Alice and Esthers first SALVE blog

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the first blog by Alice and Esther, we hope you enjoy reading our regular updates which we’ll be taking it in turn to write.

So after a very bumpy 18 hour journey from London we were relieved to see Mike’s smiling face at the airport. We were really happy and excited to finally be in Uganda and grateful Mike was there to kindly drive us the three hour journey to Jinja.

Once at the SALVE house we were showed around by Mike and met some of the children that were already back from visiting their relatives. They were all a little shy at first but we were sure it wouldn’t take them too long to get used to their new aunties. We spent the rest of the week acclimatizing and exploring our new surroundings. We were also introduced to some of Mike’s family, Harriet, the new home carer and Mary the head mistress of Joy School, all of whom were lovely and welcoming. Back at the SALVE house we quickly learned to brush up on our Uno skills and have enjoyed spending our time playing and reading with the children. One day we even made dolls and balls out of banana leaves under Harriet’s instruction, the children were great at them, much better than us!

When all the children were back home from their holidays they were given their new supplies for school which they were all really grateful for especially Richard who was really excited about starting school and very proud of his new belongings. On Monday morning the hose was buzzing with excitement as they got ready for school and they all looked very smart in their red and blue uniforms.

After taking the children to school we held our first ever SALVE team meeting and met Stephen. We discussed lots of ideas, many of which we hope to develop during our stay here. We also introduced ourselves to the CRO team. Tuesday was our first street clinic where we met the children who SALVE is already helping to help and found out more about their situation. We met with Hassan who encouragingly with every meeting we are we are getting closer to a positive outcome, and after meeting again with Mike later this week things are looking positive. Both Alice and I are keen to find out more about girls living on the street and their circumstances, so after chatting with a small group we have decided to visit Masese, where they stay so we can have a better understanding of their situation.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent at Joy school observing and assisting lessons where we could. We have now agreed to help with English and reading every Thursday in classes P2 to P5, help with PE and make learning aids for all the teachers – which we have already begun putting our artistic skills to the test.

So this has been our first lovely week in Uganda and we’re looking forward to having much more to tell you in the coming weeks. Until then thanks for reading our first blog we hope you enjoyed it.

Love Esther and Alice xxx