Labouring, Learning and Living in Uganda by Tom Godec
Having learned so much from the community already, we also got to learn some traditional Ugandan drumming and dance. Joy, who is a music and dance teacher in the primary school and also leads the worship team at the church, patiently spent time teaching us who lacked natural rhythm to loosen up and shake out bodies to the beautiful African beats. We drummed while a primary school class danced for us. We then danced, while the class drummed and occasionally laughed a little at our poor attempts to move to the beats.
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As we approached the end of our stay on the Buikwe site, the Ogilvy team put on a dinner party and invited as many of the Ugandan staff from International Needs as they could. Some spent the afternoon on the building site, while others went to the market to buy all the food and then, under the guidance of our cook Irene, attempted to prepare a traditional Ugandan meal. After many hours of pealing the matoki and many fried chapatis later, the evening was upon us and people began to arrive. In addition to the team we had 35 Ugandans in total. The team served and we sat around a bonfire mixing with new people and chatting, sharing stories and experiences. One of our group played his guitar to entertain the party, and soon after the guitar was passed to one of our guests for a few songs and then back again. Another powerful experience for the team as thankful people left for the night. The team then continued the night by singing and chatting around the fire, just taking it all in.
We had gone to Uganda to experience Labouring, Learning and Living and that is what we did. We couldn’t help but be impacted by this week in Uganda, inspired by all that we have seen and experienced. We bonded as a team closely during this experience and have come back changed; inspired by the love and openness of the community and challenged by the poverty and injustice that we have seen.
Thank you to all of the first Ogilvy volunteer team, who gave all of themselves to raise funds for the secondary school, visit and serve the community in Buikwe and for being part of this experience, each person bringing so much to the group.
Thank you, from the IN team.
International Needs UK, 111b South End, Croydon, Surrey CR0 1BJ
020 8688 3939 | Charity No: 1010597
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