first full day!

This morning we went into town. Everywhere we go people stare at us and call us "Mzungu" (white person). Also if you love goats and chickens, Uganda is the place to come because they're wandering round everywhere! We went for lunch at Cariboo and were able to try African foods such as matoke, yam and plantain. The buffet was 20,000 Ugandan shillings (about >£5), we’re still trying to get used to the currency!

After lunch we went to visit the slums where we will be working. As soon as we arrived, children were running up to us and holding our hands. We visited some of the people that Smile support and were welcomed inside some of their homes which was very humbling. One lady lived in her house (two small rooms) with her husband and 8 children. We wandered round some more and Jon became very popular when he got his camera out!

A little girl wandered over to us and she was carrying a baby on her back, who was asleep. We went inside the church that they have in the slum and she sat down, I offered to take the baby so she could have a rest. I spoke to her and found out that she was only 7 years old. All the children are so smiley and friendly and one of the boys in particular giggled at everything!

Angela's photo, some children in the slum.

Don’t expect me to be blogging every day, I’m sure we’re about to much busier!

Prayer requests:

-          That we won’t get food poisoning tonight because Susie and Anna are cooking ;)

-          For tomorrow, as we go to kids club in the slums and play games with the children

Thank you for all your support and prayers,

Lots of love, Grace xx

getting to uganda...

(I posted this a few hours after writing it)

We’re in Uganda!

We spent Monday and Tuesday trying to sort out my luggage, I only had a 23kg allowance for my suitcase, and the first time we weighed it it was 31kg! We had to take out lots of toiletries and my pillow (Mum I’ve changed my mind please can you post it out to me!) and do lots of re-arranging but we were finally sorted!

Mum, Dad and George took me to Heathrow on Tuesday to meet up with my team at 5pm. After checking in our luggage we stopped off for a café nero before saying goodbye! (Although I ended up having to say two goodbyes, because my hand luggage was too big and we needed to cull some stuff from it!)

In security, Anna got her marmite confiscated L but apart from that we were all good! Our plane was due to leave at 9pm but due to some delays we didn’t take off until about half past/quarter to ten. The flight lasted about 8 hours, and much as we tried, we didn’t get much sleep! I managed to watch Monsters University and some friends episodes which is a bonus. We landed at about 7:30am local time (5:30am UK time) and despite our lack of sleep we were all very excited to finally be in Uganda!

Much to our bemusement, as we walked into Entebbe airport we spotted Oritise from JLS! (note for my grandparents: JLS are a boyband who came 2^nd on the X Factor a few years back) Sarah was the only one brave enough to go up to him and ask for a photo, but me and Anna sneaked into it too! Visit London on a regular basis: see no celebs… come to Uganda: spot one as soon as you enter the airport!

After chasing our luggage round baggage reclaim, we set off with our trolleys to find Alex and the other Smile volunteers who had come to pick us up. The journey to the Smile Centre took just over an hour and it gave us the chance to experience Ugandan traffic first hand(!). About 50 minutes into the journey, Brian, who was driving Susie, Jon and I, received a phone call with the news that his wife had just given birth! Congratulations to the both of you on your new arrival!

We’re all currently resting before it’s time for lunch (although it feels like it should be bedtime soon!). The five of us girls are in a room together and Jon is next door. Malaria nets are up, there are suitcases all over the floor and our tummies are rumbling; but we’re just so relieved and excited to be here and start our adventure! I’ve stuck all my ‘bon voyage’ and ‘good luck’ cards up round my bed so thank you if one of them is from you :)

Olivia, the lovely centre manager, made us lunch which was very yummy! However I seem to be hungry all the time… (nothing changes)

Lots of love to you all back home.

Grace xxxx

Prayer requests:

-          Please pray for tummies to settle after our long journey here

-          Pray that we will all get a restorative night’s sleep

-          Pray that we will start to bond with the Ugandan volunteers

-          That we quickly settle into life here

Thank you x

goodbye england!

TODAY IS THE DAY!

Our flight leaves tonight at 9pm! I've said all my goodbyes (apart from Mum, Dad, George and Grandma!) and my bags are all packed... I think I'm ready to go to Uganda!

On Sunday we had a bit of a leaving 'do' so I could see everyone before I went. It was so lovely and I've never seen so many people in our house! Thank you to everyone who came, I really appreciate and value your love and support. 

I managed to hold it together all day, right up until my Aunty, Uncle and cousins left haha! I will miss everyone so much but I'm so excited for this adventure I'm about to embark on!

Your support overwhelms me and I'm so thankful for internet and modern technology so I can still talk to you all!

Please write to me, or email me, or facebook message me to let me know how you're all doing :)

This is not really goodbye, just 'see you soon'.

Lots of Love

Grace xxxxxx

The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?

my team's blogs

I will try to update my blog every week while I am in Uganda, but if I'm a bit behind, my team have blogs that you may want to follow as they will probably be a bit better at keeping everyone up to date!

Susie: www.susieboxhall.wordpress.com

Anna: www.straininafrica.wordpress.com

Jon: jonanduganda.blogspot.co.uk

Kathryn: www.lookingatthesamestars.blogspot.co.uk

stickers!

I was very excited to discover that I had post this morning (I love getting post!). My lovely Aunty had ordered me some stickers to use while I am teaching in the schools out in Uganda. On our training week we were told that the children would call us "Teacher" and then our name, so in my case "Teacher Grace". I now have a lovely set of personalised stickers to give out!

6 days to go!

gap year training

Yesterday I got home from my gap year training in Kent. I had a great week and met my team, they are all lovely and we all get on so well which is such a relief! We met the Trips Advisor for Smile, Barry, who will be our first port of call in the UK for all things gap year, and also Alex, who is the Project Manager in Uganda and will be living with us :)

My team! Jon, Me, Kathryn, Susie and Anna.

We stayed at Otford Manor from the 9th-16th and spent the week learning all about our gap year and team building. Uganda sounds like such an amazing country and we're very very excited to go now!

 

Some of the things we may be doing in Uganda are:

- teaching and assisting local teachers

- sports, music and art activities

- supporting the local church in evangelism and worship

- visiting and praying for the sick

- manual work: digging, tiling, painting

- child and widow sponsorship programmes

Two weeks today!

my gap year begins!

So here I am, on the train to Kent to spend a week with my gap year team and learn about everything we will be doing in Uganda! There's a man sitting opposite me very undiscreetly pickinh his nose and eating it, someone is regretting skipping breakfast this morning...
Before I left I went to see my best friend Hannah as it was the last time we would see each other in 10 months! Her gap year starts today too and she's off to Thailand! It was emotional to say the least! Goodness knows what I will be like saying goodbye to my family!
 Anyway I am very excited to meet my gap year team and for the next 10 months! Good luck to all my wonderful friends who are off to university this month :)
Thank you for all your support and prayers
Grace xxxxx