Friday 27th February

As many of you know, Ugandaid exists to give hope to the most needy and vulnerable of Ugandan young people through its student sponsorship scheme at Nile Vocational Institute. Ugandaid however is more than just about providing money for tuition fees. Today, after putting the finishing touches to the girls dormitory with new pillows and gift bags, the team had the opportunity to visit the family homes of two of Ugandaid’s students, Robert and Safara. Robert is in his third year at NVI studying to be a Motor Vehicle mechanic and Safara is a first year Catering student. Safara’s (pregnant) mother and 3 younger sisters live approximately 15 minutes drive from NVI in a small brick built house by the side of the main road. The family survives by selling vegetables and charcoal from a small stall

In front of their house. Some of the team were shown the house by Safara’s mother, whilst the rest of us played balloon’s and bubbles with Safara’s younger sisters. Robert lives further out from NVI in the countryside, which required the use of Steve’s off-road driving skills! Robert’s father, Emanuel and mother, Fatima live together with 9 of his brothers and sisters, with a further 6 siblings living elsewhere. The family has 4 cows and survives by working the land around their house. We provided some gifts of laundry soap, sugar and salt to both families as a thank you for the very warm welcome that they gave to the team. Challenging home situations are common to all Ugandaid students. Today I was also able to spend some time with the student sponsored by my own family. His name is Gastas and he has just started his first year at the NVI Motor Vehicle Mechanics facility. Gastas lives around 9 hours drive from Jinja. He lives with his mother and 5 other children - a mix of siblings and cousins whose mother has died. His father was badly injured in a car accident and currently lives with his mother’s parents. He’s a good footballer, however supports Chelsea! I am looking forward to supporting Gastas over the next couple of year and maybe changing his footballing allegiance! If anyone reading is interested in sponsoring an NVI student under the Ugandaid scheme or donating through “Friends of Ugandaid” then please get in touch (https://www.ugandaid.com/sponsor-a-student). There is a desperate need for support and on this trip we’ve all seen first hand how UgandAid can change lives.

Dave.