Getting Ready - Ebola, Expectations and Donations

With under 3 weeks left to go before I depart for Uganda I'm getting very excited.

As I did with Ghana, I intend to keep a blog while I'm there. I found it a really useful way to reflect and process what I was seeing, keep a record I can refer back to and let everyone at home know what I'm up to and that I'm still alive.If you're interested in checking out my Ghana blog you can do so here: http://lalalauralondon.blogspot.co.uk/

The project that I'm working on is expected to be a lot more emotionally challenging than last time. I'll be working with a child advocacy project helping in any way I can, possibly including making house visits to child run households (where the parents have passed away from HIV) and assessing their requirements for support. I could also find myself teaching at the orphanage or carrying out whatever other work is needed. As someone who is usually very organised there's a small part of me that's bothered about not knowing exactly what I'll be doing yet, but it's Africa and I need to be patient. Besides, it's kind of exciting that way.

I don't expect I will have enough access to the internet to blog every day, but I just don't know, so will blog whenever I can.

Ebola Virus

I just wanted to mention the ebola virus outbreak, particularly for my family who have to try to see the reality behind the sensationalist news stories put forward by the Australian media. Yes, the ebola virus is very serious. However, it is so serious that it kills its victims too quickly to allow the virus to spread from person to person in most cases. Generally speaking, the virus spreads in hospitals that cannot afford disposable needles, have poorly educated nurses and do not have correct procedures for disposing of ebola victims.

Currently, all bar 1 cases have been reported in the Mulago district (A on the map), around 170km West of Kampala (B on the map). I will be in the Rakai district (C on the map), around the same distance South West. I am extremely unlikely to have any contact with the virus and I don't feel at this point that there is any reason to delay my trip. The World Health Organisation has not issues any travel warnings either.

General safety wise, I will be staying in a volunteer house with security and I expect will be safer than an average evening walking the streets of London. haha

Donations


The purpose of my trip is not to drum up donations. I am there to help in a sustainable way and not to give our charity. However, should you wish to make a donation I would be happy to deliver it personally.

They take donations in USD and have given information on what the money buys.

• $5-8 buys a new school uniform
• $8 will buy a top quality pig for families to breed
• $10 will buy a piece of equipment for the science lab
• $100 buys a self-sufficiency kit
• $100 buys a bunk bed and two mattresses for two orphans who can then live safely within the school
• $500 builds a latrine for a family to improve their health and sanitation
• $800 will buy 70 sheets of corrugated iron for a new roof for a vulnerable family
• $1800 builds a house for a vulnerable family

If anyone is interested in making a donation let me know and we'll work out the whole money bit, but there are no expectation as like I say, drumming up donations is not the purpose of my trip.