We arrived at the Centre at 9.15am after a lovely breakfast of fresh fruit, eggs and toast. Already sponsored Sam and Jesca and their guardians were waiting for me.
The group split with me staying at the Centre while the others went off to visit Ngora and the School for Deaf Children.
Gillian who is a member of our group describes this visit in her thoughts.
I spent time with Sam, our sponsored child, giving him and his mother, Grace, the gifts we had brought for them. Sam was delighted with the toys and clothes that had been sent to him by Cath’s sons, Jake and Ben. Grace could not contain her smiles at the small items given to her, little things like toothbrush, bars of soap, a sewing kit, may be trivial to us but mean the world to her. We decided that Sam and Grace would stay at the centre until this afternoon and come with us on the bus to Angoram, as that is close to their home at Atira, from there we would get them a Buda-Buda.
Jesca, is a lovely 14 year old girl who is sponsored by one of my sisters, was there with her Father, who is becoming increasingly disabled in his legs and unable to work. She loved the gifts and photos brought for her.
After lunch we all boarded the bus and headed for Angoram, a community which is working with Global Care to build a school, the Ron Newby Memorial School. Last year when we visited the classrooms were in four huts with straw roofs and open sides. This is a community school, built and paid for by the local people. The teacher is unpaid and lives on donations from the community also.
As we travelled to Angoram, Sam sat in the middle seat so he could see out of the windscreen. We think it is the first time he had ever been on a bus. His smile was from ear to ear, Grace sat beside him smiling at the way her son was enjoying himself.
When we reached Angoram the children came out of their old classrooms when they heard the bus and ran to greet us. They gave us a wonderful welcome ceremony, singing and dancing. Paul then thanked them and presented the school with two footballs, an inflatable globe and a football strip for the school team, donated by a Coventry school.
The school football team suddenly increased in size from 11 to about 40 when they heard about the strips.
We then went onto the new shool building and started painting the walls of the two classrooms. The Ugandan builders had watered down the paint so it would go further. It certainly went further, mainly onto the floor. They had also stuck paint rollers onto the end of 2 meter lengths of wood so we could reach the top of the walls without ladders. These became lethal weapons in the hands of us inexperienced painters. This said our team of 8 people had painted both classrooms with two coats of paint within two hours. This was helped along by the same quality singing that had been such a help at Rukingiri.
After the painting we went out into the field to play with the games. Michael from Global Care Centre showed the children how to play with the ‘parachute’. Michael has mastered this toy, inventing new games and also getting these accompanied by singing and dancing. Whilst this was going on the boys were playing football in new strips, the school choir was practicing their songs and dances and Rachel was playing card games with the younger children.
Part of the group went to visit a nearby home whilst others went and looked at the old classrooms. On these the roofs were starting to fall in, with big holes. The children would be unable to study in these rooms during rain storms.
When it was time to leave, we said goodbye to the children and school staff and started to board the bus. Sam was waiting, a big smile of anticipation on his face, he duly boarded the bus and again sat in the middle seat so he could see the view ahead. We stopped at a nearby community and ensured they got safely onto a buda-buda for the final leg of their journey home. I said goodbye to Grace and Sam as I would not see them again during this visit and do not know when I may see them again.
We arrived back at the Guest house after dark after another wonderfully rewarding day.
In Rukingiri the building team had finished their work. The water tank is harvesting water, the painting is finished, internal doors installed and to all intents and purposes the offices area ready for use. What a result!! The team leave Rukingiri tomorrow for Kampala, where we will meet them on Sunday. This evening they are having a final meal with Rev Moses and his wife.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Soroti – how quickly the time has gone, I cannot believe we are nearly at the end of our visit.
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