Uganda - Village of Hope

Team 20 Arrives in Uganda

It all began in Brisbane International airport, where the Brisbanites relaxed over fried rice and chocolate milkshakes. After a sleepless 14-hour flight to Dubai, the team was united with some friendly faces from Melbourne followed by sorely needed re-caffeinating.

The missing piece of the Uganda Team 20 jigsaw puzzle was put in place as the final four members from Ireland met the team in Entebbe International. After an hour-long wait to pass through customs and a minor case of luggage lost in transit, it was official. WE ARE IN UGANDA!

We were warmly greeted by Robert Kafeero outside the airport; aside from the 4 hour transit time, our bus trip to Suubi house was rather fruitful with plentiful purchases of bananas to keep us afloat during the trip from local farmers.

Thursday morning, our first full day in Uganda, began with classic rolexes, pineapple and passion fruit for breakfast prepared by the ever-amazing Juliet and her team of freedom fryers. Andrew lead us in devotion on the Suubi house rooftop, encouraging us to make every encounter with team members, children and mothers of the village a valuable opportunity for us to leave an “aroma” of Christlikeness behind.

As the year is coming to a close, construction work is planned to reconvene on Saturday in Jinja, therefore the team have been blessed with a few days off and used the first day to visit the Village of Hope and spend time with the children. For those in the team who had been to the Village before, it was a time of renewing old friendships and forging new bonds with the children that had since come to the Village, while first comers were inundated with excited, smiling children waiting to greet and hold hands, play with hair and read books with the team members.

After lunch, the team spent the afternoon in Jinja town browsing local art and craft stores, searching out the best milkshakes and exhausting ATMs of Ugandan Shillings. While in Jinja, new fridges and freezers were purchased for Suubi house to replace the current fridge which occasionally welcomes guests with zaps of love.

To celebrate New Year’s Eve, the team went out to dinner to a common favourite, 2 Friends/All Friends; fortunately we beat the midnight rush!

Relaxing back at Suubi house this evening, most of the team are finding it increasingly difficult to stay up for the midnight stroke. As we look toward tomorrow and the new year, we’re reminded of how the efforts of HopeBuilders have been blessed over the past year and are thankful for those back in Australia, those in the ground in Uganda and the international friends and partners of HopeBuilders. It’s exciting to see the opportunities that lay before the Village of Hope and you just can’t help but wonder where God will take this project in the next year.

Be blessed,

Team 20.

Check out a few pics below.... we promise to 'rev up' our pic takers for more in the future blog posts!!