The Trust recently awarded grants to four members of Bishop Ridley Church towards a working trip to the Stephen Jota Children’s Centre in Uganda, which is supported by the Nsumbi Trust, a UK charity. The trip is described by Letitia, Adrian, Debbie and Gary below.
Letitia: Visiting Uganda was for me the most memorable experience of my life; to go wasn’t a decision I took lightly, but it was the best decision I ever made and I am very grateful to Gary in particular for his encouragement and support. Looking at the Nsumbi Trust website before we went I was struck by one sentence in particular, ‘Whatever your reason for visiting Uganda, be prepared for it to change you’. Wow, that is an understatement!!!!!!!!!
The people of Uganda scratch a living working dawn to dark and earn a pittance in return, but they are a welcoming people, friendly and kind and a people of great faith. The staff and children at the Children’s Centre had so much love to give and they gave it in abundance. It was a very emotional time meeting my sponsored little boy, Absolomon, but it was equally so meeting all the children.
They are so pleased to see you, grateful to be sponsored and respond so well to the challenge of education and have such desire to work to achieve their potential and they do.
Our visit to the slum village, where many of the children originated from, proved to be as emotionally challenging as we expected, but even there the people welcomed us, invited us into their meagre homes and seemed genuinely pleased to see us. The houses are about the size of my bedroom, curtain down the middle, sleep one side, live the other. No front door, just a curtain across the entrance. No electrical appliances, cook outside,do the washing in a large washing up bowl and the toilet is a foul smelling stream that runs through the village en route to the main sewer. Our visit brought it home to me at least why the Children at the Centre were so appreciative of the opportunities they now have and why they worked so hard at their studies.
You go out there to help, to take gifts, but there are no words to describe adequately what you get back in return. It will take a while before the real impact of our trip kicks in, but change me it has and I feel sure it will better equip me in all areas of my life, but in particular in the various aspects of my work with the young people in our community.
Gary: The Nsumbi charity has a plot of land in a suburb of Kampala and offers education, food and healthcare to local children most of whom have lost one or more of their parents. Most children have sponsors in the UK. The project was inspired by local Pastor Stephen Jota and has since expanded to include a hostel (largely for orphaned children), a nursery school, a farm and maize mill and most recently a secondary school.
I was part of a team, along with Letitia and Adrian, which spent 5 days preparing and redecorating the school dining hall. It hadn’t been decorated for many years and was in desperate need of a make-over. The hall is not only used at mealtimes but also as an exam room. The work was quite challenging not only because of the size of the room but also because we could only take with us a limited amount of equipment and so had to improvise in some instances (a branch from a tree was cut to be used as a long handle for rolling the ceiling). Also, some consumables that we take for granted in the UK are a little more valuable in Uganda such as cloths, detergent, white spirit and even water. The room was transformed by the end of the week. We had assistance from one or two locals and the opportunity to learn from each other. In particular, they were impressed by our work ethic and by our range of decorating skills. Similarly, I took the opportunity to learn some local language words and phrases.
We also visited the new Secondary School that has been started by the Pastor and where my sponsored boy attends. Douglas is now sixteen and is studying hard in order to go to university. The school is some way out of the city and so the children board at the school. The conditions are very basic and the food doesn’t vary much but they all appreciate the chance to study. We were able to take with us a number of laptops as well as clothing and sports equipment to make life a little easier and more fun.
Back at the school, we were able to share time with the children and teachers both in the classroom and more casually. The sports/cultural day was a special day. The children treated us to traditional singing and dancing and, in their school Houses, the boys contested a football tournament and the girls a netball tournament. Interestingly, this was held on a Saturday and virtually the whole school attended along with parents and friends.
The children value the school very highly and acknowledge the importance of a good education and it is a joy to see them grow and flourish.
Adrian: As a more ‘mature traveller’ this was my first trip to Africa and a wonderful opportunity to not only meet the two children that my wife, Debbie, and I sponsor, but to experience a little of the African culture. Whilst I had seen presentations from other people describing the work of the Children’s Centre, it was only when I went myself, and spoke to the teachers, parents and young people that I began to appreciate some of the challenges they face on a daily basis. The young people are so keen to learn, and value education so highly but do not have the necessary equipment to help them in their studies. The teaching staff give up so much in order to teach the children, but are restricted through a lack of basic equipment, which we in the UK take for granted. But both teachers and students do the best they can with what they have…… and they smile!
It was great to be able to experience such a different way of life and to see at first hand some of the difficulties the children face as they grow up. Visiting a ‘slum area’ nearby, from where many of the children at the Centre come, helped me to appreciate what a big difference the Stephen Jota Children’s Centre has made to the lives of so many families and how important it is to continue to support Nsumbi Trust as they support the ongoing developments at the Centre.
Debbie: I have been a trustee of the Stephen Jota Children’s Centre for about five years and this was my first opportunity to visit the Centre and see for myself the work that is carried out on a daily basis. The Centre cares for and educates up to 500 children, from Nursery through to Primary Year 7. Many of the children are supported through our child sponsorship scheme and it was good to see how this impacts on their lives, providing them with opportunities that they would not otherwise have. In addition to the primary school itself, the nearby hostel is home to the children who have no families and also provides term-time accommodation for children for whom it would be difficult to live at home.
It was so good to be able to see, first-hand, the results of the planning and fundraising that we have carried out in the UK. Our two most recent projects include the building of a Nursery block, incorporating three classrooms and room for a future day care facility, and a new, much needed toilet block!!
The welcome and hospitality we received while we were in Uganda was wonderful. We received so much from people who have so little. The memory of the trip will remain with me for a very long time.
