Sunday, July 6, 2025

2nd full day and the Building begins...

As I write this blog, Hayley and I are looking through photos with big smiles on our faces,
reflecting on the heart-filling day we’ve had. It began with a pancake breakfast made by
Juliette, before heading to the village where we met many children, them holding our hand
and asking lots of questions about life in Australia – and they never ran out of questions!
Anything between “how many people live in your Australian home?” and “do your nails
grow in Australia?”

We began building the wall, carrying heavy bricks which the children loved to help with, and
spent a few hours getting a few layers established – with Mrs Murphy hand feeding us with
red lolly frogs as our hands were grubby with mortar. The children kept us good company
with inventive games, one holding our arms behind our back saying “what’s the password?”
and we’d have to respond with “you are so handsome”, “you are so funny”, or “you are so
amazing” – but the password would change each time. Many locals would drive by wit
waves and smiles, a monkey in the tree was eating fruit, and when we finished the building
for the morning, we had fresh chapatti before heading back to the Suubi house for fresh
rolls.

After lunch, we went to the YSU centre (Youth Support Uganda), getting a tour of the
rooms, such as the tailoring room filled with sewing machines. HopeBuilders gives a sewing
machine to each girl that completes the year-long tailoring course. This was only one of the
different courses they run the youth through, many discipleship programs and other
opportunities for them to grow in their love for and hope in God. After meeting everyone
and introducing ourselves, we played volleyball with the men, got fitted for new Ugandan
skirts/shorts with the women, and played with the children. I was asked to teach a young
man a new song on the guitar and then he invited me to sing with him, while he played –
and he harmonised with me. We walked to Lake Victoria, with rows of children holding our
hands, and sat with them in our laps while they pointed out birds and boats.

After YSU, we returned to the house, and Hayley, Heidi, Jordan, Riley, Harry, Ben and I
walked through the village, bought stale mandazi which we gave away, one team member
**ben** almost getting hit by a local with a loaded motorbike, danced with some locals
across the street, ate more fresh chapatti, and stood outside a church listening to choir
practice. On our way back, we ran into the same children that we played with yesterday- so
we played with them again, loads of giggles, loads of cuddles, loads of piggy backs, just
making us smile so so much. They walked us back to our gate and gave us cuddles to say
goodbye, blowing kisses as we waved them goodnight.

We finished the day with a delicious curry that was so delicious we left the pot empty and
now have very full stomachs and very full hearts. We’re so excited for what the next few
days are going to bring, and can’t wait for more cuddles and giggles.

Alex… Team 31.

Pre Brekky UNO game


2 master bricklayers and 1 rookie
Hard at it...
   

                                               








Saturday, July 5, 2025

Team 31 ... First Full Day!


Our first full day in Uganda began - after a small sleep in - with a delicious breakfast of Rolex (omelette rolled in a chapatti) as well as plain chapatti to which we added banana and Nutella... Yum!  And... of course the fresh cut pineapple that is so sweet and abundant here!

After breakfast, the Hopebuilders team came to share with us. They shared a little about the history of Uganda and the culture as well as the beginnings and history of Hopebuilders and the vision behind it.  With that came some stories fo challenges, but also of wonderful achievements over the years.

We then headed up the road to Village of Hope to see the Village, the homes, meet the mothers and to see all the development that has occurred.
After a lunch of freshly baked rolls (baked by Juliet), salad - and of course fresh passion fruit and pineapple we headed into Jinja to check out the town.
We were able to go to the ATM and load up with Ugandan 'shillings' and felt rich ( an Aus $ is 2000 shillings!)  We bought a huge range of things, mini bongos, skirts, bracelets, a 'pink' shirt was bought by one of the guys... and more.
Coming home, we decided to walk down the road to buy some Mandazi (kind of like Ugandan olliebollen) that we have fallen in love with!! On our way back we met some local kids, and began to play and interact with them....  Not long and we had so many kids and so many games going on.... enormous fun was had by all.....

We were called back for an amazing supper of Irish potatoes, rice and beans (and.... you guessed it... fresh pineapple!!).... 
That was day 1.... Team 31 style.

Hayley...... on behalf of Team 31!





Checking out the upcoming wall building project


Hayley & Alex help with Lunch
 
The local kids LOVE the Attention of the team...










The ladies after an afternoon at the Jinja 'boutiques'...


Friday, July 4, 2025

We made it!!!
A quick short note to let you know that after a long, long journey, we made it to Suubi house.
A slow process through the airport and getting luggage, then a long bus trip including a lovely night time flat tyre.... :(

But.... we were me at Suubi by lovely fresh clean beds, a warm meal of Spaghetti Bolognese, a shower and bed....
Tomorrow is a new day, it'll be light, we'll see where we are.. and begin with enthusiasm.

We're thankful to God for safety, security and His presence.... 

Team 31. 

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Team 31 heads to Uganda - The first team from Western Australia!

So. tonight


9 enthusiastic people from WA head out for the inaugural WA HopeBuilders trip!

Each one of us is super keen, curious and excited to spend the the next 2 weeks in a culture and lifestyle very different from our own! For some of us, it's our first trip overseas ever!  For us, HopeBuilders are the Guinea pig! 

The team are: Kate, Heidi, Alex, Jordan, Ben Riley Harry, Hayley and Andrew.  We will try to update the blog each day (when time and local internet plays ball), sharing what we've seen, experienced and done. We're going to help build a wall, meet the children at Village of Hope, meet the young people at YSU, engage with the local church, bring the warmth of God's love to the disabled children at Home of Hope, and more..... The HopeBuilders team in Uganda is ready for us, our rooms are ready, and they are keen to meet us.

Please keep us in your prayers: 

Safe travel, starting tonight.  Protection for our luggage. Good intro to Uganda.  Good team spirit.  and..... a real sense of anticipation for God to work in and through us. Watch out for more!!

Blessings,

Team 31!!

Friday, October 4, 2024

Day 11 - 13: Safari and making our way home

 Sunday was an early morning wake up call with all our bags needing to be ready to be loaded onto the pickup and bus at 4.30am, everyone was ready and set to go and we even managed to get away 5 minutes early at 4.55am. With a box full of Juliet's mandazis we headed to the Busia Border, where we would do a land crossing into Kenya and be picked up by our safari vehicles, to head to the Masai Mara.

After 2 hours of driving. we arrived at the border, where we found hundreds of trucks waiting to cross the border - by the rate at which they were moving some of those trucks would probably be there for at least 2 days! Our bus however went ahead and dropped us off at the point where we could walk across the One-Stop border. We unloaded all our bags, made a quick toilet stop (a rating 1 out of 10 toilet at best) and then after saying a final goodbye to Robert and William, we walked across the border and then just like that we were in Kenya.

The crossing was interesting in that we went to the Uganda Immigration counter, departed Uganda and then walked 2 metres to the Kenyan Immigration counter and we were welcomed into Kenya. Our 4 safari vas were already there and Nelson, Elijah, Sam and Isaac, our 4 drivers welcomed us and proceeded to load all of our bags - we then got on ourselves and began the journey to the Masai Mara...  After a number of stops along the way and about 8 hours of driving, we arrived at the Sekenani Gate of the Masa Mara National...  we popped up the roof on each of the vans and then proceeded to do a little game drive on the way to our Ol Moran Tented Safari Camp, which would be our base for 2 nights.

That evening we had a nice dinner a celebratory birthday cake for Amelia, with the camp's staff parading the cake in a congo line along with singing and dancing - we did enjoy this a second time the next night for Kathy. We got up early the next morning had breakfast and headed out for an all-day game drive complete with packed lunch. The game drive delivered - we say almost 17 lions, elephants, cheetahs, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, lots of zebras, wildebeests, hyenas, gazelles, antelopes, wild boars (pumbas), topis, vultures, malibu storks, ostriches, mongooses, and many other species - all in one day!

We then enjoyed our last African dinner and some welcome rest, before beginning our long trip home the next day. After leaving the national park, we stopped at a Kenyan Art and Curio shop where we had our final team debrief, which was led by Johann and was preceded by a song written by Joyce that featured each of the team members. Our debrief reflected on WHAT we had done and experienced, it then asked the question SO WHAT and then we were challenged with the final question WHAT NOW. Johann then shared some re-entry thoughts and encouraged the team to continue to tell the stories of what they had seen and experienced. It was then off to Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for our flights home.

Once at the airport we spent some time at Java House with coffee and some refreshments until we had to say good bye to Jim and Joyce who had an extended stay on at the airport before their flight to Victoria Falls and continuing a long awaited vacation in South Africa. The rest of the team then headed in to the airport and checked in for our flight to Dubai.

As we arrived in Dubai we found out that our Melbourne flight was already delayed by 4 hours, this was not great news but there was not much we could do except find ways to stay comfortable and to try and rest for almost 8 hours. At this point we said good bye to Roy and Tamie who were heading of the London, Wales and Scotland to enjoy a vacation with family.

The team finally did get on our Emirates flight back to Melbourne which had been delayed due to the closed airspace by Israel due to escalations in the war in Syria. The flight was long but everyone was keen to get home, on arrival back in Melbourne it was quite busy at the airport due to us arriving at a delayed time, however we all got our bags and got through customs and immigration without any hassles.

Now we are back home and just like that team UG30 is history, however it is yet to be seen the NOW WHAT for each of our team members and how this trip will impact and shape our journey from here on. THANKS for reading and following our journey...

Blessings















Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Day 10 - Swimming and Farewell

 Saturday dawned still without power, however the team was in good spirits and enjoyed a final breakfast of chappatis and Rolexes and then got ready to go swimming with all the Village of Hope kids.

We got to the Kingfisher Resort around 30 minutes earlier than the kids and the team enjoyed a little quite time in the water, which was a little cool to start.

Very soon the 3 bus loads of children arrived along with some of our staff and also Mama Naomi. It was awesome to see them all walk so nicely in a line to get changed and then the pool was suddenly full, and our team became life guards and swimming instructors, which was soo good.

The children had an amazing time as well as the team - even Mama Naomi slipped into the pool fully clothed - she could not stop laughing.

We then headed back to Suubi for lunch and the off to the Village for our farewell. 

The farewell was a lovely celebration which included speeches from all our staff as well as our mothers. The children also presented some lovely singing including the Uganda HopeBuilders anthem. The them acted out an incredible drama that told the story of how life was in the slums and then how it changed when the came to Village of Hope, and finally how they anticipate it will continue into the future with graduations as doctors, lawyers and nurses, to name a few professions. This was quite an impactful drama even though at times a little funny.

The farewell ended with Johann thanking the whole Village and management team for welcoming our team and he also encouraged all the children to continue having Hope in God and dreaming. He then invited the team up and the prayed for the village and shared a couple of songs, somewhat impromptu. Robert and Ivan the presented each of the team members with a Certificate then it was time to enjoy a snack and share some final conversation and then the sad goodbyes.

We then headed back to Suubi on final time to have dinner and finish packing as our departure in the morning was 5am, to drive to the Busia border and then I to a safari on the Masai Mara.












Saturday, September 28, 2024

Day 9 - Fashion show, quiet day and dinner

 Today was a fun and chill day. After all of us waking up around 7 to 8 am we had omelettes, fresh pineapple and mango for breakfast. It was a slow morning today which was good after a couple of early and hard days. We had a quick devotion then finished getting ready to go to YSU

At YSU we were presented with a fashion show by the girls who studied fashion design and sewing there. It was great to see all the colourful and creative creations worn by proud women with smiles and dances as they walked the runway. We saw recycled outfits, two peices, skirts, colourful pants and many dresses, each with different designs and patterns. Throughout the show we were also entertained by Alpha and Kirk's  occasional appearance of swagger. ( The two toddlers of the workers at YSU).

After the show we hung around learning some dances, connecting with the women more, hanging out with the kids,  buying some of the amazing clothes and taking measurements so we could get some pieces hand made for us. We said bye and headed back to Suubi with pancakes prepared for lunch. 

With 3 and a bit hours to spare until we left for town and dinner some of us played cards, had down time or sat and talked on the roof 

At 4 we headed off to town for some last minute shopping and a cold drink at the cafe before dinner. 

We had a lovely dinner with the hopebuilders staff with amazing food and good conversations for a couple of hours.

Nadia B