After 4 months and 17 blogs Esther and I find ourselves at the end of our Internship and thus writing the last ever blog from this set of interns! We have both been incredibly busy this week but what with Esther’s much-anticipated Community Education workshop she has had a million and one things to complete and unfortunately still hasn’t finished. This is why you are reading another blog from Caitlin, I hope you don’t mind! Esther will write a quick goodbye at the end so that we can both officially sign off.

As I just mentioned Esther finally gave her Informative Report on Wednesday to many of Jinja’s authorities on Street Children, including a couple of representatives from the Police, the local media, and other surrounding NGOs. The beginning of her week was spent, after creating reports for various different purposes, creating flip charts to aid her’s and Noah’s (the volunteer from CRO who has been working with her) presentation. I think it is safe to say she was understandably quite nervous about the whole thing and, not being a fan of public speaking, spent most of Wednesday morning practicing her speech. I went to the meeting to take the register and the minutes so that CRO and SALVE could have a record of exactly what was said. The turn-out was brilliant; everyone who was invited came and listened attentively to Esther and Noah’s presentation – informing them of some shocking facts concerning street children, as you’ve read in previous blogs. Esther did really well, clearly explaining all of her points and I think the whole thing had a really big effect on all those listening based on the discussion that was held afterwards and their comments on the feedback forms. The whole workshop was given an average of 8/10 so I think Esther and Noah were really pleased that their research had such an impact. Everybody contributed to putting forward thoughts on what was the best way forward for street children in Jinja and the outcome was that there should be monitoring of local organisations by the government, all the local organisations should partner for the good of the children, community education plans will be a good step along the path, and we should all lobby for specific by-laws on street children. We really hope that these will all be put into practice and it is great to know that people are behind the community education plans that SALVE has.


Esther spent most of the day on Thursday writing up the minutes and completing all the final admin necessary after the meeting. This is what took up so much of her time and so yesterday (Friday), having to spend most of the day on the beads project, she wasn’t able to do all of the final things for SALVE – monthly achievements, accounts sheets, and the interns pack (more on that later). She had a pretty successful day at the beads workshop, however; she was teaching the teachers how to make all the children’s paper beads into jewelry ready for them to all be completed by Monday when Esther will pick them up ready to fly home with to the UK on Tuesday. She was also creating the accounts book so that the project can keep a note of payment to children, teachers and mothers, and all the profits that they are receiving. It was so good to see it all officially begin and all down on paper, and we are hoping that the market will be open to Joy Crafts in a few weeks when Esther is home! We had a really lovely good-bye meeting with all the teachers and Mary last weekend and Mary was just so thankful to Esther for having started something which is potentially so self-sustaining and profitable to all those involved.

Unfortunately Esther was too busy this week to do the Street Clinics so Steven and I did these alone. Monday was supposed to be the day for sorting out the future of David and so we turned up to his usual ‘hang-out’ ready to take him to see the Pastor and his brother Patrick at El-Shadei to discuss the possibility of taking him to be with Patrick. We were told by his friends that only the night before David was taken by a man to have an education and they didn’t know where or who this man was. They suspected that David would be back and I’m really hoping that he’s either happy with his new home or that he will come back so that the next interns can take him to see Patrick again. I’ve been thinking about him a lot this week and I’m really hoping he’s OK.



So without that to occupy us I thought it would be a good idea to go to the SALVE home with Steven so that he could meet a few of the kids who are there (and not visiting relatives) and also meet Harriet who was spending her first day at the home. It was a really fun morning – we drew pictures that we thought represented ourselves and also gave Richard a few basic lessons in Maths and English. Richard, Harriet and Steven, all new members of our family, are doing so well and we’re really pleased to have them all. Richard will have to start from scratch in his education which is why Harriet and I have been giving him a few basic lessons before he joins Joy School. He is so happy though, and often says how pleased he is to be off the streets and sleeping in a comfortable bed without the fear of being beaten. He is always smiling and it is a joy to see. I have learnt after the experience with Luca not to get too complacent but things are looking bright for Richard and his new SALVE family. He is starting sponsorship this week and his new sponsors should be really proud to have such an amazing boy.





Harriet is also doing really well and has so many ideas for development and fun with the children. She has been spending every morning this week at the SALVE home and I have joined her a couple of times. She has a natural ability with the children and gave us all a fun morning on Thursday by collecting huge amounts of clay from the swamp down the road and we all put our creative hats on and made pots, dishes, cups and stoves! These dried in the sun for the rest of the day and they actually used Richard’s stove to boil baby Caron’s milk the next day! So it was fun and practical at the same time! I’m really looking forward to seeing the future of SALVE now that Harriet is a part of it.



Steven is also doing really well and he is another person I will be really sad to say goodbye to. He starts his new role officially on 7th September when the new interns will probably be starting again with the Street Clinic and I’m also excited to see how he will get on. He has some great ideas as well and is always keen to get stuck into anything. It was great that he could be at the Community Education workshop on Wednesday so that he could see what his work with Esther had contributed to. We also spent some time during the second street clinic of the week playing ball games and talking to our regular street boys which was really fun but when it came to saying goodbye to them once again it was quite emotional! When they heard Esther and I were leaving their faces fell and they said 'but they really care' as if nobody else did. I explained to them that there would be new mzungus coming and they looked a little happier but that was a moment I'll remember forever - I felt like I'd really made a difference to some people's lives here and that is what it's all about.



I finally got round to going with SoftPower Education’s construction worker to Joy school. I think he was genuinely shocked at how little there was at the school and he has gone back to discuss the plans with the people in the office and will send me a quote for the building work this weekend. I’m really excited to get going with the fund-raising for this and am hoping to approach schools to do some for us and businesses to hopefully donate some money. I’m hoping that the credit crunch has eased off slightly (maybe a bit naively) but I’ll just have to wait and see.



I’ve unfortunately had to spend a fair amount of time this week recovering or redoing a lot of work that I lost due to a computer at an internet café deleting precious files from my pen-drive. It was really not what I wanted on my last week but I think I’ve managed to get everything back now. On top of this I have been creating an interns pack, which is also what Esther is completing today, welcoming Alice and Esther and giving them information on all our different projects which they will be carrying on with. It’s really great that they can continue with things that we have started and we can see things grow from the UK. I know that they are going to do a fantastic job with everything. I would say I’m jealous that I can’t stay but I think the time has come now where I’m incredibly sad that I’ll be leaving people I’ve come to love and respect but I am also really looking forward to seeing everyone back at home.

Some of the most important people I’ll be sad to say goodbye to are the children. We are going to the SALVE home in a few hours where Harriet has been slaving away over a hot stove all morning making us a delicious ‘welcome to Richard’ and ‘goodbye to Caitlin and Esther’ lunch. Steven, Mike, Robina and the children who are there will be joining us as well and I’m really looking forward to it. We are then taking the children swimming, something they have been very excited about, for the afternoon. It is sad that not all of them will be there as they are spending time with their relatives during the school holidays but I am hoping I’ll see them on Wednesday before I leave. It’s going to be a good day but a sad one where Esther will need to say goodbye to everyone, ready to leave on Tuesday morning. I genuinely can’t believe it has come to this already; time has flown by.



So now that I have reported all of the news to you from our last week working with SALVE in Uganda I guess it must be time for me to say goodbye! Thank you so much to you all for reading our blogs, whether it has been every week or just when you have found the time – I’m really happy to know that you have taken an interest not just in what we as people have been doing but what SALVE has been doing as well. I’ve already said it in the newsletter and in an email but I also want to say a huge thank you to Nicola and Helen for giving me this opportunity which has been so worthwhile and has touched my heart (sorry for the cheesiness!). Also to Mike who has been so fantastic as our ‘boss’ in Uganda. Thanks to you all!!!!!

Lots of love

Caitlin xxx

Goodbye from Esther -
Thanks so much for doing this Caitlin, you've said everything so well there's nothing I want to add except goodbye everyone, and thanks for all your readings (congratulations, getting to the end of even one of our blogs is quite an achievement!), it's been great to have all your interest and support. Thank you! and big, big thanks to Nicola and Helen for all their help and support through our whole time here and for making this all possible. You've made such a wonderful difference and it's fantastic that so many others are getting the opportunity to share in it too! I hope you're really proud of yourselves :) I Look forward to hearing from the next Esther and Alice as they come to take over from us next week!
xxx
I'll leave you with some pictures from our swimming expedition yesterday...

and a very sweet little boy who just had to find his way on to the blog!
Stephen and I met him last week whilst visiting Mafubira.

PS I just have to share my excitement that the event with the police just made it into the paper! We had invited a local journalist along to the session but hadn't paid him to write an article (as its extortionately expensive) so it's great he has taken the initiative!! Unfortunately he picked up on the point of theft, making a big headline out of the 59% of the children living on the streets who admitted to theft, but then goes on to explain that the majority of this is amongst street children steeling from each other, only a very small minority stealing from the public. I think this is quite a challenging point to most of the public and I'm really excited it's getting so much publicity. He also mentioned about the number of children who make a living through carrying out domestic duties in town which gives a good impression of their positive impact on the area and that they are not all thieves as someone at the event had suspected. Even mentioned a few more things like where the children come from and the reasons for them being here (being mostly no fault of their own, as a result of domestic violence, poverty, death and separation of parents). So this is all excellent news and surprisingly accurate! I'm just so glad that it's all really being put to so much use whilst raising awareness of SALVE too : ) : )

Welcome to our penultimate blog!! It has certainly been a hectic, emotional, stressful but massively rewarding week and I’m really excited to tell you all the news! I apologise if this blog is a bit erratic but I’m currently on a massive high (purely emotional, don’t panic Mum and Dad!) and so my thoughts might be all over the place. I’ll try and be as coherent as possible.

You find me writing this at five to seven on Friday night after an incredibly long day. As CRO gave me their consent yesterday to take Richard (one of the boys, along with David, who we’ve been trying to help for a really long time) with us into our S.A.L.V.E home I got up early to make sure I was at CRO nice and early to whisk him away to his new life. I was dealing with Simon, a social worker at CRO, who told me all about how Richard had stolen from a neighbour in his home in Kaliro, and was thus outcast by the community and threatened regularly with murder. It was therefore unsafe for Richard to go home. His mother a

nd father, as Mike and I discovered after the long journey to Kaliro a few weeks ago, had separately moved to unknown destinations and so we would have huge difficulty tracing them. As both SALVE and CRO want to put the safety and well-being of the child first, we all agreed that it would be best for Richard for CRO to refer him to us and give us permission, as a registered Ugandan NGO (we are still in the process), to have him. Yesterday, as you can imagine, I was incredibly pleased. It made it even better when I called Mike to ask if tomorrow (today) was too soon to bring him home and he agreed that it was a good idea for it to be as soon as possible. So, as I was saying, I went to CRO nice and early to go and greet Richard with the good news. I spent the whole day waiting for him as he was busy collecting scrap metal from the streets of Jinja. I eventually gave Margaret, another social worker at CRO, my number and told her to call me if he arrived. I’d given up hope but by 4.15pm, as I was back here at the guest house, computer on ready to write the blog, I got a call saying Richard was waiting for me. I bounded out the door and ran to get a boda boda to take me there as fast as possible. Margaret had run out of calling credit to let me know of Richard’s arrival and gave Richard some money to go and get some for her. Richard refused her money and, as he was so happy at what the phone call would be achieving, personally funded her credit with precious money he’d earned on the streets. At the moment I learned this it totally confirme

d to me what a special, beautiful young man he is. It is so amazing the capacity you have to unconditionally love and I really feel that, along with all the other SALVE children, I have developed such strong feelings for all of these children.

Anyway, I took him, after some ‘good luck’s and ‘be good’s from CRO staff, to get his HIV test. I expected another nervous wait for the result, as with Luca, and this was no different. Richard’s face was in utter agony at the thought of having a needle stuck into his arm but I held his hand and we got through it together. Thank goodness he turned out to be negative! The doctor gave him some cream and anti-biotics to clear up the rash caused by lack of hygiene on the streets and then we ventured to the market to choose him some new clothes, shoes, and toiletries. All the way through his face and my face were beaming and we must have looked a sight walking the streets of Jinja together. I took him on the bus to Bugembe and had his head shaved. As we reached the home and Tiff caught sight of us his face lit up as he remembered his friend from the streets and they both looked very excited to be reunited. Tiff showed him his new bedroom and let him choose a bed and they both kept nudging each other’s arms, happy to be back together again and to have a new playmate at home. All the other children are with relatives at the moment but I’m sure they’ll be just as pleased to see their new brother. I left Richard helping to clear out the wilting flowers from Mike and Robina’s wedding, keen to get stuck into some household chores in his new home. I got on the bus back to Jinja and smiled the whole way home.

But anyway, there is so much more to tell you about so I shall stop gushing and move on! As I just mentioned, Mike and Robina had their wedding on Saturday and it was a very special day! Mike had put so much preparation, time and energy into organizing it all, along with his ‘wedding committee’ so I think he was really glad to finally reach the day but also because of his pleasure in eventually officially marrying the lovely Robina! In keeping with Ugandan tradition the wedding didn’t kick off until an hour later than planned and Robin

a was even later arriving, bringing with her a downpour worthy of the monsoon season in Nepal. Both her and Mike looked stunning and their faces equally in awe of what was going on – Mike couldn’t stop smiling in a way which said ‘I can’t believe this is happening’, and Robina was the embodiment of pure dedication to the ceremony. I felt really emotional watching the two of them together, secretly thinking ahead (WAY ahead!) to my own wedding day as I think Esther was as we excitedly both drew our wedding dresses later on that weekend! As the happy couple and all of their entourage came out and paraded around looking incredibly beautiful we went up to congratulate them on their union. Mike grabbed my arm and said ‘in the absence of Nicola and Helen one of you must make a speech’! As Esther is a little shy of public speaking I agreed to do the honors. We ventured over to the reception and were met with sparkly lights, gorgeous arrays of colour, and a massive number of guests. The whole thing was so Ugandan – lots of food, speeches and dancing. The choir was incredible and there was such a happy feel to the whole thing. I think the SALVE kids who were there really enjoyed seeing their Uncle and Aunty married and so joyful. I think my speech went well; I was just so pleased to be able to let both of them know what I felt about them. My family and friends will know how enthusiastic I am about communication and telling people how you feel about them and I was really happy to be able to let Mike and Robina know how grateful I am and lucky I feel to have met them and that I will consider them friends for life.

So after the fun and excitement of the wedding and a relaxing day on Sunday, Monday inevitably had to come around and the week started very busily for both of us. Esther has been manically trying to organize SALVE’s and CRO’s meeting with the police after all her weeks of community education research. Unfortunately things became a bit complicated after Elizabeth insisted they had some more meetings to discuss what would happen and when. Esther has been back and forth trying to arrange things with CRO and has finally secured the meeting with the police for next Wednesday at 3pm, where all the local media will be in attendance, along with some very important members of the police and the local council. She has been busy writing up her report which is very impressive, showing lots of visual data which explains the real situations behind Jinja’s street children. I really do hope that the meeting is successful in persuading the police and the local authorities that street children don’t do much harm and actually contribute to the community by cleaning and helping people. We hope that beating will stop and that they will think about whether rounding groups of street children up, putting them in prison for the night and then releasing them, is really a useful option. Next week’s meeting will be explained in the blog in full and we’ll let you know its success.

Esther has also, as part of the community education research, been to Mafubira, an area fairly close to Joy school, to discuss how useful the community education plans for SALVE are. She was met with much enthusiasm and help by the local people who all agreed that it would be really good to have parenting and marriage counseling to prevent the problem of street children. Steven is certainly getting into his role as SALVE staff member and is becoming very confident and assertive in explaining what SALVE does and how we can help the community. Esther really enjoyed this aspect of her week which is fantastic seeing as this is what she wants to make a career of – researching problems in international communities and then evaluating, monitoring and implementing change.

She was also supposed to go and do some background research with a CRO staff member on Jinja’s female street children by going to a couple of their homes but unfortunately plans got confused and she didn’t end up doing this. She met a few on the streets and they confirmed that they come to the streets to collect food and do jobs but then retreat back to Masese where some of them rent accommodation with other street girls. She spoke with Rose, another CRO social worker, who told her that girls tend not to come to streets because of the dangers attached and cannot rent in Jinja (because children are not allowed to do this) so Masese is their only option. It is great to have this information as we thought we may be missing girls on the streets as they were hiding somewhere but now we know it is not likely we will find any and Masese would be our only option.

Esther has spent the day today teaching the mothers to make all the different variety of bead products so that they can produce some materials ready for Esther to take home next week. They all seem so enthusiastic which is fantastic and we really hope that the market in the UK will welcome Joy Crafts with open arms.

My week started with a successful street clinic, whereby Steven and I discussed with CRO the initial prospect of getting their consent to take Richard, and then going out to meet with our regular group of street children – a group of about 6 or 7 boys. It turns out 2 of them are children we’d been looking for to help and it was great to take their profiles down ready to give to the next interns to continue building the relationships with. These boys are called Musa and Robert. Musa told us he really didn’t want to go home as he felt he wasn’t loved. He has an aunty working in one of the shops on Main Street who also was negative towards Musa so Steven and I went to the shop to see if we could talk with her in an attempt to find out a bit more background information on Musa and try and counsel her as to the nature of street children and how to help them – having a positive attitude for change. Anyway, she wasn’t there and so we vowed to return in the next day’s street clinic. It turned out she wasn’t there then either so we spent the morning, Esther too, playing games and having fun with our regular street boys. We’d discussed that it would be great to give them some team-building and relationship-building exercises and also some fun to fill their day with. We bought each pair a newspaper and gave each pair a stone and told them to build a tower, sturdy enough to hold the stone (we were given this task in our SALVE interview!) – the first one to complete the task would win a fudge and a few sweets. It was so great to see them working together and thinking of innovative ways of building. Musa and his partner won and were grateful for the sweets, doing a victory dance around the field. We then played some ball games, introducing ourselves, and then played with some balloons Esther had bought from home. It was a really good morning! I’ve been met throughout the week with enthusiastic waves and beckons to come and join them all and today was told about their new business venture – selling clothes for profit and was asked my advice! I think they need a bit more start-up capital and I hope they’ll get this with all of their odd jobs! I’m really going to miss all of these boys as well as the ones that SALVE has already been able to help.

(As a quick aside – Luca greeted me today with a huge grin and kept saying ‘Bugembe!’ and nodding; I hope this means he has been thinking about life on the streets and that there is hope for him yet.)

The rest of my week has been spent finalizing all of the link-school programme materials. I have created a report, based on some research done in schools on the impact of global learning, to try and persuade the UK school we will be approaching that linking is a valuable thing to do. I have created a profile for Joy School which will go in the Resource Pack which I’ve been working on – this will be given to the secured UK link-school and also Joy School (without their own profile!). Along with this I’ve been writing linking practice advice, encouraging the link schools to adhere to the aims and strategies of the programme. I am so hopeful that it will all be achieved as I really think it will bring so much to any school in the UK and also be incredibly worthwhile for Joy school to profit from learning about international cultures and hopefully gaining some fundraising for their construction work. Speaking of which – I was supposed to be going with a member of SoftPower Education’s construction team to get a quote for the building work that needs doing and we’d arranged this for Wednesday. Maybe Steve, the Australian construction worker who rang me to arrange this, has been living in Uganda for too long as he called to cancel on Wednesday morning. We’ve rescheduled for Tuesday next week and I’m really looking forward to having a quote so that I can get on with getting some donations back in the UK! Next week I’ll be asking all of the SALVE kids to draw me a picture of their school with a big THANK YOU beside it so that anyone who donates some money will get this as a receipt.

I also met Harriet, our new full-time staff member, to visit our home in Bugembe to acquaint herself with her future residence. She met the few children who were there and she was utterly brilliant with them and I became a massive fan of hers as well. She’s so down-to-earth and easy to chat to, getting on with anyone she meets. I received a glowing email in response to chasing up her references which was so gushing about Harriet and her personality and work ethic. We’re so lucky to have found her and I’m really looking forward to seeing how she gets on. She’s requested that she start on Monday but, to give Mike a bit of time to find a new place for him, Robina and baby Caron, that she stays living in her own house and commutes everyday to learn the ropes and get to know the children whilst they’re on holiday. I’m sure she’ll get on with everyone and be a welcome addition to SALVE.

So as you can see it has been non-stop this week and we’re both looking forward to a relaxing weekend which it feels like we haven’t had for weeks. I cannot believe that next week is the final week of our SALVE internship. I’m getting increasingly sad about the prospect of leaving so many people I’ve come to like and love, but am excited about the thought of seeing so many people I equally care about back home.

Esther will do next week’s blog and will let you know all the goings-on of our last few days work in Uganda. I'll write a quick goodbye at the end just to officially end our SALVE internship! Thanks so much for reading again; I hope I’ve made sense and that you’ve enjoyed learning about the new addition(s) to SALVE’s family. We will be welcoming even more in a couple of weeks when the new interns, Alice and Esther arrive.

Lots and lots of love to you all,

Caitlin xxx

P.S. from Esther – I just have to say that we just saw two sheep’s heads roasting on a spit! Not a very nice sight for us but our resident carpenter was sitting by expectantly and looking forward to a very special meal…

Hi everyone,

I know you’re not going to believe me when I say that I’m going to keep this brief (particularly after another very busy week!) but the sun-filled garden and a cold beer are beckoning… Caitlin is already sitting there reading her book and I can’t help feeling just a little envious as I sit in front of this old monstrosity of a flickering computer. Don’t worry, I do love writing to you really...

So if I can remember as far back as last weekend, which strangely doesn’t seem long ago at all yet thinking back it seems a long time indeed as so much has happened, I’ll quickly fill you in on our trip to Kampala before running through our chaotic yet as always interesting week.

We had a lovely time at Caitlin’s friend Wim’s wedding, for Caitlin to see him again after so long (she’ll be embarrassed for me to tell you this but she mistook his brother (who she had never met) to be him!!) and I felt very privileged to be there having never met him at all. Having never been to a Ugandan wedding it was difficult to tell how much of it was European and how much from Wim’s Ugandan bride, but the whole thing was beautiful with rose petals scattered all down the aisle, a Ugandan band with enthusiastic dancing and an excellent sermon by a Ugandan pastor. It was strange to get so caught up in the experience having just met the couple for the first time.

Afterwards we had some time in Kampala before the reception and wandered around a little being amazed at its multicultural feel and making the most of the variety of European food on offer. We shouldn’t have filled ourselves up so much as another huge meal awaited us at the reception, with African dancing I can only explain as enthusiastic hip-shaking with grass skirts. Also some drumming and a sweet troop of HIV orphans with whom Wim has worked sang a moving song for the couple.

Then Idris, who works with my Dad in the Dream Scheme network (I’ll tell you more later) really kindly came to pick us up to take us to his home just a little way outside the city where we had arranged to stay the night. I couldn’t believe it when he turned up in the biggest car I’ve ever been in with a TV in the front and a chauffeur! It turned out to belong to his millionaire boss who owns a spice business.

Having had Idris to stay back home in the UK it was fascinating to see his life in here in Uganda and meet his family and see his home. Still in a state of renovation, they were living in two rooms and had somehow managed to find two spare mattresses for Caitlin and myself to take up one of the rooms while they all slept in the other. I guess this is normal in Ugandan homes though and I think they count themselves very lucky to be expanding soon. Needless to say, we were given another huge meal. I was glad that the chicken turned out not to be one of their only two.

The next day Idris took us to see the projects that he is running in the area with Dream Scheme – a tailoring project teaching women and children enough for them to become self-employed or sell their products in the Dream Scheme’s local shop, a crafts project teaching children to make bowls from dried grass, IT training to teach twenty children each year, community well-building and football coaching. We met one of the teams of local lads who were obviously very dedicated and had their hearts set on becoming part of the national league. The most talented had already received scholarships to attend school, and the best of them are routinely taken on to high-paying teams. It was all very interesting to see – not only to fully understand what my Dad spends part of his time working on from the UK but also I hope it will be of use to SALVE’s community education programmes. Seeing the tailoring working so well in this community as well as in Massese is very encouraging to see. It’s nice to see crafts projects like the one running in Joy school getting going elsewhere, and to know that it has the potential to have great effects. I also wonder if it might be possible to do something like the football – it was wonderful to see the enthusiasm for this. Above all, Idris explained to us, the aim is to provide opportunities which involve young people in the community in a constructive way and provide something to do as an alternative to drugs and unemployment.

As we came to the end of our tour Idris informed us that his boss wished to see us and we wondered why. Still none the wiser we found ourselves seated round his table eating another huge meal and drinking sodas with him and his large family asking us all about life in the UK. He showed us around his factory just behind his back yard and gave us a bag of spices to sample as well as a lift in another enormous car back into Kampala!

It was amazing to see the contrast between rich and poor, but encouraging to see this millionaire’s concern for those less fortunate than himself and interest in our work. On the long journey back to Jinja the whole weekend seemed a bit surreal, and whilst looking forward to getting “home” it was refreshing to have got away properly for the first time in over three months.

I realise I have taken a whole page and a half just to tell you about the weekend so things will be getting a little more concise:

We went straight into interviews for SALVE’s new staff members – very interesting to be on the other side of the table for the first time! We interviewed two for each position, including Stephen with whom we have been working with as a temporary volunteer to translate for us on the street clinic and during community education research. The choice of whom to interview from the dozen who applied had been fairly straightforward as many just didn’t have the level of experience we were looking for (but not quite so easy to let them know after they had all so obviously spent time on their applications and had a lot of hopes hanging on them).

Choosing Stephen for our three-days-a-week street clinic and community education worker with various other responsibilities was an easy decision for us all; I think our hearts went out to him when he humbly explained that he had grown up like a street child himself and had grown to want to help those living in a similar situation, to give them the support he had never received. He asked for so little money to do it that it was clear it is entirely a passion and not just a means of gaining money as we got the impression from some of the others.

For the full-time staff worker the choice was more difficult as both candidates were well experienced and passionate but sadly we had to turn down the school master as he had a family of five whom we just couldn’t support to live in the SALVE home. This left Harriet, who came across extremely well according to all our criteria and really seems to have her heart in helping children. All her past experience shows this too.

We’re excited to welcome both Stephen and Harriet to the SALVE home next Thursday to give a proper introduction to their new roles and to meet all the children!

Caitlin met Stephen the following day to do the street clinic who was overjoyed at hearing the good news. The clinic went well after finding a large group of boys, comprising of David and Luka’s friends. Caitlin and Stephen decided it would be useful to do some counseling and discuss with the boys their ideas about how they might take things forward to help themselves. As we have said before, Luka appears to be very confused about what he wants and with so little support in deciding how to deal with this, it seems the majority of boys just carry on with life as they know it, not really expecting for more. Caitlin feels that this all went well and is an important step in getting Jinja’s street children to begin to move on.

Sadly I didn’t get to take part in this as things are really mounting up as time gets scarce. I can hardly believe we only have two weeks left! I decided to tie up the vocational education research by visiting two medical colleges to look into nursing courses and also a catering college. SALVE’s Moreen would like to become a nurse when she is older so we thought it would be useful to have some idea of the types of courses available and the qualifications they require as well as course fees. The town’s hospital training centre turned out to offer a government funded scheme for those that qualify, needing some A Level grades I think Moreen will be well capable of achieving. The others on private schemes were so expensive (and yet appeared to offer the same thing), I wonder how anyone can afford it. The catering courses were horrendously priced and yet appear to offer little more than the vocational institutes CRO has already mentioned. Just as with the difference in rich and poor, this seemed equally staggering. Anyway it’s nice to know there are some good possibilities out there and I am excited to see where SALVE’s children are in a few years time.

Caitlin has spent much of the week putting together welcome packs for Harriet and Stephen. These will include an overview of SALVE and its work, various rules and regulations, contract and job role etc. These will be presented to them on Thursday when they are introduced to the home. As I say, it has been very interesting being on the other side of the recruitment process for a change and I think Caitlin is finding this aspect of her work immensely useful for her career plans in a possible HR field for an international charity. It’s also going to make things nice and easy for our new staff so they don’t have to spend ages learning things along the way.

My community education research has at last come to an end. I am a little sad that I will no longer wander the backstreets of Jinja, bumping into all sorts of interesting , drugged up, scary looking and lovely and helpful people, yet it is also extremely fulfilling to feel that it is now “complete” (in reality something it could never be) and all the info can be put together for many different uses!

Again, my poor head has been subject to a lot of numbers, figures and calculations as I have been working out things like the percentage of children that steal but that do not steal from the public and the distribution of reasons for leaving home according to the various communities. I love completing things and putting them in nice and easy visual forms though, so putting all these horrible numbers into charts and graphs, and hopefully a distributional map if there is time, feels very fulfilling indeed. The best thing is knowing that it can all be used so constructively.

I’ve chosen various interesting and helpful points to get across to the police and am currently writing up a report to present next week. The idea is to invite Jinja police’s Probation officer and Head of Family and Child Support Unit along to CRO for a workshop in which we can educate them with the facts that the street children are actually not so damaging to the town as they think. A few points like for example almost 50% of children on the streets carry out domestic duties such as cleaning, carrying goods and water to make a living and that only just over one in ten beg, whilst those that steal from the public are limited to less than two out of ten, will be very useful. We were particularly interested to see that, contrary to the police’s belief that the children don’t want to leave the streets, a staggering 96% of children we interviewed would return home if they had the opportunity. Also encouraging to see was that almost nine in ten children were interested in receiving an education in some capacity, 67% putting is as their top priority. Not only do I hold hopes that this could help challenge the police’s negative stereotypes, but it is overwhelmingly satisfying to have the evidence that SALVE is working for what so many children have their main hope in.

The results are also shedding some light on our community education plans. It’s been fascinating to discover the top reasons for children coming to the streets, and useful to locate the particular hotspots for certain problems. It turns out that, sadly, domestic violence is the greatest factor. Although it can be difficult to separate all the factors as so many are combined, it seems that this is the first and foremost issue that leads children away from home. Whilst separation and death of parents is also a major factor, the vast majority of children are able to find loving care with another relative. Although it is common that poverty forces the relative to give up the child or the child to leave to find a better living, beating from a relative and step-mothers in particular is accountable for more children on the streets than any other single reason. Luckily there are a number of communities we would set as a high priority reasonably close to Jinja so it is going to be interesting to see how we are able to tackle these issues.

Other than this, the beads project is still coming along nicely, this week teaching the mothers how to make white seeds earrings. Their keenness to learn and thankfulness for me giving the little time and resources I can continues to make it more than worth it and keeps me excited to see how things will be when their payments for all their hard work comes through from the UK market. Efrance, the matron and poor mother of two children at Joy School (one of which is called Esther!) had made almost ten necklaces and bracelets just since I taught her last week! She was more than keen to learn a new design and has worked on this with the loving care and attention she has employed all along. I forgot to mention that I saw her twice last week, when I happened to drop in at the jewelers where I get my supplies – whether she had been waiting for me all week to buy more materials for her or whether it was by chance I don’t know but her enthusiasm is a real inspiration.

Caitlin has been doing some research into grants-giving organisations to fund the link-school programme, giving money to teachers who can do exchanges between the UK and Uganda. She also came along to the school this morning to take some photos for evidence of the great need for funding construction work at the school. She also completed her research into bank accounts for SALVE, involving an assessment of the available local branches and what they offer in terms of interest etc.

The smell of mangos and pineapples is at last tempting me away from the computer, now that the sun has set (and I missed my cold beer but there’s time for that tomorrow) and the cicadas are already singing. We’re about to have a huge fruit salad with yoghurt so I shall leave you with your mouths watering for delicious Ugandan fruit and I will be sad to write my last ever blog with SALVE next time.

We’re looking forward to Mike and Robina’s wedding tomorrow. We can’t believe it’s almost here already! Caitlin will let you know all about it next week.

Lots of love,

Esther xx

Wow, things just seem to be getting busier as time goes on, and this week has been no exception. The weather certainly seems to be mirroring our work-load and we’re finding it getting hotter and hotter every week. I am looking forward (for once!) to the cold climate of Britain but no doubt we’ll be wearing hundreds of layers during the hoped-for Indian Summer coming up. I can almost taste the English rain as we’re getting closer to leaving and although I’m looking forward to seeing everyone and being cold, this week has made me realise how close we are to leaving and just how sad I’m going to be.
Week 14 in Uganda started off incredibly emotionally with the street clinic. Steven, Esther and I set off in search of David in order to take him to see his Grandfather and the Pastor who has supported him in the past in an attempt to reconcile their differences and discuss the possibility of supporting him once again. We were taken by another street child to a place just off Main Street where a kind lady and her family give street children meals when they come; it’s really lovely to see that they get a little support from members of the public. We found David but he seemed pretty reluctant to come with us and we couldn’t really understand why after regular meetings with him which were all so encouraging. We suggested the idea of going to see his brother, Patrick, at El-Shadei World Ministries so that we could discuss with them the idea of reuniting David with Patrick on a permanent basis. We took David on the bus and walked the distance to get to the home. He seemed quite nervous and we felt for him walking on the stoney, uneven path with bare feet. Once we got there, after having arranged with the Pastor to meet us, we waited for a while as I think we’re still working on English time and everyone else is keeping to Ugandan time! As we were sitting waiting, children clinging to us as if they’d never seen a Mzungu before (photo above), I turned around and found Patrick sitting on David’s lap with David possessively wrapping his arms around him like he’d never let go. The looks on both their faces were unforgettable; it was as if they’d both come home. No words seemed necessary and they were both happy to sit their in silence, clinging to the long-lost brother that they hadn’t seen in about 3 years. Unfortunately the waiting become impractical for everything else we’d planned that day and we were loathed to tear the brothers from each other’s arms, promising that we’d bring David back as soon as we could. David was extremely reluctant to leave and kept going back to Patrick just to hold his hand. Tears flowed down his face when we eventually left the compound and we kept telling him he’d see Patrick again. Unfortunately I think he’d heard this 3 years ago. We are committed to taking David to meet with the Pastor again and encouraging the chance for the brothers to live together as this seems like the best option all round. It was an extremely emotional experience for all involved; I can’t decide whether it was heartbreaking to see the harsh reality of families having to separate because of poverty and/or death in Uganda, or heartwarming to see them being reunited. Either way the way forward for David is looking pretty hopeful.

As for Luca, we are still unsure of his desires. We happened across him during the street clinic on Tuesday, wandering around inside a cardboard box (photo below)! It was a definite comedy moment and he enjoyed the limelight until it was time to sit down with him and discuss how he was and how he was feeling about life on the streets. He explained he wasn’t happy and so we asked him to tell us what he wanted. First he said he wanted to come back to SALVE. We asked him the same question again and he said he wanted to go and find a relative in Mbale. He’s a confused little boy and he needs love and support but it seems he has spent too long on the streets and from too young an age to be able to stay in one place and settle down. For now, he is getting small aspects of support from CRO, like food and a place to play with his friends, and we will wait until he has decided what he wants. This could take some time but with regular counseling from SALVE and the knowledge that we are there for him and love him we hope it shouldn’t take too long to decide what the best path is.

We also saw Moses on our way to David’s and were shocked by how grown-up and confident he was. We asked him what he wanted to do from here and he said he wanted to go back to school but first he must decide to go back home and reconcile matters with his Aunt. Mike is keen for him to do this and we hope that he will do what is best for himself.

We also interviewed another young boy, Juma, who lives full time on the streets and we heard another harrowing tale. He is only seven and him and his younger siblings were taken by his mother to their grandmother once she (we think) remarried. His grandmother couldn’t support them properly and so all three of them ran away to the streets. Juma told us of the time he was out getting food for his brother (six years old) and sister (only four years old and living full-time on the streets) and by the time he returned they had been taken by a Mzungu man and he didn’t know where they had gone. Juma had also just had some money stolen from him by another street child and he couldn’t smile at us once during all the time we were with him. He took us to where he slept and for some reason it was a lot more emotionally challenging for me to see him lying there on the street than some of the other children who had done the same. Don’t get me wrong I find it hard to see it every time but maybe it was his age, maybe the fact that he was so sad, or maybe because he lay there with his eyes upon and could’ve been dead, I don’t know. I just know that it made me want to work even harder for SALVE and try to find care for those who desperately need it like Juma.

I hope that the new staff members that we have been so busy sifting through also echo these sentiments. I’m not sure if you remember from previous blogs but we’re looking for one person to come and live in the home when Mike and his family move out, and one person to work with the interns on the streets during the street clinic and putting in to place the community education plans. We were pleased with the amount of applicants that were keen to work for SALVE, but this definitely increased the amount of time it took to look through them all, searching for the right people to interview. It’s strange being on the other side of the process for a change – the amount of covering letters and CVs I’ve sent off made me appreciate the time and effort all of the applicants had gone to but it also made it hard saying no to most of them just by looking at a piece of paper! Unfortunately a lot of the candidates didn’t have much relevant experience which is so necessary, especially for the home-based staff member. We have found 2 people per role to interview (one of which is Steven for the street-based position) and are looking forward to meeting them all on Monday at 2pm at the interviews. I’ve written the interview questions that should determine the best person for each job and I’m sure Esther will let you know the outcome in next week’s blog; we’re very excited about seeing SALVE’s manpower grow and the amazing new things we can do with extra support.

By the time the new staff members begin their roles with SALVE, Esther’s research during her community education sessions should have come to an end. She has been interviewing children with Steven, finding out their backgrounds and why they’ve come to the streets and also searching through CRO’s files in order to find the same information. It will be amazing once she has gathered all of the data she needs so that the community education plans can really begin.


I have spent every day this week running through the much-anticipated production of Noah’s Ark which was performed today! I must admit that at the beginning of the week I really didn’t think they’d be ready but they did me proud today. Unfortunately not everyone turned up as there was a lot of confusion (which I’m no longer surprised at in Uganda) on the day that term was finishing. There were enough students to put on a good production and lots of parents, teachers and students came to watch. As is common in Uganda there were a few speeches at the end of the show and I made it clear to everyone how much I’ve loved working at Joy school, how amazing all of the students and teachers are, and how much I’m going to miss everybody. P4 were keen to take their masks, scripts and pictures with them as momentos of the production and I hope they’ll remember their odd Mzungu teacher whenever they look at them! I gave all of my stars from P4 a mini party at the end of the play to say thank you and goodbye and I got quite sad after all this time of being with them week in, week out. I continue to be amazed at how out-going, enthusiastic and loving they all are and although stressful at times I’ve so much enjoyed teaching them. I was pleased to hear that their marks in English had significantly improved this term and as much as they’ve learnt from me I’ve definitely learnt a lot from them.

I was glad that Esther could come and watch the play seeing as the performance was moved to today and she was at school anyway having a meeting with Mary and teaching all the mothers how to make some of the products. I am yet to hear the outcome of the meeting with Mary but I’m sure she was happy with all the hard work Esther has put into the project. She was showing Mary the finished brochure with all the samples ready to be made and taken back to the UK, and also the accounting system with which to pay all those involved. Esther is also, as I write this, teaching the mothers how to make all the seed and coffee-bean products ready for when she leaves. It’s going to be so great for Helen to find lots of shops in the UK ready to sell Joy Craft’s products, thanks to Esther’s innovative brochure and pricing system, and make a fantastic profit for all those working so hard on the project.

I also had a meeting with Mary this week to discuss both funding the school’s much-needed construction work and the link-school programme that I’ve been working on. I am arranging a meeting with SoftPower Education to come and give us a quote for the building work required and once this has happened I can go ahead with the plans for finding funding. Once we are fully registered here as a CBO we can also register with JIDNET, the local CBO/NGO networking organisation and I hope to find some company that give grants to educational building. Once back in the UK I also hope to do the same and secure a good chunk of the money needed. On top of this I’m planning a buy-a-brick scheme whereby people see the breakdown of the costs required on the Joy School website (which I’m currently designing) and donate whatever they can afford. I have designed a donation form which includes the option of including Gift Aid (which SALVE have now secured!!) and an accounting system for all the donations. I really hope this all works out as it’s such a necessary project for the good of all the students learning there. I also hope the link-school programme will benefit all involved. I’ve been working on the reasons behind linking with a foreign school (both for the UK school and Joy School), and the specifics of what will be involved. I have drawn up a letter introducing the programme and a contract for what will be involved which Mary is keen to sign and I will send this to Nicola in the UK to try and secure a school keen to link with Joy! I’m really excited about the prospects of what could come from it – developing internationalism and global awareness in both school communities, exchanging a range of resources from class-to-class and teacher-to-teacher, and the possibility of fundraising for Joy through things like ‘African day’ at the UK school. As Mary says: “it’s better to build children than to repair man”, and I really hope that my work with the funding and the link-school will go towards building the futures of those at Joy School.

As the end to a busy week is drawing closer we are also anticipating a busy weekend! A Dutch friend I met in Nepal when I was living/volunteering there during my (first) Gap Year has been out in Uganda working in an HIV/Aids orphanage and has met the love of his life in a Ugandan lady whom he is marrying tomorrow! Esther and I are venturing to Kampala top attend the wedding and I’m really looking forward to it, not only because I havent’ seen Wim (my friend) for 4 years since I was in Nepal, but because it’ll be so interesting to see the dynamics of a cross-cultural wedding and relationship. We are really gratefully being accommodated by a friend of Esther’s who has worked with her Dad in the past and who has been to stay with her family in her home in England. It is going to be a very interesting and sociable weekend as we are hoping to go and visit a musical orphanage on Sunday whilst we are still in Kampala as Esther would like to get some ideas for the children’s home she is setting up in Nepal.

We have another weekend to attend next weekend - All the SALVE children are home this weekend after term has finished and are excitedly helping Robina get ready for her’s and Mike’s wedding next weekend! We heard from Mike some of the strange traditions that they have to adhere to – Mike cannot stay in the house for the whole week until the wedding! We’re looking forward to seeing our good friends reunited in wedlock and the SALVE children all dressed up in attendance!

We also had a busy weekend last weekend as we went to WATCH our friends bungee jumping! I know what you’re all thinking, that we’re massive wimps for not taking part, but I’ve always said it is the one thing I just really don’t want to experience in life, and seeing it first-hand I’m so glad I’d already made that decision! We did go up to the top of the crane and it was SO high but did look like an amazing experience, especially for those having their heads dipped in the river. They will be able to tell their Grandchildren that they bungee jumped over the River Nile, and I can see I watched bungee jumping over the River Nile – it’s pretty much the same anyway, right?!! Photos will follow as Esther took some incredible ones of our friend Brian from the top of the crane.

So there we go I think that’s all I have to tell you of our lives in Uganda. As things get busier next week, which I have no doubt they will, Esther will inform you on everything we have yet to come, especially the interviews! Thanks again for reading and I hope Alice and Esther, our next interns, are getting excited and prepared for a truly remarkable experience that they will be embarking upon in a few weeks time.

Lots of love,

Caitlin xxx


PS. Some pics from Esther -

Brian bungeeing into the Nile

One of the spectators, who had just stolen a banana from someone's bag!


More (watched) white water rafting


Another shocking one of Juma


...and a very sweet little girl at El Shadai World Ministries, where we hope David will be reunited with his brother.

Good morning all. A cockerel is crowing and the sun is streaming in through our open window along with the deep chanting of the local prisoners out for their early morning run.

Before I begin a short account of another busy week here’s something unusual from our weekend – no photo I’m afraid as it was totally unexpected! As we were sitting by the Nile drinking tea (very English I know) a noisy little jet ski was scudding up and down in front of us (obviously showing off) throwing out huge jets of spray and creating waves that sent the little fishing boats rocking precariously. The “strapping” spandex-and-sunglasses-clad driver had a definite look of Captain Jack Sparrow and as he roared at high speed towards us and turned off at the last moment just as we thought he would run into us and managed to miss us with spray, we couldn’t help feeling a little envious. Three big body guard-looking friends came along and when he tired of his antics he left the boat right in front of us and went off with them. We managed to curb the temptation to get into it in his absence but he unexpectedly returned a few moments later and asked us if we wanted a go! We couldn’t believe he was serious and when it turned out he honestly wanted nothing in return we decided we would take him up on the offer… It turned out to be very easy, just pulling a switch more of less to make it go faster or slower and turning the wheel to make it turn surprisingly responsively. Like a water-motorbike and so fun jumping over all the waves!

No harm done apart from a minor mishap as I seated myself back into my large wicker chair – this time on the top so as to get a better view of Caitlin setting off. To my embarrassment I felt the whole thing toppling backwards as she thundered off at alarmingly high speed and missed the next few moments as I crashed to the ground with arms and legs flailing! No injuries but just some extra mud to add to the wetness and our excitement at the second unexpected boat trip.

Sadly the week started with some tragic news about Luka. It turned out that he had run away over the weekend, making this his third time since coming to the SALVE home. No one knew why he has left and it being his third time, it looked unlikely that we would be able to take him in again unless he had a good reason.

Caitlin and I met him on Monday morning during the street clinic. Under Mike’s instruction we took him along to CRO to speak with Bosco and find out why he had left and to discuss how to proceed. As always Bosco was welcoming and helpful (I had a lovely picture of him gently coaxing Luka to speak but sadly this somehow deleted itself) and we discovered that Luka had wanted to join his friends at the Jinja Show which Caitlin mentioned last week. It is popular with street children and the loud music carrying on well into the early/late hours of the morning must have been too bigger a temptation for him. It is just difficult to understand how he could favour nights on the streets to his comfortable and loving home in Bugembe. Maybe he was getting used to the idea that he could leave when it suited him and return whenever we found him, always welcoming him with smiles and open arms. In any case we didn’t want to encourage this way of thinking and it was becoming clear that the children at CRO, some of whom we are hoping to help (David and Richard in particular) were confused about how we were supporting Luka when they sometimes saw him there and at other times knew he was with us. The last thing we want is to put potential and interested children off, giving them the impression that our home is not worth staying in or that we beat our children or however else they imagine we would treat them to make them run back to the streets.

We asked Bosco to translate to Luka that we love him very much and only want the best for him, but that we want him to choose which way he goes, and seeing that he isn’t committed to us we would let him go. It was more than heartbreaking for us all to see how forlorn Luka looked at this and for all the world that he was ready to return and regret leaving us at all. But as I say, we know this would not be the best option, and in all likelihood he would return to the streets in yet another week.

I have given Bosco a photo of Luka to put up in their linking organisation in Luka’s original community, Mbale. We hope that someone may remember him (although we are unsure how long ago Luka lived there, it may be anything up to four years) and be able to link us up with some possible relatives. We will wait to see if this is productive and if not we hope it will still be possible to take Luka to Mbale and see what we can find. It would be fantastic to find the family support that he so desperately needs. At least this would be so far from the streets it would be difficult to return so readily. I have heard from so many sources that once a child has been on the streets anything over just a couple of months, it is difficult to re-assimilate him or her back into any kind of normal, stable family environment. Yet this is exactly what he needs, and it must be the hardest thing for both us and him to accept that this is what he must begin to understand before he can start to help himself.

For the moment CRO has offered their help – which is something and may provide the loose kind of link that we need to slowly get him used to the idea of being supported. Whilst CRO primarily focuses on those children with whom it can reunite with their families or relatives, it does provide one meal a day and limited education and counseling for those whom it is “rehabilitating” and in the process of finding full-time shelter for.

This is why it is so useful to have its input into SALVE’s work – whilst we can provide the long term love, attention and support through quality counseling, education and care that CRO cannot, they act as a wonderful mediator between streets and home – providing the information we need about almost every child’s past, relatives if known etc and guide us in how, according to their knowledge and understanding of the child’s previous conduct, to proceed in a helpful and constructive way. It is also great to have them there as a back-up, so that if all else fails and the child chooses not to receive our help, they will help us through finding a suitable alternative avenue of support.

Our dismay over Luka was somewhat balanced with the progress we have made with Richard this week. As I got down to serious business with my beads, Caitlin made the journey with Mike and Richard to Kaliro, where Richard believed his mother to be living. It was a long and cramped journey by bus, taxi and boda-boda and when they got to the place Richard expected to find her, they discovered she no longer lived there. They were told she has moved to somewhere outside Jinja but there is no way of telling where unless we find another relative. They returned to Bugembe, where they learned they might find an aunt, but to no avail. Whilst this along with the realisation that Richard’s father apparently lives somewhere in Jinja but that noone knows where, seemed discouraging, Mike believes that this is the first hurdle of not many more. It has proved to us that it would be futile to continue to search for a caring relative, and the next step is to receive CRO or a local counsel’s consent in us taking him in. Caitlin thanked Richard for his time with a typically Ugandan, huge meal of many kinds of carbohydrate that weighed Caitlin down for several days and made Richard so happy he was still beaming over his extended tummy when I met him on his way back along the main street.


We hope we’ll be able to update you on this next week along with, hopefully, some news on David.

Next are our plans for new staff members – Caitlin has been busy printing out the info on the application process and requirements etc and sticking them around town. Her trip to Teen Missions, a community development organisation from whom we gained Stephen (our interpreter) turned out to be more eventful than expected. She discovered that it was about half way to Bugembe and then bodaboda down a long road from there, so far she was wondering whether she was in the right place. She eventually got there and accomplished what she set out to do. We all look forward to lots of applications for the interviews this coming Wednesday.

Mid-week we took the day off for Caitlin’s 23rd birthday! It was a lovely day at Mabira Forest Reserve, a large stretch of both well preserved and less preserved (after some massacring during Amin’s time) rainforest. We joined up with two Dutch girls for a guided tour which showed us a lot more than our untrained eyes would have noticed - various weird and wonderful species such as the “Sausage Tree” dangling green sausages, “Elephant Ear Tree” sprouting green elephant ears, and coco bean pods. Also the “Strangler” tree, a frightening skeletal looking thing which takes hundreds of years to slowly grow up the outside of a normal, healthy tree and suck out all its nutrients and suffocate it until the tree inside dies and the Strangler is left standing all around the original as its own hollow and eerie copy. Amongst these were some impressively huge trees with giant roots.


Caitlin glimpsed a particularly poisonous variety of snake just a couple of feet away, the Black Momba, which is luckily shy and slithered away quickly. Then at the end of the walk we saw red-tailed monkeys! We’d been looking out for these all the way and had almost given up hope of seeing any but as we watched one from a distance a whole big family came along and jumped around above our heads, waiting for the biscuits that previous groups had obviously fed them.


Later we met up with a couple of volunteers, Jan from Germany who is working with CRO (opposite me) and Brian (behind him), a friend of Aran and Sinke’s who came with us on the first boat trip. Sadly no one else was able to make it with a host-family commitment popping up at the last minute and a lesson to prepare for the next day, but it was good to catch up properly with a select few and we all enjoyed some western chatter and amazing western but also sufficiently exotic food under lantern light.


For me, the rest of the week as with the first part, has largely been taken up with the beads project. This required me to get together or make all the remaining samples and photograph them (which had to be done twice as my camera decided to delete these too) for the brochure, so it could at last be completed and sent off to the uk ready to find a market. Very exciting. We’re really thankful to our trustee Helen for looking into this for us as it is clear that, as the project currently operates without any grant, it can only be self-sustaining through a foreign market.


Helen is based in Oxford and when I return there in September I’ll be able to take all the products with me to the interested shops and transfer the money across. It all sounds amazing and will be so satisfying to see!

This meant making various things to send off with the brochure such as a sales sheet for Helen to fill in with prospective buyers, their orders and the prices they would be prepared to pay. Also a list of minimum and asking prices based on a detailed budget of material and labour costs. My poor little head wasn’t designed to do maths and the complicatedness of this along with all the currency conversions has stretched it to the limits but also very rewarding to see that it is in fact possible and will be so useful in explaining how surprisingly small profits will be used to achieve the project’s objectives. Any extra, which shouldn’t be too hard to get, will be a bonus.

Apart from the wages the children and mothers will be receiving for their work, it’s wonderful seeing the skills they are learning and will continue to be able to use, and their enthusiasm to learn. It’s all been well worth the work.

Other than this, community education research wasn’t able to take place this week as Noah who I am responsible for working with through CRO, hasn’t been able to come all week. Instead I was able to speak with CRO “Education Officer” Fred, who helpfully went through their vocational education plan for some of the children in their care. We hope to provide this opportunity for some of SALVE children in the future, once they have completed their primary education. Even a primary education hugely increases chances for employment but for those who are less academic or have a passion for a particular, more vocational profession, we thought it would be good to provide a few alternatives to secondary school.

Fred was able to give me a run down of the pro’s and con’s of apprenticeships and colleges, including costs and the types of subject available. He has given the details of some colleges in the area for me to look into, and also a source of funding which looks hopeful. Sadly there’s not going to be time to look into all the institutions he mentioned but it’s going to be interesting finding out a little more.

Caitlin has been busy with various things, including planning the “Link School” programme she has mentioned in previous blogs and finalising her plans for raising money for the school building. Creating a link with a school in the UK has required her to think through what exactly Joy School can offer, and in return what they hope to receive. I’m sure she would like to tell you more about this in the next blog. Her plans to raise money for the new school building mean that she needs to account for all the donations, and has been devising a system for this.

Caitlin’s “Noah’s Ark” production has unexpectedly been shifted forwards, as she just discovered that the children will be beginning their holidays at the end of next week! The play will therefore be this Thursday which means everyone is going to be very busy! It sounds like they are well on the way there and Caitlin has been so organised with it all I’m sure they will get along famously. It’s amazing to think that by next week it will all be over and we’ll have some pictures to show you : )

That’s all for now. We’re looking forward to a BBQ this afternoon with Jan and his friends and watching (not doing!) bungee jumping tomorrow. Aran and Brian are going to be jumping from an unthinkable distance above the Nile and perhaps dangling their heads in…

Hope you have a lovely weekend and I look forward to updating you in two weeks time!

Esther xx