Note: This is one of a series of blogs I’m posting about my recent trip to Africa for a month’s charity photography for Link International, documenting their projects around Uganda
So – with the Ambulance safely delivered to the Kampalan Lions Club & the two 4×4 vehicles delivered to customs to complete their importing, we ventured to the Link International compound to begin the 2nd phase of my African adventure – to document the work & projects of the Charity Link International.
Link International are very closely tied with St David’s College in Wales, and every year students join Link International to visit Uganda to help on the projects as well as have a unique African holiday, off the tourist trail. This year there were around 16 kids aged 16>20 on the trip, as well as a bunch of teachers and adult volunteers.
Tim Hall is the school chaplain, all round ace chap and another honcho in the Link International team.
So the first of their projects to be visited was what they called the Maya School project, a private school in the burbs of Kampala, Uganda’s Capital. Local parents pay £50 per year to send their children here and Link have helped on various levels.
It was most excellent meeting and greeting the kids.
The school bell (read: wheel hub) was rung…
…and class lined up for us.
A little gift of stationary brought over by the team
While the St. David’s gang played games with the kids…
I caught a few teachers & kids excitedly noseying through the cases.
A few pix of their classrooms…
…and school books.
Tim’s trying to raise some money to plaster this wall and fix the windows.
We revisited the school a few times, to get involved in teaching & entertaining. Here’s Stewart, one of the volunteers giving it teach.
So many faces.
Look at that beam!
Lucy, showing respect!
Glen, an English teacher showing a chap his picture. They go mad for this.
The classrooms had no artificial lighting, and for the photo geeks out there, I generally bounced off-camera TTL flash off the corrugated tin school roof to fill the shots with light. But for this portrait above I switched it off for this one as the light coming through the door was so tasty.
Our kids helping their kids.
A cheeky face during breaktime.
Lucy with one of the pictures the kids painted.
Adorable little faces.
Lots of heads in one classroom.
A bit of 1-2-1 from Zoe to Marvin, a chap who didn’t seem able to even write his name.
Graham from the drive team brought some of his footballs for the kids to play with during their outdoor ed classes.
Our pro gymnastics coach, Titch, ran various amusing games for the kids to enjoy
Greg, making a young chap seriously happy
This annex of two classrooms was added onto the school by the Link Team and Tim is looking for fund raising to help decorate them inside.
It was fantastic joining these kids for a few days in their life. They’re generally super poor, but an impressively happy bunch.
Tune in tomorrow (Tuesday) at 9am for the Link Maternity project!
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Link Up:
Read more about Link International’s Uganda projects on their facebook page here.
Download all the web-ready images from my blog trip here.
If you’d like to donate to their fantastic causes, visit their site here.
Read the Link director Tim Hall’s blog here.