I’m sorry I delayed sending this. I thought I had emailed it to my husband Norman as he was doing the website for me while I was in Uganda but I got confused! Not unusual for me these days!!

Update on the Latrines

With your help we now have doors on the new latrine block! All that that is needed to complete the block is to paint the doors, do the external finishes, the splash apron, the soak away pit which has already been dug and just needs filling with stone and sand I think, and the hand wash facilities. We will be buying the materials for these very soon and I believe we will have it all ready for February when the new school year begins. Thanks again to you all.

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I arrived home today after almost three weeks in Uganda. Time always flies when I am out there! As the plane came into land I really noticed that the Autumn colours. They had changed inthe time I’ve been away and looked beautiful from the air.

The internet and the power had been onand off during my stay so I have a few belated blogs to add over the next few days!

What I do want to say though is I hope you have been enjoying sharing my news and thank you for keeping in touch.

x

Innocent gives a home to some young unmarried mums and their tiny babies in rooms behind the bar, in exchange for them looking after his bar when he is out doing other business or looking after the pigs. Great business sense as they also cook for him! They loved the new clothes for their babies.

Waiswa her brother and the first born

Rose twin sister of

Sashi is another baby living at Innocents bar

Only two weeks old!

Many benefitted from your generosity but I didn’t always get photos but another family who were certainly happy to recieve the gifts were John Baptist, his wife Jennifer and their little son Francis. I have known John Baptist since my time working at Maria’s Care Children’s Home. In fact Vernon Infant School paid for him and his sister to have a mud home built for them as Veronica was too old to live at MC. The house has long gone and now he has a small incomplete brick house built by the charity but he and his family are very hard up. As you see by the photos John and his wife Jennifer were very excited to receive the clothes. Though Francis was not quite as keen to try these strange things on!

Smiles say it all! Mum Jennifer and Dad John Baptist were so excited with the new clothes

Not sure that Francis agreed though!

Dad wanted to try others on his son and chose this red and white striped suit as he is a Manchester United fan!

I haven’t lost my touch – Round and round the garden like a teddy bear, one step two step and tickly under there! I got a smile and a look of amazement from mum and dad!

Whole family kitted out though I had to persuade Jenniefer that my friend Annicks trainers were too small for her!s

Dad John and I in the front seat of the suicide bus that took us back to Innocents for the weekend. They are cousins but closer than brothers

Beautiful gifts for beautiful people- 1

I’ve been gradually giving out the clothes and shoes that you donated. The ‘Bless you Madam’, smiles and hugs I receive show how much your generosity means to these people. So thank you from me too! Innocent’s immediate neighbours are extremely poor so once I had made friends which wasn’t difficult as they are such a lovely family,

Many of the people I meet only have the clothes they stand up in and maybe, if they are lucky, ‘Sunday’ clothes. The little family that live near Innocent is one example. Lydia and Richard and their toddlers Gester and Gift live in a tiny and very simple home. Richard is a boda boda (motorbike) taxi man so will hopefully bring in enough to feed his family, but nothing for extras such as clothes or shoes or even medical help. They looked upon me with curiosity when I first moved into Innocents home. In fact Gift screamed and ran away! But when they saw me every day, we exchanged greetings and they saw me doing my own washing they relaxed and had lots of smiles and laughs for me as I was coming and going. Young Gester often crept in to say hi too! I need say no more about this family, just look at the photos! I got Judith to come and help me sort clothes out for them. As you see from the photos, they were very happy to receive them!

Gift was first to try some clothes followed by big brother Gester.

They looked so smart!

Then it was time for mum and dad who were overwelmed with the gifts

Very smart Dad Richard!

They speak or understand little Engish but there was no doubt Richard loved his shirt and Lydia her skirt.

Now some shoe shopping. The children didnt poccess any shoes at all.

Plenty to choose from thanks to Sue, you know who you are!

Wow, Gester certainly liked his trainers!

Gift was not so sure at first.

I was pleased when Gift, or Giftee as she is called in local language as they always add an ‘ee’ sound to words ending in a sharp constant such as Alexee, allowed me to hold her hand!

Richard decided on a different pair for Gester who couldn’t stop looking down at them! I also gave Richard a shirt that had been donated by friend and neighbour David

Happy family and plenty of gifts left for others in need

Smart gifts for Giftee!

Looking across from Innocent’s home at the children playing they were soon back in their everyday clothes and playing happily with their home made toys which we would call rubbish in the UK!