Barnaby Bear DIY skills

                                        Here I am at the Soroti medical centre helping Sally and Liane with my power drill, screw driver and measuring tape

                                          Taking a well earned break to eat my cereal bar!

CASSO Orphanage; Widows Co-operative at Koutulai; Safari at Murchisson Falls Game Park

Wednesday 2^nd Feb: CASSO Orphanage

I really enjoyed visiting the orphanage and meeting Susan who is the manager. At present there are 37 boys and girls but they have the capacity for 80. They have limited budget at the moment but when they received more money they will give more boys and girls a home. All the buildings are brightly coloured and there is a really friendly atmosphere there. I made lots of new friends and they really wanted me to stay and thought that I had come to live with them permanently.

They sleep two people to a room but when more children come to stay that will increase to four children to a room. The bedrooms feel nice and cool and spacious because of the high ceilings and the beds are nice and big and comfortable.

The latrines are really clever and are called ECOsan toilets. They have solar panels that heat up and dry the solid waste and this makes it safe and clean like a compost. They spread this on their vegetable garden and they grow eggplant (aubergines), onions, tomatoes and greens.

I gave some toys to Susan as gifts for the boys and girls.

Thursday 3^rd February: Widows Co-operative at Koutulai

We made a trip south to Koutulai to visit the widows and orphans at this village which is on the road to Mbale. They have a new sustainable development which is a great example of how we need to live in the future by using less energy and materials. They use the mill to grind cassava and other crops and are able to produce a little extra to sell. They also have latrines with the Ecosan system which means that they have a good supply of fertiliser to grow their crops.

At the ceremony there was singing and dancing, prayers and speeches. The musicians played locally made instruments made of timber, goatskin and strings which looked a bit like harps. They served up a delicious lunch of beans, chicken, rice, matoki and goat stew.

We took gifts of beautiful scarves to give to the widows and they were really happy to receive them; they really appreciated us dancing and celebrating with them.

Saturday 5^th Feb: Murchisson Falls Safari Park

We have seen hippo, buffalo, giraffes, elephants, snakes and antelope. The tracks are very bumpy and long but the scenery is stunning. Paraa Lodge is an amazing game lodge where the food is wonderful and we can see the river Nile form our bedroom balcony. I sat gazing at the night sky last night and could hear the cicadas and frogs calling. I could see thousands more stars than back at home in Aberdare and even saw a shooting star. Can’t wait for the boat trip this afternoon and the trek to see the rhinos tomorrow.

I have sent you a postcard so hope you get that before I get back. It is a long journey home again. I am looking forward to seeing all my friends back at home but am reluctant to leave Uganda because it is such a friendly welcoming country and the weather is sunny and hot.

Widows co-operative Grinding Mill

                                       Here is the grinding mill that they use to grind casava, maize and rice

      Here are the interlocking bricks that they used to build the mill building, which require less cement so have a lower carbon footprint.

              This is the new water pump that takes water from a borehole (70m deep) and the whole village uses this facility

                                       Here is the mill. You can see teh marquis that have been set up for today's ceremony. We had speeches and music and dancing

CASSO orphanage

                                          Here are the boys......

                              ....here's me making new friends

                                        THey are playing ludo

                                           ...........and the girls

                                        Here is one of the dormitories

                                         and comfortable bunk beds

ICE Cymru Executive Committee Uganda Blog

http://www.icecymruuganda.blogspot.com/

Sally Sudworth, Liane Shepherd and Dave Reynolds are all civil engineers and they have written another blog at this address. You can see more photos here and read more about what the team are doing.

My friend Liane the engineer

    Can you see Liane sitting behind me with the children? She is showing them how to use a calculator.

I really like Liane. She is a lovely bubbly person and is an excellent civil engineer. She is very senior in her company and is in charge of two offices. She has teams of engineers working for her in Cardiff who design and build new roads and bridges. This proves that girls can be great negineers as well as boys! I din't even know what a civil engineer did until I met her.

Going to church at Soroti Baptist Church

Sunday 30 Jan :A day off at last – I have never done so much manual work in my life – well not me actually – I was watching the others who were very busy every day. It was very hot and sunny - 35 degrees! Sunday service at Soroti Baptist Church was an experience I shall never forget. There was much singing and dancing, and joyful singing; it was impossible not to be moved. There were even some pogo-ing (if you have ever seen The Blues Brothers film you will know what I mean!). The children were all dressed in their Sunday best. They gave us all a really warm welcome and said they appreciated everything that the team is doing.

At the Lake near Soroti

                                        Fisherman in a dugout canoe

                                        A cow grazing near the shore

                                        Fisherman on the lake in their canoe

                                       Everyone paddling in the water! We did not join them because there were lots of bugs and parasites inthe water and sometimes crocodiles!

Visit to the lake

Saturday 29 Jan : We made the trip to the lake – on a very dusty road. See the photographs of some spectacular scenery. The tiny villages we saw enjoyed the most perfect setting, overlooking the vast serene lake. There was a mixture in building materials from classic mud huts with thatched roofs, to small brick bungalows. Soccer was everywhere with football pitches dominating every village green! I expect they are all also vulnerable to flooding during the rainy season. The children here do not have any toys nor do they have any bears like me so they really liked to meet me.

We passed a water station that was very busy where the young women and children were filling large yellow containers using the hand pump (perhaps WaterAid or Oxfam had installed this?) and the women were carrying the containers back to their villages on their heads. We have seen many women carrying many (challenging) items such as whole bales of timber and also very large baskets laden with fruit (bananas and mangos) carefully balanced on their heads.

                                              This is the cabinet we made to cover the electric meter on the church.

                                     Me and my new friends in Soroti

                                         Me sitting  in Soroti baptist church

                                          Hello - I am missing you all and can't wait to tell you what I have been doing when I get back to Glenboi school!

                                      This is  Sally and Liane who have learnt to be joiners ( a type of carpenter). The are both qualified engineers and Sally is looking after me.

                                             Liane with the power drill!

                                         Sally sawing wood

Soroti medical centre grand opening

I was very excited to be part of the opening ceremony for the Soroti Medical Centre. The team have been working hard to get things ready. It’s very hot! I generally like to have a snooze under the tree at midday. I had the chance to explore the church which is a large cool building.

The team has developed a great rapport with the locals who are working with us to complete the last few details that will help to extend the building. We are completing fitting out of the radiology rooms and also creating a resource centre that will be used for training in technical, IT and craft.

Soroti Medical Centre

                                          Soroti medical centre

                                          Plaque to be unveiled and ribbon to be cut......

                                          Sally and Dave and the plaque that mentions all the young engineers who were involved in designing and building the medical centre

                                    Can you spot me under the tree again?

Working at Soroti

We flew to Nairobi on the night plane from Amsterdam and I didn’t get much sleep. From there we journeyed to Entebbe airport (which is sited on the shores of Lake Victoria), and spent a day on the road travelling north to Soroti. I was impressed with the new plaque we are installing in the medical centre which is for the grand opening on Friday. I loved meeting the local children, they are very friendly and wanted to give me a hug. Sally and Liane have become joiners and are making a new cabinet to cover up the electricity meters. They have learnt new skills like how to saw, use a power drill, make a ladder and use a wood plane!

Lunch today was chicken, vegetable samosas and pop. Last night we had chapattis and matoke, which is like mashed potato but is made from a type of banana but it is not sweet.

                                          Loading up the minibuses to travel from Entebbe to Soroti

                                   Dave and his drainage gang workers at the centre

                                         Soroti market - lots of bananas!

                                          Arrival at Entebbe airport

                                            My new friends in Soroti

Barnaby's photo diary

                                          Suitcase packed and ready to go

                                           Soroti medical centre

                                            relaxing in the shade

Preparing to go

My arm is sore from all the injections I had to have to protect me when I go and I had to start taking my anti - malaria tablets a few days ago - yuck. I hope I don't get bitten by mosquitos. I am so excited but a bit scared too. We are flying today from Cardiff airport and can you believe it is going to take 26 hours to get there! I am glad I am going with Sally and the other engineers who are going to take care of me. We are going to be working when we are there, helping at the new medical centre in Soroti. We are also going to visit an orphanage that was recently built and also a grinding mill that is being run by the widows co-operative. I can't wait to make friends with the children. We are going for two weeks and at the end of the trip we are going on a mini safari and will see lions and elephants and giraffes and rhinos. That is going to be absolutely brilliant. I am already missing my class mates at Glenboi School and Mrs Jones but can't wait to write in my blog to tell them of my latest news. I hope one of these engineers can get me a good internet connection to download my blog. Speak soon. Love from Barnaby Bear