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Latest news from Uganda
Saturday 31st October
Everyone arrived home safe and sound (rather early in the morning at
Heathrow), and were reunited with their families. From all accounts,
they had a wonderful time and will tell us more later.
Thursday 22nd October
First we headed out to the bush to a school called Bulera. When we arrived
we had a tour of the school and saw the plants they grow there and the pigs.
Then we went inside for the welcoming, they sang beautiful songs, did
wonderful dancing, played amazing instruments, and gave fabulous gifts. Then
we all introduced ourselves and gave our gifts. After that we all did
different activities such as painting nails, making masks, painting
blackboards, tattooing, and face painting. Next we went inside for lunch,
after which we went and played tug of war, water races hoola hooping,
musical chairs, and volley ball. Then we all had a very emotional visit to
the hospitals maternity ward and we saw the mothers of the babies and who
have lost theirs all in one room. After which we bought wicker pots.
Madeleine & Aya
After the communication issues I have received all the updates from the
past week You can read them here
2009 Team - Latest NewsGroup Fundraising Total Reached With the Basingstoke and Deane Council contributing £1000 and with £2500 being raised at the Summer Ball, this year's £7000 group fund target has been not only reached but well and truly exceeded. With other fund raising events still at the organising stage and a further bag pack planned, this year's fund raising can only be perceived as a total success. Congratulations to all involved. Half Iron Man Triathlon Jason Briley took part in the Half IronMan Triathlon finishing in a time of 7 hrs 53 minutes, over 1 hour ahead of of his expected time. This involved swimming 1.2 miles, cycling 56 miles and running 13.1 miles to finish up. Jason's effort has raised in excess of £700. The man's a marvel. A full report written by Jason himself plus pictures can be accessed by clicking here. Mityana Summer Ball The date of the keenly awaited Summer Ball finally arrived on 6th June. Around 130 people ate, drank and danced the night away in a sports hall transformed by table decorations and 150 balloons mirroring the Mityana colours of red, gold and green. The guests spent generously to try to win one of the 24 raffle prizes and dug deep into their pockets for the auction. Mike Bushell, BBC Breakfast Sports Presenter, was a very enthusiastic auctioneer determined to squeeze every last penny out of the bidders for us and helping us to raise £830 on the auction alone. Afterwards the dance floor was packed in appreciation of the music of Neil Drinkwater's "Cookie Monsters". The final amount raised reached £2500, a fantastic effort by all concerned. Pictures from the event can be found by clicking here. Further pictures will be published next weekend. £1000 Grant Following an approach by Karen Mackrill, a grant has been gladly received from Basingstoke and Deane Council boosting the group fund significantly. Further Fund Raisers Further fundraising events are planned. This includes a fancy dress event, a talent contest, a raffle and the traditional 'push the teacher in the pool' event (I wonder which lucky teacher will be chosen this year). The bag pack at ASDA in Basingstoke, initially planned for 27th June, has been postponed. We have received confirmation that this will now take place on Saturday 12th September. With the group fund target having been reached, the possibility of purchasing an outdoor shelter for the Mityana secondary school could become a reality. Further Team Building The Team will get together on the 19th September (10am-1pm) for a team building exercise - venue to be advised. About the Testbourne Mityana ProjectEach year a group of 14 pupils from Testbourne School, Whitchurch, are chosen to represent the school on a visit to Mityana, Uganda. Find a full description of the project here  
The teams will be raising money throughout the year and visit Uganda for two weeks in October.  | 
