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ORY R ST OVE C

Easter Trip to Uganda

UGANDA TRIP 2-12 APRIL 2009 During Easter severn hard working BTEC national sports students travelled to Uganda in South East Africa, to share knowledge and skills learnt during their course at Hopwood Hall with poor and orphaned children. They lived at St Moses orphanage, and worked in and around Jinja with the Rochdale based charity Agapao International. Money raised from the sponsored healthy mile walk in the March One World Week raised over 220 and enabled the students to buy mosquito nets for over a hundred children, and much needed mattresses, the orphans were, up to the visit, sleeping 2/3 to a bed on very old worn out pieces of foam, and regularly became ill with the life threatening disease malaria. Students also spent a full day painting the childrens bedrooms with bright pictures and pasted football and educational posters on the walls. The Hopwood team developed sports games and spent time going around schools, coaching the games to large numbers of children, who delighted in playing the new activities, while learning new skills at the same time, sharing, problem solving and learning through fun! One day was spent at a nursery school, toys were taken over and given to the nursery children who in most cases had never played with toys before and had to be shown how to play on the slides and swings! Tutors bought three villages sewing machines, to enable the people living there to generate an income for themselves for the future, giving them a chance to be able to afford to send the children living in the poverty stricken villages to school.

Class in progress

Decorated walls

p2 - May 2009

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Donated toys

The students also saw the beauty of Uganda and spent some time horse riding, visiting a rainforest, taking a boat trip up the river Nile and witnessing some of the worlds most ferocious white water rapids! The Hopwood students were a credit to the college, the thought, care and compassion they showed throughout the trip was commendable on every level. Although they all worked exceptionally hard in hot, tiring conditions, enduring very long days, non of them complained about the lack of luxuries they were used to in terms of strange food, lack of hot water, poor sanitation and in some cases lack of electricity! All experienced life from a different perspective, and enjoyed the trip immensely, making them feel grateful for the lifestyles they have here in the Uk, They left the people of Uganda with a lasting memory of kindness and friendship.

Volunteer developing & coaching sports games

Volunteers on a much earned excursion & enjoying the scenery Uganda has to offer

May 2009 - p3