Why am I here / How I got here / What am I doing?

Since a young age I always had an interest in Africa and knew that when I am older I would go. I suppose I didn't realise it would be quite to soon.

In 2013/14 I began really helping out with the church youth group and "Club Energy" on Friday nights, as well as leading at WEC camp over the summer. This, along with having grown up with three much younger brothers, made me realise how much I love working with children. 

Life wasn't very straight forward during the last few years of education and I didn't feel ready or have the time to apply to university as college came to an end (Plus I had no idea what I wanted to do). It was then that I decided to take a gap year. This was a nice change for me, I spent time at home, at work, and visiting friends at their universities as well as getting more and more involved in the youth group too. 

I wanted to do something worthwhile with the time that I had, and I'm glad I did because many people have said they would love to do something like what I am doing, however once you settle down in a career and build a family, it makes opportunities like this more difficult to fit in.

Lots of people have asked how I got to where I am. Well, volunteering abroad, doing missions work was not as easy to organise as I had expected. I knew that I wanted to go on my own rather than in a team of people, as I wanted to really grow in faith, maturity and independence, so I had to find an organisation that would help me. 

This was difficult because there are so many organisations but finding the right one, and finding good contacts proved to be hard. I struggled to find something where I would be of help. Organised trips seemed to be very expensive and many were short periods like two weeks and then a safari at the end. I wanted something longer where I could really settle in and get a feel for the culture and lifestyle, and really get to know people.

I asked around everyone I knew in church and out of church, people who I knew had links to Uganda as that is the place where I have always felt God wanted me to be. Eventually Tim Hall, the chaplain at St David's College in Wales where my Dad went to school, emailed me some charities he has links with in Uganda. 

He put me in touch with Johann Poppenbeck who put me in touch with Andrew Boonstra who are both on the board of HopeBuilders International - an Australian charity that work in Uganda to break the cycle of poverty.

Through emailing Andrew we came to the agreement that I could come and spend three months in Uganda working with the organisation. 

This was in October 2013, just four months before I left for Uganda! The trip required a lot of saving, and God really provided for me in the build up to coming. Literally the week I decided to officially start planning my trip and saving, I got promoted to supervisor at work which included a pay rise which was such a help towards saving! I was working sometimes 50 hours a week to save money for the trip. I had to pay a lot for injections, anti malarials, flights, clothing and other small needs. 

My family, friends and church were so so supportive and after doing a Subway cookie sale at church (and a very nerve racking talk at the front - my friend J was a HUGE help in getting me organised with my fundraising and planning) many generous donations were given in the following weeks. I finally hit my target which was incredible as I never thought I could raise so much - never doubt what is possible or let money put you off doing something!

It all became very real when I left my Dad and sister Emily at the airport and went on by my myself.

HopeBuilders send teams of volunteers each year from Australia to come to Uganda and build small houses on a compound owned by the charity to house orphans and a widows acts as the mother of each house. The Village of Hope currently has eight houses but aims to have around 16 by the end. 

I stayed in the HopeBuilders team guest house although there are no teams there at the time. Andrew and I developed a program for me while I was there, to visit a range of different organisations and help in different ways.

Once a week I visited Welcome Home - an orphanage for babies and children with AIDS

Once a week I visited Home of Hope - a home for children with disabilities and no relatives to help them

Once a week I taught at the Jinja Christian Primary School (where the Village of Hope children also attend) - I taught English to P7 (top year of Primary school)

Once a week I visited a women's tailoring class run by Youth Support Uganda and do an hours session of English teaching to the women (aged 18-25)

In my spare time, and a lot of afternoons/evenings I visited the Village of Hope and spend time with the kids, talking and playing and getting to know them more. I loved the fact that I was there for a long period so I could and did build good relationships with the children.

I also attended church on Sundays with the Village children which is very different to home!

On weekends I tried to do a variety of things such as taking some children out for the day, visiting people or occasionally having some me-time!

"I am really enjoying the experience and can see myself definitely coming back - it's not somewhere you can just visit once as you fall in love with the place and the people!"

"In the future I hope to maybe even bring out a team to let them see the amazing things I have seen and experience hen amazing feelings I have!"

I have left the last two paragraphs in the present tense, they are quotes from the end of my first trip and here I am sat in Uganda again, just like I had hoped! So happy to be back.

I am here now with two friends. We are visiting the same projects as described above as well as hopefully some fresh new things to do.

So I suppose another answer to "why am I here?" this time would be because I now have a love for Uganda and can't keep away!

Enjoy the blog :)