Winding down

So as the temperature's rising here in Uganda, our time is coming to an end. We said goodbye to some of the older children last week as they headed off, with bags packed and smiling faces to Teen Missions, the holiday activity camp where they will be spending Christmas. Teddy and Dinah have gone home to visit their families so we have four boys, Junior, Isma, Asuman and Junior left in the S.A.L.V.E. so we've been spending a lot of time with them, and let them loose with the arts and crafts box which as you can see has been a lot of fun! It's so hot here at the moment, so tomorrow we're going to take the boys swimming...




We've also interacted with some of the children who are still on the street. Another organisation in Jinja is taking many of them up to Bujagali, a lovely village on the Nile, for Christmas day so they are excited about this.

The women in Mafubira are making good progress in the bead project and another shipment of beautiful jewelry should be ready to send soon. As they are becoming more confident, their creativity seems to be flourishing.

We're all looking forward to the Christmas celebrations. Mike's wife Robinah is going to give birth any day now, so we're really looking forward to welcoming a new face into the family. Exciting times.

We'll be back next week with our final post from sunny Uganda.

Bye for now,

Imogen and Emma x

Dear Santa/ S.A.L.V.E. Supporters

Dear Santa/ S.A.L.V.E. Supporters,

So we've been making a list (and checking it twice)
Because this year everyone at S.A.L.V.E. has definately been nice!



We've worked hard all year and times flown by as you know.
Soon the UK trustees will be escaping the snow ...

In January we go back to Uganda and our bags are a little light,
Do you or your friends have the items we need to make S.A.L.V.E.s future bright?

S.A.L.V.E.s Wishlist (please get in touch and let us know if you/ anyone you know might be kind enough to donate us any of the following items)

- 1 laptop (to allow us to do our salve administrative work in Uganda)

- 1 digital camera (to allow us to take good quality pictures in Uganda so everyone here can see how the children are getting on all year round)

- 3 USB memory sticks (to allow us to move around and back up our files)

- 1 voice recorder (to tape our interviews with the children on the streets for our records)

- Summer clothes for teenagers (boys and girls)

- Educational aids for older children

Thank you for reading our list and checking it twice
Don't hesitate to get in touch if you have a donation that you think would be nice!

info@salveinternational.org

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas is a comin'...

Christmas is on its way here in Uganda and yet blissful little sign of this can be found. There is no Christmas advertising, only a sprinkling of miserable looking plastic Christmas trees, a smattering of carols on the radio and the temperature remains in the 30's. Time then, for the SALVE Christmas party!

With all the children home for the holidays before going off to see family or to the Teen Missions camp, the annual celebration was held yesterday at the home. Mike spent time talking with all the children and reviewing the year. Special mention was made of both Teddy and Tiff who did especially well at school this year and also of Junior who has triumphed in his P1 exams and will be moving up to P2 in February. Meanwhile, Robinah and Assy were busy cooking up a storm. Not traditional fare of mince pies and sausage rolls but instead spiced rice, beef stew, roast potatoes, cabbage and chapati were served up in huge portions.

This was followed by some more traditional party games- a bit of musical bumps (which 1 year old Caren found hilarious but hard to understand) and musical statues. By far the greatest hit though, was a game involving silly clothes, dice and cutting up chocolate with a knife and fork. Even the big children got involved in this one and were shrieking with laughter at each other trying to throw on a spotted jacket, T shirt, cloves and a hat and then eat Cadbury's Dairy Milk with a knife and fork. I think its safe to say that a good time was had by all. Tomorrow, the house will become a little quieter again as the older children go off to Teen Missions and Dinah and Teddy go to visit their families.

In other news, the bead project is progressing well and the ladies are learning new types of beads and styles of necklace to produce a greater variety of jewelry. Things are in the pipeline for the online shop too which is great.

Imogen and I have only 3 weeks left in Uganda now which is incredible. As always, time has passed too quickly. We're looking forward to the weekend as some of Uganda's biggest music stars are coming to town for a street party. Hurrah!

Hope preparations for Christmas are going well for all at home.

Love,

Emma and Imogen