jonny round boy
Member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2007
- Messages
- 3,227
A few weeks ago I was asked by a friend if I'd be interested in doing something a bit different next year, and joining a charity project. After some research and quite a bit of "should I, shouldn't I" etc., I've finally said yes. So in August I'm off to Uganda for two weeks, building a playground at a village school.
It's being run through a UK-based charity, East African Playgrounds. They organise trips mainly for school/college/university students, but this is the first one for adults. They've built over 100 playgrounds since 2009, providing safe play areas for children in one of the poorest nations in the world.
Play is something that many children in Africa don't get to do much of (Uganda, like most of it's neighbours in East Africa, has suffered tremendously from war, famine, and poverty, and one of the consequences of that is the prevalence of child labour) but it is vital to a child's development and is protected under the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child. The playgrounds like the one we'll be building form an essential part of that development.
It's quite a departure for me - I've never done anything remotely like this before - but hopefully it will be a very worthwhile & memorable trip despite being so far outside my comfort zone (accommodation will be the floor in one of the classrooms, no running water or electricity, washing in a bucket, and doing my business in a hole in the ground)!!! [eek]
Hopefully after all the digging, building, welding, and painting (not much woodwork I'm afraid!) I'll be too knackered to care about the conditions!
I'm paying for the 'holiday' elements of the trip myself (flights, insurance, jabs, etc., plus the 3-day safari we get to go on at the end [big grin]) but I'm hoping to raise a boatload of money for the charity too. This pays for everything else, from raw materials for the playground builds to education and training programmes for the locals that they employ in Uganda, as well as giving them the funds to expand their program into other African countries in the future.
If anyone wants more info, please visit the charity website or their YouTube channel.
I'm planning a few fundraising activities between now and August, but in the meantime if anyone would like to make a donation, they can do so on my fundraising page.
Thank you all in advance for your support!
Jonathan
aka Jonny Round Boy.
It's being run through a UK-based charity, East African Playgrounds. They organise trips mainly for school/college/university students, but this is the first one for adults. They've built over 100 playgrounds since 2009, providing safe play areas for children in one of the poorest nations in the world.
Play is something that many children in Africa don't get to do much of (Uganda, like most of it's neighbours in East Africa, has suffered tremendously from war, famine, and poverty, and one of the consequences of that is the prevalence of child labour) but it is vital to a child's development and is protected under the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child. The playgrounds like the one we'll be building form an essential part of that development.
It's quite a departure for me - I've never done anything remotely like this before - but hopefully it will be a very worthwhile & memorable trip despite being so far outside my comfort zone (accommodation will be the floor in one of the classrooms, no running water or electricity, washing in a bucket, and doing my business in a hole in the ground)!!! [eek]
Hopefully after all the digging, building, welding, and painting (not much woodwork I'm afraid!) I'll be too knackered to care about the conditions!
I'm paying for the 'holiday' elements of the trip myself (flights, insurance, jabs, etc., plus the 3-day safari we get to go on at the end [big grin]) but I'm hoping to raise a boatload of money for the charity too. This pays for everything else, from raw materials for the playground builds to education and training programmes for the locals that they employ in Uganda, as well as giving them the funds to expand their program into other African countries in the future.
If anyone wants more info, please visit the charity website or their YouTube channel.
I'm planning a few fundraising activities between now and August, but in the meantime if anyone would like to make a donation, they can do so on my fundraising page.
Thank you all in advance for your support!
Jonathan
aka Jonny Round Boy.
