PARRTTAAAAAYYYYY!!!!

I had the privilege to spend a week in the Naguru Teenage Health and Information Centre the week before last, helping with various jobs around the clinic, learning more and more as the days passed. The centre is focussed on providing free health care and information to teenagers (between ages 10 and 24), the majority of which is related to HIV and STD testing, awareness and counselling. This centre is a huge success story for Uganda as it was the first of its kind focussed only on teens in East Africa, and they help hundreds, if not thousands of anxious teens that flood through their doors every week. To manage this the staff are extremely well trained, very up to date with research and information related to their work, normally in the office from about 7am – 6pm, and are all EXTREMELY passionate about their work.
Over the course of my week there I got to work in several different areas with different people, as despite the many committed youth volunteers that do brilliant jobs, there is always more to be done in such a busy place, and so to ensure I learnt as much as possible, the staff made sure to share my time out around the centre. I spent time counting pills in the pharmacy (which made me feel important having access behind a counter I always feel is quite out of bounds at home!); registering patients (which is more difficult than it sounds when their English is very broken, my English can be reasonably broken by a Scottish accent and my Luganda is non-existent); putting patient’s data into computers; sorting flyers into boxes; sorting through and organising feedback data and working in the lab. I loved working in the lab, as I couldn’t have learnt any more if I tried, and I even got my blood type tested (it’s O negative in case anyone wants some). The lab in the centre is a very small room, with only a few pieces of equipment and two staff members (Polly and Julius) but it does the job perfectly. Having the lab in the clinic allows for them to test for syphilis, HIV, Typhoid, Malaria and blood type very quickly so the results can be given to the patient that day and further action taken. This is especially important with the HIV testing as it allows immediate counselling to be given about future steps to be taken by the patient.
I was confused as to why the huge majority of people coming to be tested were women (lots of whom were pregnant I’m sad to say) and after quizzing Julius and Polly I discovered the extent to which women can be vulnerable in a relationship with a man in this culture. Julius explained to me that although men tend to sleep around more, women are more at risk to contracting HIV as the man is generally the decision maker in relationships and so if he decides that he doesn’t want to wear a condom (regardless of promiscuity) then that is more than likely what will happen. This of course can often lead to pregnancy and sadly in some cases HIV. Ignorant and thinking I knew more than I did I started discussing the importance of education for women and how this can be so unavailable to women. I quickly was informed that in fact a high percentage of the women visiting the clinic are actually at University. However University here doesn’t seem to be all about showing off your bargain clothes and beans and toast like it is at home. On top of the fees that people tend to struggle to find, there seems to be a culture within the University that we seem to leave behind in high school in the West, where a person is judged by their material things and the people that seem to be struggling with money can become outcasts. This of course puts a huge pressure on the young people to find money somewhere, and so knowing this, older (often married) men can be found hanging around the university grounds inexplicitly offering to buy a girl pretty things in exchange for sex. The girls feeling under so much pressure can often see this as a quick fix, with the result possibly being fatal. All the way around the world I have been ranting on about education resulting in empowerment, I hadn’t realised before how essential it is that the education is completely specific and relevant for your audience if it is to have the desired effect. It is however nice to know that there are centres such as Naguru that young people feel so welcome and comfortable in, and that people are determinedly working to reach these vulnerable groups.
One of the main focuses of Naguru Teenage Health and Information Centre is education spreading into communities and schools through “peer education”. This is the idea that by educating some of the youth in their rights in life and relationships, and building their confidence, they can be guided as to how to pass this information onto their peers around them, thus reaching a much wider population. The idea is sort of like a ripple effect of information, with the ripple starting with a core group at the centre to ensure the information being passed out is all correct and up to date. One way the centre is doing this is through the “Post Test Club” held every Saturday from 10am – 4pm. This is a day of information-giving through games and purposeful group activities that not only educate, but also improve confidence and knowledge of self. This club is open to anyone that has been for testing at the centre regardless of their result, and also to anyone else that may not have been tested yet, but would like to come along. I attended for the last 2 Saturdays and had a brilliant time working with the youth. I facilitated a session this Saturday for the girls promoting self confidence and self worth regardless of the world around us. This was really a great opportunity as the youth were very good at participating and some of the discussions we had were very interesting and also educational for me. The main theme I found myself coming back to again and again is that we need to be the change we want to see. It can be so easy to be swept up in the world and society around us, ignoring our own worth, rights and needs. This can also hugely influence the way we treat others, but there really comes a point we need to take responsibility for our own lives and actions and live the life we want to promote. After our many discussions, and writing our thoughts on the good and bad things about being a woman we had a short activity where we imagined all the negative things anyone had ever said to us, or that had ever happened to us travelling up our bodies, into our lungs and leaving us with one huge breath out. It is important we don’t carry all the negative thoughts others can create or cast onto us, as they will soon consume us and become our focus, which will of course negatively affect our actions.
After a good day on Saturday we had a brilliant day yesterday (Sunday) at my pre-birthday, birthday party at the children’s home. It was a really fun day with party food, party games, face painting, presents, party bags, balloons, birthday cake and of course a LOT of dancing (oh my word African women can dance! I at least tried to follow them, my hips attempting to click in and out in ways I had never attempted before!) The kids here are just so beautiful and it was such an honour to be involved in the making of some good, fun memories in their lives which already have too many bad memories. Laura had kindly arranged for a birthday cake for me, so I blushed my way through Happy Birthday and we all got to enjoy the cake. Rita Nkemba (founder of Dwelling Places) gave a quick speech after the cake which was really sweet as she was thanking us for our work with them (although I feel more like we should thank them for letting us come!) and they presented us both with beautiful wooden drums and a scarf each, which was so unexpected and so kind of them.
The night came to a lovely close thanks to the hard work of my wee mummy! After the guests had all left and the kids had started cleaning up I asked them to all come into the hall for one last thing. They gathered together staring up at me with smiling, sleepy faces covered in smudged face paints and looking utterly exhausted! I handed them a parcel with a message asking them to give my “friends” a nice home. They opened their present to find a puppet for each of them hand made by my mum. I wasn’t sure if they would be too childish for the older girls, but the whole group went absolutely nuts. They completely loved them and the hall was soon filled with giggles and screams. It was the most beautiful sight and the best part of my day by far was enjoying watching them. All of the children were thanking us for the party and the presents which was lovely, but I was close to tears when Shakira (one of the teenage girls) stopped me before leaving and simply said “Aunty Jenn, just thank-you for loving us”. I couldn’t appreciate my time with these children more, I am so sad to leave Dwelling Places, and I can only hope I will return one day.
Jenn xxx

14.06.10 Indian Family

On Monday an Indian family came and visited us. It was a great pleasure for the Soul Touch Group to meet them and they were so pleased to see us to. After a little lunch we had an amazing performance by Arpana Sharon and her family. We were really sad when we had to go to class but we were also so delighted they came to visit. We got a lot of good photos of the family and we listened to Sharon’s new Gospel CD it was amazing

In the afternoon Raj and Vanitha spoke to the classes and shared a lot about their life in work in India. It was a great afternoon and we all really enjoyed asking questions and learning about their life. It really inspired us when Lilias (an amazing and passionate and inspirational and adorable and sweet and lovely, youth worker from St Andrews church in Bo’ness) told us how the youth in Bo’ness raised enough money to get them here from India. That really inspired us to know that young people really are changing the world, little by little, one Soul at a time!

Also huge shout out to Mhairi and Lisa who came from Bo’ness to spend time with us. They are both stunning and lovely and it was such a joy to host them at our school. We are so privileged to have such great friends all over the world and so many opportunities to meet with them and learn about their lives.

Partaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

I had the privilege to spend a week in the Naguru Teenage Health and Information Centre the week before last, helping with various jobs around the clinic, learning more and more as the days passed. The centre is focussed on providing free health care and information to teenagers (between ages 10 and 24), the majority of which is related to HIV and STD testing, awareness and counselling. This centre is a huge success story for Uganda as it was the first of its kind focussed only on teens in East Africa, and they help hundreds, if not thousands of anxious teens that flood through their doors every week. To manage this the staff are extremely well trained, very up to date with research and information related to their work, normally in the office from about 7am – 6pm, and are all EXTREMELY passionate about their work.

Over the course of my week there I got to work in several different areas with different people, as despite the many committed youth volunteers that do brilliant jobs, there is always more to be done in such a busy place, and so to ensure I learnt as much as possible, the staff made sure to share my time out around the centre. I spent time counting pills in the pharmacy (which made me feel important having access behind a counter I always feel is quite out of bounds at home!); registering patients (which is more difficult than it sounds when their English is very broken, my English can be reasonably broken by a Scottish accent and my Luganda is non-existent); putting patient’s data into computers; sorting flyers into boxes; sorting through and organising feedback data and working in the lab. I loved working in the lab, as I couldn’t have learnt any more if I tried, and I even got my blood type tested (it’s O negative in case anyone wants some). The lab in the centre is a very small room, with only a few pieces of equipment and two staff members (Polly and Julius) but it does the job perfectly. Having the lab in the clinic allows for them to test for syphilis, HIV, Typhoid, Malaria and blood type very quickly so the results can be given to the patient that day and further action taken. This is especially important with the HIV testing as it allows immediate counselling to be given about future steps to be taken by the patient.

I was confused as to why the huge majority of people coming to be tested were women (lots of whom were pregnant I’m sad to say) and after quizzing Julius and Polly I discovered the extent to which women can be vulnerable in a relationship with a man in this culture. Julius explained to me that although men tend to sleep around more, women are more at risk to contracting HIV as the man is generally the decision maker in relationships and so if he decides that he doesn’t want to wear a condom (regardless of promiscuity) then that is more than likely what will happen. This of course can often lead to pregnancy and sadly in some cases HIV. Ignorant and thinking I knew more than I did I started discussing the importance of education for women and how this can be so unavailable to women. I quickly was informed that in fact a high percentage of the women visiting the clinic are actually at University. However University here doesn’t seem to be all about showing off your bargain clothes and beans and toast like it is at home. On top of the fees that people tend to struggle to find, there seems to be a culture within the University that we seem to leave behind in high school in the West, where a person is judged by their material things and the people that seem to be struggling with money can become outcasts. This of course puts a huge pressure on the young people to find money somewhere, and so knowing this, older (often married) men can be found hanging around the university grounds inexplicitly offering to buy a girl pretty things in exchange for sex. The girls feeling under so much pressure can often see this as a quick fix, with the result possibly being fatal. All the way around the world I have been ranting on about education resulting in empowerment, I hadn’t realised before how essential it is that the education is completely specific and relevant for your audience if it is to have the desired effect. It is however nice to know that there are centres such as Naguru that young people feel so welcome and comfortable in, and that people are determinedly working to reach these vulnerable groups.

One of the main focuses of Naguru Teenage Health and Information Centre is education spreading into communities and schools through “peer education”. This is the idea that by educating some of the youth in their rights in life and relationships, and building their confidence, they can be guided as to how to pass this information onto their peers around them, thus reaching a much wider population. The idea is sort of like a ripple effect of information, with the ripple starting with a core group at the centre to ensure the information being passed out is all correct and up to date. One way the centre is doing this is through the “Post Test Club” held every Saturday from 10am – 4pm. This is a day of information-giving through games and purposeful group activities that not only educate, but also improve confidence and knowledge of self. This club is open to anyone that has been for testing at the centre regardless of their result, and also to anyone else that may not have been tested yet, but would like to come along. I attended for the last 2 Saturdays and had a brilliant time working with the youth. I facilitated a session this Saturday for the girls promoting self confidence and self worth regardless of the world around us. This was really a great opportunity as the youth were very good at participating and some of the discussions we had were very interesting and also educational for me. The main theme I found myself coming back to again and again is that we need to be the change we want to see. It can be so easy to be swept up in the world and society around us, ignoring our own worth, rights and needs. This can also hugely influence the way we treat others, but there really comes a point we need to take responsibility for our own lives and actions and live the life we want to promote. After our many discussions, and writing our thoughts on the good and bad things about being a woman we had a short activity where we imagined all the negative things anyone had ever said to us, or that had ever happened to us travelling up our bodies, into our lungs and leaving us with one huge breath out. It is important we don’t carry all the negative thoughts others can create or cast onto us, as they will soon consume us and become our focus, which will of course negatively affect our actions.

After a good day on Saturday we had a brilliant day yesterday (Sunday) at my pre-birthday, birthday party at the children’s home. It was a really fun day with party food, party games, face painting, presents, party bags, balloons, birthday cake and of course a LOT of dancing (oh my word African women can dance! I at least tried to follow them, my hips attempting to click in and out in ways I had never attempted before!) The kids here are just so beautiful and it was such an honour to be involved in the making of some good, fun memories in their lives which already have too many bad memories. Laura had kindly arranged for a birthday cake for me, so I blushed my way through Happy Birthday and we all got to enjoy the cake. Rita Nkemba begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting (founder of Dwelling Places) gave a quick speech after the cake which was really sweet as she was thanking us for our work with them (although I feel more like we should thank them for letting us come!) and they presented us both with beautiful wooden drums and a scarf each, which was so unexpected and so kind of them.

The night came to a lovely close thanks to the hard work of my wee mummy! After the guests had all left and the kids had started cleaning up I asked them to all come into the hall for one last thing. They gathered together staring up at me with smiling, sleepy faces covered in smudged face paints and looking utterly exhausted! I handed them a parcel with a message asking them to give my “friends” a nice home. They opened their present to find a puppet for each of them hand made by my mum. I wasn’t sure if they would be too childish for the older girls, but the whole group went absolutely nuts. They completely loved them and the hall was soon filled with giggles and screams. It was the most beautiful sight and the best part of my day by far was enjoying watching them. All of the children were thanking us for the party and the presents which was lovely, but I was close to tears when Shakira (one of the teenage girls) stopped me before leaving and simply said “Aunty Jenn, just thank-you for loving us”. I couldn’t appreciate my time with these children more, I am so sad to leave Dwelling Places, and I can only hope I will return one day.

Jenn xxx

Communion with a difference...

Firstly I’d like to apologise for my lack of blogging, I didn’t realise how much time had passed! And a HUGE thanks to Jenn for keeping you all updated!!! Also a big shout out to all the young people at Wallace High, the Soul Touch group there are doing an amazing job, and I know that the kids at Dwelling Places absolutely loved skyping with you last week! You’re doing a fantastic job with fundraising, and I’m so excited to hear how it all goes!

I’ve been having lots of fun with the young people along at Henrieta’s, we’ve been sharing discipleship sessions daily, and one of the young people led the session through the week. It’s really amazing to watch these young people grow in faith, and see them striving to reach their potential is such an encouragement to me!

I’ve also been joining in with the craft session after the discipleship which has likely been the highlight of my time here. One of the youths, Stella, taught me to make beads from a magazine, from which I made a necklace and now Mama Paula is very patiently teaching me to weave a basket!

At lunchtime I eat lunch with the youngsters so I can continue working as long as possible, and they never tire of photographing me eating local meals with them, usually something like posho(corn flour and water) and beans...

I’ve been spending Saturdays at a friendship club for the Dwelling Places kids and other children in the community, this is a time of fellowship for the kids with songs, games, teaching and biscuits and juice. It’s like Sunday School, but on a Saturday! The kids have the most adorable song they sing to the visitors and they are so pleased to have us around, there’s usually a wee queue to sit on our knees during our time together! It’s tiresome learning and having so much fun so we usually end up with a few of the younger kids sleeping in our arms. Us Mzungu’s quite enjoy the cuddle but the teens from Dwelling Places are quick to remove them onto a mat at the side of the hall.

One of the pastoral team for the young people invited us to attend his church on Sunday morning, and we were happy to accept the invitation. All 4 of us in the cottage got organised with packed lunches in the morning as we had to hire a taxi to take us the 35-40minute drive there, and figured since we were near the beach we would be as well to visit. Things didn’t work out that way though as the sky clouded over and thethunder began during the service.

The service was fantastic, lots of young people and a real friendly atmosphere. We were invited forward to greet the congregation. Lynn shared a short word and I shared a testimony with everyone before we sat back down to experience a dedication service. There were 4 babies being dedicated that morning, and some members of the congregation had bought cakes, snickers bars and soda’s for everyone... and we didn’t even have to wait till after the service to enjoy them! Hope you’re making notes Albert ;)


We’ve been doing our best to combat the cabin fever! Usually we are in bed by about 9.30, we did however host a Friday night disco a few weeks back. I arrived home from work to find the cottage decorated with balloons and posters, Jenn had a busy afternoon! A couple of the girls had dressed up a little and put a bit of face paint on... as usual when dressing up is involved I took it to another level. I appeared from the room looking like this...

The other girl is Laura, Ugandan’s like to call us ‘double rola’! And the rest of the cottage joined in the madness. We even managed to talk a couple of the Dwelling Places staff into joining us. The night was great and we even had a bottle of organge soda! Don’t be worrying though, we were all in bed, lights out by 10.30pm that evening!

I’ve taken quite a shine to a baby boy called Sirus while I’ve been here, he’s a great baby and I just love having him around so much. His mum is involved with the running of the cottage so we’ve been seeing lots of him. Unfortunately this week he’s been a bit unwell. They had to take him to the hospital a few nights ago but I’ve heard he’s getting a little better. Please remember him in your prayers!

There’s also one of the children from the home that has run away. This happens regularly when children are taken off the streets and attempts are made to settle them in a home. The simple things like using a toilet, sleeping in a bed are so difficult for them as they’ve never had to do it before. This girl has run away in the past and just seems to feel at home when she’s on the streets. She’s only been back at Dwelling Places for a few weeks after having been settled with her family. We would really appreciate if you could keep her safety in your prayers. We’re really hoping she’s back by Sunday so she can join in the party for Jenn’s birthday!
Sorry again for my lack of blogging!

Love and blessings from Uganda!

Laura xXx

Our Success This Week

This week at Wallace High School, pupils have been working constantly to continue raising awareness for the Soul Touch Group within the school, with the help of the amazing Mrs Stewart and even more amazing Miss Bonnar.

Wednesday started off with an emotional live Skype link up with the Dwelling Places Childrens Home in Uganda, with Laura, Jenn and the beautiful children who stay there. Their bright smiles and angelic singing inspired us to continue our fund raising and to constantly make our best efforts to make everyone aware of the poverty within Uganda and the hard work of Dwelling Places staff to rescue, rehabilitate and re-unite abandoned children with their families. We were so encouraged by the fact that the children there exuded hope and were radiant with joy… mind you they are with Laura and Jenn, and those girls brighten up everyone’s lives!

We were all really encouraged by the new members to Soul Touch, who kept up with the pace of the challenges constantly thrown at them, and came up with hundreds of new fundraising ideas, especially new S1’s; Ainsley, Chelsea, Leigh, Louise and Raegan, who took part in writing letters to the children of Dwelling Places, creating collages of pictures and constantly remaining cheerful and maintaining the focus of helping others. Many of the boys are working hard to organise a football tournament and girls are working to arrange another water challenge, after the huge success of last year’s event.

Many of the pupils have been working to raise awareness in the school, by updating the Soul Touch and Fairtrade boards in the corridors. As well as looking bright and beautiful, these boards are packed full to overflowing with photos and information about the work of both groups.

We are looking forward to keeping in touch with Uganda, and with Laura and Jenn’s travels. Hope to speak to you again on skype; we love love love love you!

Wallace Love You!

Hi guys well we’ve been doing all sorts of things to help fundraise for Dwelling Places. Our live chat yesterday was amazing and your song was beautiful, you guys are lovely. We all loved you so much!!

We all thought up some ideas for fundraising the boys thought up a really good idea of a football tournament. The girls had a great idea of no chocolate for a week challenge; we are also having another water challenge.

Today we are doing little things like posters for soul touch, Ark – acts of random kindness, letters to you guys, and preparing for our friend and member of soul touch, Kirstin Gray, who is going to Uganda in the summer to help a program called an African dream. Please keep us up to date with all your travels girls we will be following you guys so keep us up to date. We love you so much; you are such an inspiration to us!
Love
Ainslie & soul touch xxx

It was a public holiday today in Uganda so the Dwelling Places offices were closed and the kids were all off school. Lynn (brilliant northern Irish girl we are living with) has been trying to set up a library system in the home the past few weeks with the few books that have been donated to the kids. So we headed up with her today to have a kind of “book day” in the home. Lynn had suggested we have 3 different stations and the kids could move round them spending 20 minutes at each. So, Laura was reading to them, Lynn was creating stories with them and I was getting them to write a book review of the books they have been reading by making up a newspaper front cover that summarised the story as a headline story. Meanwhile Canadian Laura was busy keeping the smaller children entertained with chalks.

I am constantly going on and on to Laura about how education is everything and kids like these need education as much as possible, so I thought the book day was a good idea but I was a little apprehensive that they might not feel the same, as I seem to remember books being the last thing on my mind when I had a day off school, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. They all absolutely loved it, and the grounds of the home became completely silent as the air filled with the sense of concentration. It was just so gorgeous to see their faces light up at being given a challenge, and also made me really remember how big a difference even one little book can make in a child’s life. It’s so easy for us to throw out our old things wondering who would want them, but I’m telling you, these kids (like thousands of others) would be only too delighted to receive them! The longer we are away the worse I feel for always moaning at school and the more grateful I am for our education system in Scotland. It’s something the kids here literally dream about. As I would dream of running through African fields as a small child, they were dreaming about owning a book and maybe even their own set of pencils.

After we finished up with the book activities we managed to catch one of the original Soul Touchers Miss Erica Bonnar and her Soul Touch fundraising group on skype at the school she teaches at in Stirling. This group of brilliant passionate teens have been having several fundraisers for Soul Touch linked projects (particularly Uganda) and have been showing brilliant results. These teens all take time out of the lunches every week to meet together and plan different events on top of their school work. It was great for them to talk to some of the Dwelling Places kids, and for both groups to learn more about the cultural differences (I think the group in Stirling now have a new appreciation for washing machines after hearing the alternative!). It’s so important that our young people all over the world can connect up so they can learn the simple things about each other that make all the difference in their lives. You definitely don’t need to be in Africa to make a difference to African people, but I can promise that the motivation and fire to make a difference in these young people will blaze a lot stronger now they have met the people that own the lives their actions are changing! How cool to directly see the huge difference a simple school fundraiser can make, to literally save and change lives. Just think what might happen if we all chose to follow the example of these youth!

Jenn x