Uganda Lodge

UK VOLUNTEERS WANTED

annmcc — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:12:20 +0000

As well as international volunteers I am looking for help with admin for our project – here in my home office at Shepperton. I would like to find an organised person with some telephone and computer skills and I am sure together we would be able to do so much more for the villagers around Ruhanga.

This could suit an early retired person, someone looking for a new interest between jobs, or perhaps a young person needing to do some volunteering towards their Gold DofE, Queens Scout etc.

If you are unable to give your time, can you offer a suitable prize for our forthcoming raffle? Maybe voucher for meal out in a restaurant or a beauty therapy session, or can you offer a few days break in a holiday home in the sun?

If you can help please contact Ann in UK ON 01932 562757 Many Thanks

Uganda Lodge Primary School -

annmcc — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:50:11 +0000

Thanks to the funding that has come through our most recent volunteers, namely Joanne, Carl and Tasha, Ryan and Bec and Jess from Australia, we have been able to add the roof timbers and purchase over 50 iron sheets to complete covering the roof area. Now we will be able to open a Primary One Class in February – which parents have been enthusiastically requesting ever since we started the Nursery School in 2008 .

In time, as funding allows, we plan to add doors and windows, concrete the floor, plaster the walls and get desks and benches made by local carpenters.

Exciting News from Uganda Lodge

annmcc — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:32:41 +0000

First of all very many thanks must go to the Aussie couple – Kate and Ben – still travelling somewhere in South Africa – for donating enough money to complete building the walls of a new Primary One classroom at our Nursery School. They only stayed a week but were brilliant help. This new classroom will be for Primary one students aged approx 6-7 years, to attend once they leave the Nursery School.

We are looking for funding to enable us to add the roofing timbers and iron sheets. It would be great if we could open it in time for the new school year which starts early February…we already have a list of children hoping to enroll.

Although not free we charge parents minimum fees – just enough to cover teachers salaries, breakfast porridge and teaching aids – and we already have a number of orphan and disadvantaged children who do attend for just a small donation. We plan to continue this practice with the Primary school

Can you help us out by donating something this Christmas?

http://www.ugandalodge.com/donations.html

Interview with UgPulse

annmcc — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:57:59 +0000

One on One with Ann McCarthy – Paving the Way to Facilitating Development

I really wanted to find something a bit more personal, and this happened when my driver took me into an orphanage in Kampala…. Ann has now joined up with Ida Horner of Ethnic Supplies Ltd and together, they are organising the Gala Dinner and Auction on 17th October at the Hilton Hotel, Cobham.

Natasha & Carl Fundraising

annmcc — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:57:57 +0000

Natasha Mellor and Carl Mace are holding a fund-raising raffle at the Engine Room's Halloween Party for their trip to Uganda.

Couple are real bricks with mission to help village in Uganda

Friday, October 23, 2009, 08:00

Comment on this story

A COUPLE are going to Uganda to teach and help improve water supplies for villagers.

Natasha Mellor and Carl Mace, both aged 19, will be travelling to Ruhanga on November 4 to spend seven weeks in the village.

As a qualified bricklayer, who used to work for Amos Developments, Carl will extend an existing well with the help of villagers as well as pass on his skills of the trade to residents.

Natasha will be teaching English in the village school.

The pair are no strangers to travelling, having spent a gap year in Australia last summer where they worked in bars.

The trip to Uganda has been organised in conjunction with the Ruhanga Community Development Network, a community-based organisation which is registered with the Ntungamo District Government Office and was formed in 2007 by members of three villages in Ruhanga Parish, South-West Uganda.

Natasha said: “We went to South East Asia on the way back from Australia and spent six weeks in Cambodia.

“We spent a day in an orphanage and it was quite emotional.”

Carl said: “It was inspiring what we saw and I just wanted to stay at that orphanage to help the children.”

Both Leek born-and-bred and former Westwood College students, the couple have been back in the Moorlands since the end of August.

Natasha is working behind the bar at The Engine Room while Carl is working in telesales in Hanley.

Natasha said: “Family and friends are being supportive of our trip to Uganda.

“I am looking forward to helping people.

“The teaching experience will be great as I am thinking about becoming a teacher.”

Natasha and Carl, who live in Orchid Court in Leek, are self-funding their trip to Uganda but are also fund-raising for cash to be used for the building materials for the well.

As well as a sponsored pub-crawl from Endon to Leek on Friday evening, the pair are hosting a raffle at the Engine Room’s Halloween Party on Saturday, October 31.

Local businesses – including Over The Rainbow, The Retreat, Biba and The Naz – have chipped-in with raffle prizes.

Once their forthcoming trip to Uganda is over, the pair are already planning where to go next.

Carl said: “We want to go to South Africa next year, we would love to be able to go all over the world.”

Anyone wishing to sponsor Natasha and Carl can call the couple on 07503 267155.

Thare Machi Education Movie

annmcc — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:45:04 +0000

Volunteers are facilitating the use of these DVD’s in both Runyankole and English at our project in Ruhanga.

Fruit Drying in SW Uganda

annmcc — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:46:31 +0000

The women of Ruhanga have asked if we can supply funding to start up a fruit-drying project in their area. To finance the necessary training, and to build the dryers would cost around $1000US

Please watch the video below to find out how it has benefited other groups in the area.

Meryl & Stuart – Overnight Visitors

annmcc — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:39:47 +0000

We battled on and stopped at a place called Uganda Lodge. There are not many choices along this route and we were hopeful this would be a decent campsite. …… As we drove in we noticed another couple there, Ben and Kate who had also just arrived, so we decided to stay.

The owner, Denis could not do enough for us – he let Merryl set up her tent in a barn for more shelter and provided a large rush mat for her to put under the tent. He got the electricity working in a shelter near our car so we could have light to cook by and provided many chairs for us to sit on.
Ben and Kate are a young Australian couple from Tasmania who have finished university and are now having a trip through Southern Africa, but combining it with volunteering at aid projects. They are actually at Uganda Lodge to look at developing a community centre and have raised money in Australia for that project. They were great company and we sat around a fire that Denis had made for us, chatting about our trips and their projects.
Excerpt taken from Meryl & Stuart’s Blog

Ann’s October Update

annmcc — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:28:05 +0000

I am now doing last minute shopping and packing in preparation for my latest visit out to Uganda from UK – I leave 6th November 2009 and return to UK just before Christmas on 18th December

We are expecting a large shipment of donated tools, clothes, books and various other items to arrive in Kampala very soon, and I am looking forward to actually being there and able to unpack them in the village myself this time.

I have another 25 boxes here, ready and waiting to transport them to the TWAM headquarters in Suffolk. As long as I can pay the shipping fees they will get them to Uganda for us and at the same time donate some more refurbished tool kits.

We have hosted several more short-term volunteers since I last wrote – Debra Gregory, a teacher science at an International School in Spain, spent two weeks in Ruhanga doing some great teaching at the local schools before being joined by her husband Ben. Among other things she left behind a reading book scheme complete with tapes and cassettes for Ruhanga Primary School, and has now sent me money to take out another cassette player plus some kitchen equipment for the Lodge.

Kate and Ben arrived from Kenya and could only stay one week as purchasing a vehicle in Kenya proved more challenging than they expected! In their Blog they wrote how much they enjoyed their stay at Uganda Lodge. They had raised money in Tasmania before they left home and this went a long way towards the building of a new classroom at the Nursery School. I am hoping we can get this completed over the next few months as there are many children waiting to join.

Debra Gregory

Manager Wanted

annmcc — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:10:59 +0000

Long-term manager wanted at Uganda Lodge (minimum 6 months) to oversee day-to-day running of the Lodge, the bar and all current projects, and to introduce new volunteers into the local schools and community groups.

You should possess good leadership skills and be able to assist with the setting up of new and innovative projects. You will have the opportunity to work closely with local leaders, teachers and the community in general.

This is not a paid position and you will be expected to fund your own living expenses.