February 9th

Chris had asked me what I was up to today?I had nothing planned and expected to get some chores and then serious scrapbooking done.

But I received a call from my old friend Trish would I accompany her to her friend Amanda's for a talk on Uganda at 10am????

I never like to say no,so I had very little time to get ready and ran upstairs to dress (yes,I was still in my PJs,sitting down to breakfast)

I thought I’d wear something from my new purchases.One of my 3 brooches and a multi coloured scarf.

At least these fit when you are getting on the large side!!!

So off we went.It turned out I had met Amanda several times over the years.Trish,Amanda and their many acquaintances come from a different world to the world most of the UK inhabit.

Its weird how my friends think I am privileged as I live in,to them,a large house.Then I have friends ,like Trish who live in bigger houses than me and then she has friends that live in even bigger houses than her and so on.I wonder when you feel like you have reached the “top”,maybe never.Its fair to say that the house we arrived at was stunning.

Amanda's youngest children are away at boarding school and she felt a mid life crisis coming on and that she wanted to make a difference.So she ended up for 5 weeks in Hoima,Uganda.

Today's occasion was a fund raising lunch with a talk from Amanda about her time helping at a school in Hoima.

Believe me her time there was as far removed from her very comfortable life here in the UK as you could get.She is hoping to start a fund  to help the children of the school.

I know myself how heart breaking it can be visiting places  like this in Africa and knowing that something as simple as a pencil can bring such joy.

We visited a school in Khayelitsha township,Cape Town South Africa during our last trip.

We took pens,pencils,sweets and bubbles.But when we arrived the numbers of the children in each class shocked us.Our supplies were grossly inadequate.Everyone especially the children were very grateful,but we felt dreadful .Especially when all the children sang to thank us.We had to control ourselves not to cry.

Amanda had the same experience,she often had over 100 children in a class to teach.She had gone there expecting to assist a teacher ,but was given the task of being the sole teacher,of which she has no experience.She coped admirably.Even though she had only taken 6 footballs for the school and had to manage over 100 children in a PE lesson!!!

The Headmaster of  Duhaga Boys school

She also visited the Mustard Seed Orphanage which you can read about here from this young girls amazing heart warming experience.

It was a lovely day for me and a great change from what I was expecting to get up to today.I met some lovely people,got to nose around a beautiful home and put my camera to work on some of the stunning pieces of sculpture Amanda had in her beautiful garden.

CAPTURE

tranquillity

Trish

Orchard-pear

Orchard –apple

woman

Swing

new friends