well as supporting and encouraging the local community on Thursdays through the Outreach programme.  FBC is in a slum area, so a lot of the people there have very little. When we were there on Friday, a few of the local children came to say hello.  Most of them dressed in ripped or dirty clothes. I found this difficult to see, coming from a culture where this would be unimaginable.  They were incredibly excited to see us and very friendly!  A few of them even came and gave us all a big hug, they are all very cute! up to 130 kids come along to the kids club at FBC and it is apparently a bit hectic, so looking forward to that challenge!! I am also looking forward to working in this area, though I expect to be challenged seeing the prevalent poverty all around, and seeing how people live there lives in a completely different way.
  After leaving Family believers, we headed to Ruth Mother Care.  This is the school we will be helping out with a couple of days a week.  We met the lady Ruth who started it, she was very welcoming.  There were no kids there on Friday, but it was good to see where we will be working and learning a little about the school.  There are about 45 pupils, with classes ranging from nursery to p3.  Currently the building is not much more than a wooden shed with a roof,  not very water tight. However this week we will be starting work, digging foundations for a new building.  So lots of before and after pics to come! Lastly we visited Blessed, he we will be running another kids club on Friday afternoons.
  On Saturday Ruth and I were invited to come along and play with the worship Choir during the Saturday evening service at KBC. I played Bass guitar and Ruth played acoustic.  This was a bit of a new challenge, as generally they don't have the music written down.  Also coupled with the fact that there was a wedding the had run late, so no time to practice.  Though we managed pretty well I think, hopefully we will be able to get more involved over the coming months. 
  Today we were at Church in the morning and afterwards Kathryn and I washed out clothes for the first time..!  No washing machines here...!! Thankfully my clothes were still pretty clean, though we will see how we get on after actually do work at the projects. 
I promise I will post some pictures tomorrow to let you have a glimpse in to life here, but it is late now so not tonight! That is if there is actually anybody reading this other than Anna.... haha..

Hope you are all well

Ken

New Beginnings

Hello, sorry I haven't updated this yet!

Where to start..?!  

On Sunday we attended church for the first time.  We will be going along to Kampala Baptist Church (KBC for short).  We went to the English service which is about an hour and 45mins. It was quite a similar service to the one at home. Though I really enjoyed the music and singing, we sang familiar songs, only they were slightly more upbeat and tuneful..! We even ended up staying for a wedding service,which took place after the main church meeting. It was great, a bit noisier than the usual wedding ceremonies back home.
   There is even a choir at kbc on Thursday evenings, so I will hopefully be able to get involved with that, as well as helping in other areas at the church.  After church we had our first chapatis (basically a thick pancake..)!  We took the rest of the day off watching a film and chatting with the other volunteers that stay here.   We are all settling in well, already feel at home around the Smile house. The local team have been very kind and welcoming, it has been good getting to know them all.

On Monday we met with the project manager here, Alex. We discussed how we were settling in and what we hope to get out of our time here in Uganda.  We also talked about what projects we will be involved in over the coming weeks.  In the next couple of weeks we will be heading to a village Smile have not been to before, and will help start up a new kids club as well as helping in the local school.
  Monday afternoon we went into the main city to get Ugandan sims and also get some other things.  I still don't have a clue where things are, or even how to get into town..! But that will come in time I am sure.
  Today has been a quiet day, we had a meeting with a couple of the local volunteers to talk about the kids clubs we will be helping at and also to start planning some lessons we could do.  In the late afternoon we went for a walk around the local neighbourhood.  I will have to get used to waving to all the local kids... All very excited to see white people! "Bye Mzungu!" 

It is interesting seeing all the different building and sights! It is such a mish-mash of stuff, nothing like the UK. Though it is challenging seeing all the poverty, seeing people who have literally nothing.  Especially when we were in the main city, when there were small children who came up to the car begging. 

It has also been funny adapting to power cuts.  The electricity was off most of the day, but that all part of the experience..

I will update soon, and hopefully post some pics!

Hope you're all well,
Ken

Hello World!

Hello everybody!

I write this post from a very warm, sunny Uganda. We finally made it!  After two days travel to London, on Tuesday and Wednesday, and a slight mishap on arrival at Gatwick on Wednesday morning ( I say slight... A lady made off with one my cases by accident!! Though I did thankfully get it back after a couple of  hours..!) After meeting the rest of the team (Ruth and Kathryn, we will be joined by Anna in a few months time) on Thursday morning at Heathrow our flight departed at 12:40.  After 8 hours we arrived in Uganda, late Thursday night.  Thankfully our flight and arrival were a lot less eventful than the travel south to London!  We were met by a couple of volunteers who work for Smile (Alex, Benni, Innocent, and Shavan)  and made our way to the Smile house, our new home for the next 6 months.

Our first day (Friday) was mostly spent catching up on sleep!  However in the afternoon we went food shopping in the local super market, and fruit and veg market.  It was incredible seeing all the different stalls and things. Also driving through Kampala was interesting! It may take a while to get used to the apparent lack of rules on the road..!  It was great to finally see some of the city in the day time, taking in the different sights, smells and noises!  In the evening when we arrived back at the house there was a power cut.  So we spent the time playing guitar and chatting, Ruth and I teaching Innocent a couple of songs he likes on the guitar, which was good. We also played our first game of Rummikub (first of many I am sure!) I am delighted to say that I won.. 

Today is Saturday, which will usually be our day off to do the shopping and things.  Though as we have just arrived this week we don't have much on today! 

Unfortunately I don't have much more news to post now, but I will be sure to keep you posted over the next 6 months about all the things we get up to as we work with Smile International.  Thank you to everyone who has supported me financially and through prayer it is greatly appreciated! I hope you are all well and I look forward to hearing from some of you soon! I will post some pics of the house and things soon!

One last thing.. you can find the girls blogs here.. Ruth and Kathryn

Bye for now :)
Ken!

Anna, Kathryn, Ruth, and me