Uganda Trip October 2009

Bruce, Sharon and Lucy have just returned from an awesome week in Kampala, Uganda, visiting existing projects and discussing progress and plans for the future.

You may be shocked, but I managed to squeeze an entire wedding dress into my suitcase to take out for the women of Nebbi in the north west of the country! Some lovely ladies in the UK have kindly donated their wedding dresses so women in Uganda who don’t have access to this, are able to wear something beautiful on their special day. This is one of our more romantic projects and it is proving to be very successful! The dresses are hired at a very low price, and the money made from this is paying for 3 children to be put through school.

I had the wonderful opportunity of going into the school in the Katwe Slum and teaching some English! The school has just over 300 children ranging from ages 5 to 16 years. I had an older class who spoke good English and wanted to know everything about England! I was able to straighten out a few things like our Queen being called Elizabeth and not Victoria, and that not everyone living in England are millionaires! Apart from that they really impressed me with their vocabulary and desire to study and learn.

The school is doing well, however, the teachers continue to battle with very low income and limited school supplies. They do amazingly well with what they have. I saw children writing in their books with pens missing the plastic outer layer, and sharing rulers broken in half. They struggle to have enough textbooks to go around, and even the teachers have to be scarce with the chalk they use to write on the blackboards.We have now set up individual child sponsorship with kids in this slum. I met some of the children whose parents or guardians can’t continue the monthly fees to keep them in school, and are facing the possibility of pulling their children out of education. There are other children who are also not eating properly or have insufficient care as young as 6. I will be working hard to find sponsorship from people in the UK who can make a difference to those children. If this interests you, please ask me how you can get involved.

A drought in the northern region of Uganda has caused crops to fail and many people to starve. This is the area where we have the wedding dress project. We will focus aid here, and have plans in motion to purchase land to help grow extra crops and cause less pressure on the community leaders in the area.

Sharon spoke with groups of women on topics such as health and parenting during our trip. It is amazing to see first hand how simple education on the facts of life can help prevent sickness and disease.
The building work for the clinic in Ntungamo is really taking shape. We are discussing plans to build a water tank that can hold 20,000 litres of water. This will also include a filtration system that can provide safe drinking water to the area. This is the most cost effective way as this will provide water as long as it rains, and does not require much maintenance.
Bruce is very excited about his beekeeping project! Eagles Wings have purchased 2 beehives for £500 with a view to making honey (believe it or not!) This project is situated in the north east of Uganda in an area previously overrun by rebels. Now that it is safe, people have begun to move back to their farmlands and we are trying to help kick start them back into business by selling some honey. We will keep you posted on this so watch this space!

Thank you to everyone who donated and supported us during this trip, we can’t do it without you.

You can help with our projects by going to our ‘giving’ page and either giving online, or by cheque.

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Photos from the Eagles Wings archive

Lady selling coal

Sheena of Eagles Wings team with girls from our Girls’ Home

Sharon teaching at the conference

Some children of
the community

Some of the women gathered
for the health seminars.

Bride to be who will wear
donated wedding dress

Jane distributing medical
supplies.

Children from Katwe Slum