Introduction

It's been almost a week since I arrived home and I'm still really trying to get my head around it all.  This wasn't a "holiday" so I can't tell you what activities I did and how lovely it was to be in the sun.  I went to try, in my small little way, to help some people who I had never met before and most of whom I will likely never meet again.  I prayed before I went out that I would also benefit from the trip, not wanting to be selfish but hoping that I might be changed for the better by the experience.

I kept a diary while I was there and so I've decided that the best way to tell everyone about my trip is to type it up in this "blog".  I haven't included absolutely everything that I had written down but what I have written gives an account of the week as it happened.  If I'd tried to explain every emotion felt then it would have been even longer, so I've kept to the facts mainly.

I am so grateful to the many people who were praying for me and the team while we were there, and I can tell you that all my prayer requests were met...

• All our travelling went well and safely,
• Ross and Tyler (along with the dogs) were fine at home,
• the English and the Ugandan leaders got along really well and we worked as one team during camp,
• the children had an amazing time at camp and were filled with new experiences and skills and knowledge, both spiritual and practical,
• what little I had to offer was, I think, used by God in His mighty ways.

The days at camp went like this:

6:30am Leaders' Devotions

7am Morning Drills

7:30am Shower time

8am Breakfast

9am Praise & Worship

9:30am Bible Story

10am Bible study session

11am Morning Snack

11:30am Life Skills study session

12:30am Workshops

1:30pm Lunch

2:30pm Another Life Skills study session and/or preparing for evening presentations

4pm Afternoon Snack

4:30pm Games/Swimming

6pm Shower time

7pm Supper

8pm Evening presentations

10pm Lights out

There were 105 children from in and around Kampala (up to 4 hours travelling) who attended the camp and each of them were already being helped by a project running and had been chosen by their peers to be their project's Child Ambassador, one of the rewards for which is attending camp.  There were 28 Ugandan leaders, all of whom were there voluntarily, though some work with the projects that the children came from.  CRANE (Children at Risk Network) is the network in Uganda who organised the camp and who supports and works with these particular projects.  

There are a lot of people doing some really great work in Kampala/Uganda but there is still SO much need!  I know that what I did last week was just a "drop in the ocean" compared to the work going on, but I was privileged to be that "drop" and it was a real honour for me.

It's hard to know what to do with what I've seen, learned and experienced.  I certainly can't forget it all and I actually pray that it continues to be heavy in my heart and prayers.  However, I have come back to the same life I lived before going out: the same 2 story brick house with heating, running water and constant electricity, the same amazing secure job with good pay and the same high standard of living with my own car, too many clothes, enough food each day and a bit of money left over.  How do I put these two stark differences together and move forward?  (By the way, I'm asking a question that I can't answer!)

Am I glad I went?  YES.  Would I do it again?  YES, though I had to wait over 10 years to do this one so know it might be another wait before it happens again.

I think I would like to go to another country and try a different type of work, perhaps something more "hands-on", but the week at camp was a wonderful learning experience for me and I am really glad that I started there.  I used to spend my summers at a Christian camp in the mountains in California and it was a huge part of who I am now, so it was a real blessing to be in "camp mode" again, though the environment and surrounding circumstances were as different as different can be (except the heat and wooden bunk beds!).  I also now have a dream that Ross, Tyler and I will do something similar together at some point in the future.

Thank you for reading this and I'd happily answer any further questions you may have. :)

There are some photos in the posts to follow, but the entire collection of my photos and videos are at:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ynmvrx4cxlq11ma/akd6g9NC3F

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/17rfpzihyrgfe4f/ZGFubpZW91

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbm8-lg2WX4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7WNoQFBGFY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-0n87D8Zps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eymD9SedkU