Hi everyone and welcome to the first blog! Caitlin will be writing next week so come back for a different point of view… and we’ll keep you updated for the next four months so hope you enjoy hearing what we’ve been up to!

I think we would both agree that the one week we’ve been here seems like a small eternity as we have fitted in so much! It has been really hot so part of the experience has really just been trying to acclimatise to the heat. I have no idea what the temperature is but it can’t be far off 30 C and it doesn’t cool off much at night either! Mozzies aren’t too bad though or maybe that’s Caitlin’s mozzie spray which is so strong it seems to kill most for a good distance.

Anyway, apart from mozzies and heat, Uganda is an amazing place and we’re so glad to be here at the SALVE home. Although I (Esther) was here about ten years ago it’s amazing how much I have forgotten and being here with the kids and living so closely with those that live here is quite a different experience from any holiday could give.

We’re really excited about all the projects we’re going to get involved in. For Caitlin it will be teaching drama at the Joy primary school where the children study (I’m sure they will enjoy it as I get the impression most Ugandan teaching is quite un-interactive), helping with the children’s English reading and developing their admin and teaching resources. She is also looking into writing a brochure for the school and is aiming to find a link school in the UK.

The school is quite dilapidated, constructed from planks with great cracks in between and holes for windows (a good thing actually as it stops it from getting too hot) and small classrooms with the sweetest little wooden chairs I’ve ever seen.

Today we helped out at a craft workshop for poor children who are attending the school but cannot afford a uniform or stationary and school books. The idea is to create jewellery to sell to raise funds for this. The project is in its elementary stages and the children are still learning how to make beads from strips of rolled up magazine pages. They are quite impressive and have plans to make them very professional with several coats of varnish and proper clasps etc. The problem is that there is not yet a market for them so I have dedicated a couple of days a week looking into how to go about this and also possibly expanding their range of products.

The other main thing that we will be working on is the street clinic. The idea is to build relationships with children who are living on the streets so that when a space becomes available in the SALVE home, we will know who best should take it. The other reason for the street clinic is to provide help through suggesting possible sources of education, healthcare, and income generating projects to help the children that we are unable to directly support through SALVE.

I’m sure Caitlin will want to tell you more about all her plans but the other main thing we will both be involved in is a community education programme which aims to educate rural or underprivileged communities in the area about HIV, family planning, healthcare, etc. The project is just an idea at the moment but we hope it will spread through involvement in community institutions such as nurseries, schools and perhaps women’s groups.

We went to one of the most underprivileged communities in the Jinja district today to interview a potential child for the home. Referred to as a “slum” area, Masese is home to the Karamanjong tribe. They have very few rights and live a relatively nomadic lifestyle as it seems they are ousted out of their homes by local or government authorities before any length of time. The homes were made from dried mud and sticks, with cow dung smeared on the outside to keep the jiggers (burrowing insects) out and holes had been patched up with bin bags. Despite the obvious poverty and lack of educational / employment opportunities it was incredible and very inspiring seeing the people’s jubilance and their friendliness towards us. Shouts of “Muzungu! (white person) how are you?” Followed us everywhere with the crowds of children who followed and touched our skin presumably to check whether we were real.

I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to help create opportunities for such people who are so deserving and many of whom incredibly keen and yet so wrongly misunderstood and discriminated against for no reason of their own.

I hope you’re still with me! I just looked up and saw a huge, full orange moon which I wanted to share with you… The youngest girl is busy playing pick-up-sticks beside me and shouting her scores enthusiastically.

A bit about the home… basic by UK standards but I imagine very nice for by local standards and certainly a stage above the terracotta mud homes that line the maize of tracks that interlink through the sprawling village of Bugembe. It’s amazingly clean and the children are good at doing all the chores that need doing including cooking, and carrying water from the tap at the bottom of the garden that supplies all our washing/cooking etc needs.

The kids were very shy to start with and would hide their faces when we tried to speak with them! This soon wore off though and they are now busy trying to get us to read with them at every possible opportunity, or to join in their games, make friendship bracelets, etc – even work through such daunting things (in my mind) as maths!! They’re doing amazingly well at school considering many have only started relatively recently, and their enthusiasm to learn is a joy to see.

Tomorrow Caitlin and I are looking forward to a swim in the pool overlooking the Nile and our first western meal since arriving (apart from the spaghetti bolognese we made the other night for the whole family who I am still unsure quite what they made of it). Ugandan food is quite varied – all sorts of carbohydrates made from various flours, rice and green bananas called matoke. Lots of rice too and good bean stews. The children consider themselves to eat very well at the home and from what I gather really look forward to their meals here during the holidays.

Anyway enough for now. I smell charcoal smoke as our supper cooks outside and there are stories to be read…

I hope you’re all well and looking forward to letting you know what exciting adventures we have had next time I write.

Esther xx