Blogs from Eastern Region, Uganda, Africa - page 21

After we left the Nile River, we headed to a baby cottage in Jinja - baby cottages are where ophans 0 - 5 years are placed. I knew my heart strings would be tugged by coming here, I just didn't know they would be yanked in 20 different directions!! Before my trip began, my roommates made me promise that I won't come home with any orphans...and they lucked out because the process for adoption takes about 3 years and even then you could be denied. There are 3 American families who are in the "waiting line" to adopt 4 children from this particular cottage, so we came to take pictures to send back to them in America. We were only there for about 30 minutes, but these kids are adorable and I saw the sweetest baby ... read more

Early Tuesday morning I met the group for my seventy one day tour going from Nairobi, Kenya to Cape Town, South Africa. Had a late start as some people needed to do banking in order to change travellers cheques into US dollars for kitty payment. Once on the road, our first stop was a visit to Sheldricks Elephant orphanage. The organization is on a large area of land & they rehabilitate orphaned elephants & rhinos before releasing them into the wild. Their costs are funded through donors & you can sponsor your own elephant for around US$50- per year. The little ellies were fun to watch as the keepers fed them & they played soccer together & frolicked in the mud. Made a short stop overlooking the Rift Valley, which goes for thousands of kilometres. Onto ... read more

Ashfield Team Visit to Uganda On 21st September 2006, three representatives from Ashfield Girls’ High School are setting off for Uganda. Mr. Michael Skillen, Mr. David Catherwood and Mrs. Alison Wilton are going to visit the site of a new Ashfield School, in an area of Uganda called Iganga. While we are excited about getting a brand new school here in Belfast (quite soon we hope), we are also looking forward to helping another community in Uganda build a new school providing new opportunities in an area that is much less fortunate than our own. There is great excitement about both projects and we are looking forward to getting a lot more information about our site in Iganga and the people it will serve from this initial visit. Our project will provide many new learning experiences ... read more

On the 21st September 2006 Mr Jim Bloomer and 2 friends from Portadown will lead a team from Ashfield Girls School Holywood Road Belfast. Team Members for this trip will be Mr Michael Skillen (Teacher) Mrs Alison Wilton (Parent & Friends) Mr David Catherwood (Board of Governors. ... read more

When you sit on the front patio area at Gately on the Nile - a comfortable guest house situated in a bird-watcher's paradise of a garden - you have a view of a narrow band of Lake Victoria in the middle distance - en route to what used to be the Owen Falls and generally acknowledged as the Source of the Nile. Between you and the lake view there is a gigantic tree - indigenous, and I don't know its name, but must find out. During my first view visits a pair of African fish eagles nested at the top of that tree. Every morning at breakfast they were my companions (although I think I was irrelevant in their eyes, they were significant in mine). Then, during one visit a few years ago, they were gone. ... read more