safari!

Sorry it's taken me a while to do this!

Susie, Kathryn, Jon, Brian and I went on safari last week as a little team holiday! Anna stayed behind in Kampala to sort out what she'll be doing on return to England...

We arrived at Murchison Falls National Park on Tuesday 21st January in the morning ready for our safari adventure! We had already seen some monkeys and elephants before we'd even reached the gate so we were very excited!

 As it was safari, I should probably start with some animal photos...

Baboons are actually very intimidating up close!

We stayed in a campsite called Red Chillli Rest Park. They had some little resident warthogs who we'd often find wandering around! We named this one 'when he was a young warthog' (Aimee you won't get this because you've never seen Lion King).

On our second day we went on a boat ride down the River Nile. It lasted three hours and was the highlight of my trip! We saw so many hippos and elephants  - it was amazing! The boat went down to the Murchison Falls waterfall and we climbed out on to a rock to have a photo. We also saw crocodiles and giraffes and all kinds of birds. I don't consider myself much of an animal person but that soon changed when you get so close to such majestic creatures! I was left in awe of the beautiful creation that surrounded me.

On the third day it was Kathryn's birthday! We of course had to abide by the Smile Uganda tradition of soaking the birthday girl with water!

Happy 19th Birthday Kathryn!

We had a fantastic time and lots of photos to prove it!

We're now back at work. We popped down to Chosen School the other day to plan for the upcoming term. We got to catch up with Moses, who stayed with us over Christmas, which was lovely.

Lots of time has been spent in and around the sea container, sorting aid and finding school equipment to give out before the new term starts.

Today we are doing lots of admin for Smile's sponsored children. We've caused some giggles from the local volunteers as we attempt to pronounce some of the Ugandan names! Smile's support of these children is invaluable, and hearing some of their stories is heartbreaking. There are still children who are in need of a sponsor, some of whom we work with week by week - if you're interested.... www.smileinternational.org/sponsor-a-child

Also, if you're on facebook, please like our page! www.facebook.com/smilecharityuganda

Please continue to pray for the work of Smile International and Smile Charity Uganda. Children in Uganda go back to school next week so please remember them too. Thank you so much for all your support and I promise to write a better blog post next time!!