Last Saturday we went to visitors day at Amazing Love School – it was great to see 38 children there in such good spirits. After a somewhat staid start to the afternoon as we handed out bananas, cakes and sodas the shy barriers soon came down and everyone had a party, ending with an impressive dancing display from the children and the visitors. [Read more…] about Special time with the children and a pause for thought
The Amasiko Halfway House is becoming a reality!
It has taken a few days to get the internet access sorted out, but no that we’re back online blog updates should be more regular. Our direct flight from London to Rwanda made the trip to Kabale much more manageable and we arrived on schedule at lunchtime last Friday. After a short break to change and freshen up we walked across the road to Amasiko and enjoyed lunch with the staff and children – it was good to greet old friends again and meet some of the children that we had heard much about in recent weeks.
After lunch, we jumped into the AAU car and headed off for the Amasiko Halfway House building site. Even though the first team of students from Ljubianja University in Slovenia had only been on site for a week they made really impressive progress – the ground had been releveled, the foundations had been dug and foundation walls erected. A compactor was busy on the softcore and all is ready for laying the concrete floor slabs next week.
In addition to the students, who were hard at work in the blistering sun, there was a large contingent of local labourers who were busy digging, carting soil and making the innovative interlocking bricks that will form a key part of of the construction. These bricks do not need to be fired and so are environmentally friendly, use next to no mortor and do not need to be plastered, so all in all are relatively cost effective. The Slovenian team are experimenting with using metal strips between the layers of bricks to provide additional stability – all exciting stuff.
Update on Monday – progress continues at a breathtaking pace and the team plan to start laying the main concrete slab tomorrow
24hrs until we leave – getting excited
With just 24hrs left until we leave for Uganda we are getting excited and looking forward to getting stuck into the work. The first team from Slovenia are working hard and really good progress is being made on the Halfway House building site. The second team arrives on Saturday so next week there will be a full complement on site.
For the first time there are direct flights from London to Kigali in Rwanda, which will cut the travelling time in half – really good news for us and for anyone else coming out to visit. We will have another trip going out at the end of August – if you’d like to join us contact us via Facebook or email us
Preparations for the next trip to Uganda are nearly complete
Welcome to my new blog – Letter from Uganda!
With just a few days left before I head off to Uganda for a prolonged period, in the company of Mike, an Alongside Africa founder and our Treasurer, and volunteers Ellesse and Kerri, I’m definitely filled with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. The first half of the team from our partners at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia are already on site and seeing these pictures is swaying me from trepidation to excitement.
I will be publishing stories and pictures on this blog throughout our stay in Uganda, so come back and visit regularly