I thought I'd write to give you an update on how my trip to Uganda went this summer as I know how you like hearing from old GRSP students.

I went to Uganda with the charity Little Big Africa. We arrived in Entebbe on the 10th June and we spent the first week training for what was ahead near a town called Mikono. During training we learned some Luganda- the local dialect, how to build the stoves, key information about the communities and teaching skills. Training was a lot of fun and me and my group (Student Volunteers Abroad) got to meet the other two groups that were there- one from Strathclyde University (also in Glasgow) and one from Bristol University (in England). We then all set off for our separate villages.

We encountered a few problems in our first village and for security reasons and to ensure the project went ahead we were told to move placements. This was difficult particularly as we had just got settled but we didn't really have a choice so we moved to a new village called Kyampisi, in the Kayunga region of Uganda. We provided the local school with a water tank with the help of a Ugandan engineer and the locals, I have attached pictures to this email to show. The paintings on the tank are water purification and hygiene techniques that we had been teaching in the school and to the local community while we were there. We protected a water source in the next door village with the help of another engineer and the community who came to help. We definitely couldn't have done it without them as they are amazingly hard workers and we are very weak compared to them! This now means that they have safe drinking water that will not be contaminated and should last many years. The other aspect of the project, and the one I feel we were most successful in achieving was the mud stoves which we built for the community. These were used to replace the traditional stone and fire methods that the Ugandan's would cook with. The stoves used less firewood, had chimneys to stop the woman breathing in harmful smoke, allowed them to cook with 2 pots at once and retained heat well so that food would remain hot. We managed to build 16 of them in the last few weeks of the project. We also taught local people how to build them and set up a committee so that they would continue to be built and repaired when we left.

Overall it was an incredible experience and I learned so much about Ugandan culture and got to know some amazing members of the community. I got to try their food too which I loved, it was a lot of beans and rice and matokee (savoury bananas). In fact I would say I loved it as much as I loved sweet potato casserole when I was in Georgia. I also got to experience church In Uganda and would visit different ones each Sunday- it was a very unique experience with a lot of singing and dancing! I feel we had a positive impact on their community too as the school now has a water tank, meaning children don't have to miss lessons to go collect water and a protected source that is safe to drink from. We have left behind the knowledge of how to build and maintain the stoves, safe methods for purifying water and taught the children key hygiene rules to stop them getting sick.

Once the project was over we got to go on safari to Murchison Falls National Park which was amazing! We saw hippos, buffalo, elephants, lions, giraffes, crocodiles, warthogs, baboons and more that I can't really remember. After Uganda I returned home and worked at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the remainder of August. I then returned back to University in Glasgow where I am in my second year of a Politics and Sociology degree. I hope you enjoyed this update and hope that everything is going well with the club and that the new GRSP student is settling in well and enjoying West Georgia.

If anyone is interested in hearing more about the project I am happy to answer any questions. And as always if anyone is interested in heading over to Scotland I'd be delighted to show them around- you are all always welcome!