Labouring, Learning and Living in Uganda  by Tom Godec

7 days in Uganda, Labouring, Living and Learning. You could not ask for a more complete experience as 9 volunteers from the Ogilvy Group UK gave up their time to serve the community of Buikwe in Uganda. These volunteers had each been raising funds to help build a secondary school in Buikwe, as part of the company's CSR programme they have called 'Many Ogilvy Hands'. Now they were visiting the project and ‘getting stuck in,’ assisting with building work, whilst building relationships within the community and learning a great deal from the people there.

The next day was upon us and it was straight to the building site to assist the builders in their work. We were very aware that none of the team actually had any building or labouring skills, and we were keen not to get in the way but to serve the builders in any way we could. The team was overwhelmed by the reception they received. The builders had us lifting, mixing, throwing and cleaning and even taught us how to bricklay. We had considerably underestimated how much the builders appreciated us being there. The foreman, David, was full of thankfulness and praise, which gave the team an immense feeling of satisfaction.

We spent 4 days labouring, but in between we were able to soak up much of Ugandan village life, being introduced to many families facing different struggles as well as success stories.

We visited families who had benefitted from being part of our International Needs livestock programme. Families are given an animal or animals which produce offspring and milk (if it’s a cow or goat), which they can then sell to bring in some income. The idea is that when given an animal, they would pay back this animal over time with one offspring from that animal which is then put back into the project. This animal is then given to a different family and the process starts again. This is a fairly new project but had already helped 67 families in the area. It’s hard to imagine the impact of say one cow on a family. One father of 4 named Solomon had received a cow who he had named Halyma. The cow has produced many offspring, one of which went back to the project to be given to another family, and also produces 20 litres of milk each day. Solomon is able to sell this milk and any offspring, bringing in a considerable income for his family.

The team visited families who had children sponsored to go to the International Needs School in Buikwe. We met many families with children who had been orphaned and neighbours had taken pity on them and taken them in. We met one amazing single lady who had taken in 3 unrelated children who had been orphaned, having lost their parents to HIV/AIDS. This lady was very poor and often could not afford food, but she tried the best she could each day to take care of these children. The children are sponsored to go to school however, and this sponsorship provides 2 meals a day as well as the education and equipment needed. Many children who are sponsored to go to school will not eat in addition to the school breakfast and lunch meals that they receive.

A family who had only the day before buried a family member, allowed us to sit with them while they mourned together. In Uganda when someone dies, other villagers and family members will gather round those most suffering and they will mourn together, often staying together for up to a week, supporting each other through the hard time. It was a very powerful scene of unity and love.

The team were then greeted by a wonderfully bubbly lady and her family who were so thankful for work that we had been involved with that she blessed us with a gift of sugarcane. The generosity through these poor circumstances was immense.