Working at Bushikori

Our time at Bushikori has just flown so I guess its time to think about what we did in the short time we were there.

Visiting our sponsored children was of course our highlight. Not only did it make it real for them that they had sponsors in Australia who were supporting them, but it also made it real for us and were able to give them a big Western hug.

We were able to take many photos of sponsored students at BCC and see where some of them lived. We trekked up hills, drove along many small tracks to small villages and even helped ferry sick people back to the nearest clinic.

BushBashing to pick up a sick mother

We felt that up to date photos and information were important and saw this area as a high priority (have also stressed this point again with Dan).

We have followed up on last year’s work party projects including taking photos of the house built for Paul Tiboti (A child-headed family).

New library books were donated to Joshua Primary School from the students of Drysdale Primary School. We hope that teachers will use these and read the books to the students so that they acquire a love of reading and learning. A large box of pencils was also a gift from the students.

Some letters from students in Liane’s class were handed out to some P4 and P5 students. With teacher Lyddia’s help these children have now written back and we hope to continue a letter exchange program.

As it was the end of term, many children were going on holidays and so it was difficult to view normal classroom sessions. Some children came in the holidays for extra coaching, so Liane was able to observe some revision classes and assist a few students. Most of our time was taken up with taking photos of students, events, buildings and downloading them off the camera and making sure they were correctly labelled.

Rex also looked at the computer setup. He was able to network the computers and setup general web access from all computers.

With the money raised on the grand Final Day last year and some other donations we were able to allocate these at our discretion. We fixed the ventilation in the kitchen which was causing a large build up of smoke. Five blankets were bought for some boys under Pastor George’s care that live high up in the mountains. (We bargained the Indian storekeeper down from 35,000 UGS to 20,000 UGS - not bad, he tried to charge muzungu price!)Some money was allocated to Paul Tiboti’s household to purchase some bunk beds. The remaining money was donated for the purchase of mosquito nets for sponsored children that do not have any.

We were able to gain a better insight of the basic functioning of BCC. We met with the Chairman of the Board, Tom Odoi (twice). We learnt the bus pick up route each morning, participated in their Morning Glory sessions, shared the Muzungu office with other volunteers, formed a relationship with the staff, learnt how the Childcare Department operates, met some of the patients in the clinic,

First time mum with new baby in Maternity wing

learnt to eat Ugandan food at staff lunchtimes, Rex learnt how to drive Ugandan style (forget which side of the road to drive on just find a way through the potholes, boda bodas, pickies, matatus, and watch out for the buses and trucks!) and watched as the students prepared for the holidays and came back for extra coaching.

Dr Lervett

We attended a Chapel Service run by the students, the Youth Empowerment Seminar organised for the Secondary Sponsored Students as well as the First Ever Sending Off Ceremony for students who have completed their tertiary or vocational training studies where Rex was privileged to be able to speak to the Graduands on behalf of the committee. We also attended a church service at Bushikori Church.



All of which we have enjoyed very much.

When you write it all down it seems quite a lot. No wonder we came home tired each night!

From what we have seen we are very impressed with the important work BCC is doing in serving the community in this area. We thank God for giving us this opportunity to visit Uganda.