Newbury scouts' Ugandan adventure bears fruit
New classrooms in east Africa now open
CHILDREN in Uganda are this month enjoying lessons in new classrooms – thanks to an intrepid group of seven Explorer Scouts from the Newbury area.
The Scouts braved basic conditions, camped out and worked alongside locals. and, thanks to their hard work, the new classrooms are now finished and open.
All the Scouts involved had to fund the 25-day trip themselves as well as making a charity contribution to help pay for materials, builders and on-going local projects.
This meant lots of fund raising events such as car boot sales, coffee mornings, race nights and more.
During the gruelling trip the Scouts worked alongside local builders for 18 days, helping to build and refurbish schools in Butagaya and Iwololo.
They spent their time digging footings, making bricks, mixing cement and more – all done by hand in the harsh African sun.
The group estimate they shifted approximately 250 tonnes of materials and manufactured more than 5,000 bricks on site.
One of the group, 14-year-old Will Wood from Newbury, said: “This was a life-changing trip for me and all the other Scouts.
“Despite being very hard work it was extremely rewarding and if I had the chance again I’d love to return.”
For the duration of the trip the Scouts lived in tents with very basic facilities and Will said: “Each day we had to fetch water every two hours from the single pump at the village where we were working.
“We were lucky enough to have a local cook at each site and we enjoyed a variety of local food. Despite some sickness everyone pulled together to complete the projects to a very high standard.”
The project was undertaken in partnership with Soft Power Education, a British-registered charity and Ugandan non-government organisation (NGO). It works with communities in Uganda to improve their quality of life through education.
The summer trip was wrapped up with a well-deserved two-day visit to Murchison Falls National Park which included a river trip, a walk up to the falls and a game drive to spot lions and giraffes.
