Day 13 - Sunday 9 August

Over the last one and a half weeks we have shared experiences and laughs that we will remember for a long time. Hopefully everyone following our blog will have got a taste of what we have seen here.

Thank you for your support and for following our work in Uganda. Once we are back in Australia we will be developing and implementing plans to help Ugandan children on a longer term basis. We will keep you updated on these plans as they develop.

Signing off from Uganda.

Mini

Day 12 - Saturday 8 August

Today was a fitting end to our work in Uganda.

We were treated to lunch at two Watoto households where we met kids and house mothers who are currently living at a Watoto village, and saw what would be the end product of the house that we have built. As has been the case throughout the trip, the kids were excited to tell us about their lives, showing us their drawings and telling us about their favourite soccer stars. After experiencing the conditions of the M-LISADA and Mercy Orphanages yesterday, it was impressive to see the life that Watoto has created for these kids, with facilities and support close by to give them opportunities that many Ugandan orphans could not even imagine.

After lunch, we played backyard cricket and a soccer version of Piggy-in-the-Middle with the kids and gave them some Australiana gifts which they wore proudly for the rest of the afternoon.

We ended the day with a service at the Watoto Church and a dinner hosted by Watoto to thank us for our building efforts.

Mini

Day 11 - Friday 7 August 2009

Unlike the previous three days, we got to sleep in due to finishing off the construction of our Watoto home. The hamstrings were tight and the back still sore.

Our first stop of the day was the Mercy Orphanage that the team had previously visited when they first arrived to Kampala. When I arrived there, I felt like I was in a different world compared to the homes of Watoto. The class rooms were old and small, and the amount of children per bed room would not be legal in Australia. A Watoto bed room would sleep 3 to 4 children, whilst the same size room at Mercy would sleep 24.

Due to the success of the Watoto system, I really underestimated the need that exists in Uganda.

The children started off the proceedings by singing songs for us. I had to bite my lip and hold back the tears thinking about the surroundings I was in. The way they moved and sang to the beat was amazing.

To make myself laugh and change my frame of mind, I thought of something that a young artist called Andrew had told me a few days earlier. "Tony, white people can dance; the only problem is that they dance to the next song!"

It was a highlight for the 'Chain Snore' to watch his new friend sing a solo piece in the North Adelaide Football Club guersney he gave him on his earlier visit.

After the performance we gave the children presents including small toys, lollies and left over food from the Vroulis & Rhigas caravans. The most popular gift was the excess Snap Lock Bags we had brought along.

The next time I am asked who my I look up to, it won't be a professional footballer or business man listed on the BRW's Rich 200, but will be the orphanage's director Sylvia. Dedicating her life to raise children other than her own is a selfless task.

At this stage of our trip, I have developed a fascination for our driver Sylvester. He is Uganda's version of the Koala Bear. He sleeps at least 20 hours a day in his van when we are out and about. The remainder of the time he is on his mobile phone or eating a solid mixed grill with chips. I am sure that if he lived in Australia we would be very close.

The next stop was to try Uganda's famous 'mini' hamburgers. After ordering the 'King Steer Combo', I was served a hamburger the size of a McDonald's cheeseburger. The pieces of the "Why am I so much larger compared to Ugandan's (except for Sylvester)" puzzle was starting to come together.

M-Lisada was the final stop for the day. We were met by children who were so excited to us that they opened our car doors and held our hands before we had a chance to grab our bags.

We were to walk for about fifteen minutes before we were to see where they lived. To best describe the area we were in would be to think of the early scenes of "Slumdog Millionaire". The stench of raw sewerage, stray animals and rubbish further created a sense of dissatisfying surrealness in the moment I was in.

Still being held by "Aaron" and "Confidence", we were shown they boys sleeping area. The Mercy orphanage was a three star hotel compared to this; Watoto a Palace. Basically the size of my laundry at home, 15 boys would sleep there on a nightly basis.

After coming to terms with my surroundings and getting over the shock of the state of homes these children live in, we were paired up to draw dream trees.

The dream trees were to contain words that the children hoped would describe their future. "Healthy" not "Rich", "Shelter" not "Playstation 3", "Mum and dad" not "more pocket money".

I had to laugh when Johnie "Fiasco" Rhigas' child wrote; "Musician", "Engineer" and "LIMO!"

The time had come for me to live out my childhood dream of leading a pack of kids to the soccer tune "OLE OLE OLE". We put the Brazilian Football Fans to shame with our Samba tunes and movements! There were people coming out of everywhere as we walked down the street to our van. We were so loud that even Sylvester had his seat in the driving position rather than the reclined position we usually find him in.

The smiles, hugs and thank you's received from these children was if we had just saved the earth. All it really took was some time, interest, and a bottle of soda...

TV

Day 10 - Thursday 6 August 2009

Another typical start to the day for our intrepid Aussie building team - 6.00 am rise, 6.30 am breakfast and 7.00 am departure for our building site. The knowledge that the end was in sight after a couple of solid days' work allowed even the softest of our team (no names!) to suffer the stiffness and soreness in silence.

We had finished all external walls the previous day and were left with the second level of internal walls and a site clean up to complete our part of the build. For the first hour or so all was on track for a lunch time finish, until disaster struck - a brick drought. Not to be denied we improvised to overcome this final hurdle. The short term lack of bricks was quickly overcome. Whilst our Norwegian friends on the next site were distracted (some adjusting their underpants to be precisely four inches above the top of their trousers and others flexing their muscles to each other) our site foreman Joseph stole a loader of their bricks. Whilst this provided enough bricks to keep some of our team working it was not enough. So we took things into our own hands. The group of six granite-like Africans on the manual brick making machine were muscled over to make room for a bare chested group led by Tony 'the Gattling Gun' Vroulis. Within 15 short minutes the team had manufactured four defective bricks. At this rate we could manufacture 128 defective bricks in one day. When Joseph pointed out to us that the brick makers actually made 900 non-defective bricks in one day, we suddenly became very aware of how very white and flabby we were and how very dark and muscled the brick makers were. So we quickly put our defective bricks in the area from which the Hong Kong team drew their bricks (there was no way they were going into our house!) and looked for another solution - and soon it came, in the form of Pat 'Chain Snore' Hodby car jacking the front end loader to deliver enough bricks to see us through to completion.

Our job was completed by lunch time, which left us free to host our building team of 12, together with our guide Fred 'the Prince of Uganda' Erisata, site foreman Joseph, our 12 builders and a somewhat bemused team of six brick makers to lunch. Lunch was catered for by the Watoto Senior School Hospitality Vocational Training Group. The fact that Jonty wore half of his traditional Ugandan meal on his lap was no reflection on the quality of his meal. We were assured by the Prince of Uganda that no other building team had previously done this and that this small gesture meant an extraordinary amount to our fellow builders.But that was enough of the pleasantries. Immediately following lunch, we were challenged to an international soccer friendly against our Ugandan building team. Our team of nine were keen to reperesent our country, even if none of us (other than the Gattling Gun) had played soccer. Undaunted Australia A took to the dry and dusty pitch wearing a mixture of bare feet, RM Williams boots and assorted building shoes completely inapprorpriate to the World Game. The Gattling Gun provided great drive in the centre and Jecka a suprising target in the forwards - the home team were caught off guard. At half time, the home team's one goal had been disallowed due to an off side infringement, and Australia A had scorched one through to the back of the net (or the back of where the net would have been if there had been a net). Australia A began the second half full of confidence and running and was able to extend its lead to two nil by the final siren. It was a compehensive win to Australia A. In a very solid all round performance the selectors struggled to name the best players. However, special mention must go to the Prince of Uganda (an import and clearly best player on the ground), four Ugandan brick makers (drafted as imports, despite some very public protests from several of their number), two Watoto school children (also drafted as imports), and the entire Australia A bench of five (at all times entirely filled with somewhat conspicuous white faces) which rotated effectively though the midfield.

The day concluded with a dedication ceremony for the house at which our team's inability to sing was only surpassed by the inabilty of our Ugandan building team to comprehend Jonty's address, somewhat curiously laced with four syllable words!

Finally to round out the day, one of our local guides Remmy, took us to one of Kampala's finest Italian restaurants. There (in recognition of the birthday of his new found friend 'the Gattling Gun'), our driver Sylvester took a rare break from reclining in the front seat of his van or speaking on his mobile phone to order the world's largest mixed grill, before the Gattling Gun's birthday was suitably acknowledged with a bowl of ice cream, a commemorative Australian pen and koala and a rousing rendition of 'Happy Birthday to You', 'Congratulations and Celebrations' and '21 Today' over the restaurant's loud speaker system.

Our day concluded in the gratifying knowledge that, many years after we are gone and our memories of our amazing experiences have faded, there will still be eight young Ugandan orphans who will have been saved from some of the horrors which we have seen, and instead given a safe, secure and loving home, where they will receive some of the educational and other opportunities which we so very lightly take for granted.

Jonty and Jecka

Day nine - Wednesday 5 August 2009

It only took one day for my lack of conditioning to rear its ugly head. I woke up very sore all over, with hamstrings best described as piano strings. At breakfast I was informed that my music had been rejected in favour of Ben 'I have a better playlist' Sullivan's.

We were joined on site by a team from Norway and a jumbo jet full of Chinese from Hong Kong. Early on we were distracted by the shirtless Norwegians - for most of us, it was just a shame that they were all guys!!!

We erected the scaffolding for the second level of construction which saw Mini come into her own. Mark 'The Stud on Site' Sowerby teamed up with Mini to rebuild what could be best described as the Berlin Wall. Ben soon realised how ruthless the music critics on site were! 'The George Benson instrumental' didn't help matters at all!

Jonty and The Stud on Site broke into spontaneous song and dance as they stacked their bricks. The look on the African builders' faces could only be described as "concerned".Tony 'The Gattling Gun' Vroulis suddenly exploded with a burst of energy that saw bricks flying, the pace of which was only surpassed by his heart rate and eventual collapse.

As we rested for our first break of the day, Jessica continued to work on solo; Jonty was perplexed and proud at the same time. Suddenly our worksite came to a stand still as a scream was heard coming from the vicinity of the crew from Hong Kong. A 14 foot python was discovered and killed. We rushed over for a closer look and discovered the snake had a large lump half way down its body. Disturbingly it resembled the shape of a Nikon zoom lens. We didn't have time to hang around for the Hong Kong head count!

Six or seven bottles of water each with no toilet break gives you some idea of how hot and sticky conditions were. A phenomenal effort saw the team complete all of the outside walls and about half of the internal walls. Pleased with our results we decided to treat ourselves for a night out in Kampala.

A cultural show 'The Ndere Troupe' was the choice. The interactive nature of the show soon became apparent when, after watching a traditinonal Ugandan courting dance, to our horror Chain Snore was asked how he would court a potential partner in Australia. Needless to say, with his answer he stood no chance of winning the girl!

Moose made a premature move on the buffet and graciously left nothing but scraps for the remaining 40 patrons. Eventually the night climaxed with the entire team on the dance floor singing and dancing. Jonty gave the crowd a not-so-amazing rendition of 'Amazing Grace'. Ben then confiscated the microphone and thrashed out what could only be described as a horrible deep sound!!! A long rewarding day and an interesting and comical evening!

Johnny

Building begins

A classroom

Day eight - Tuesday 4 August 2009

The day of reckoning - a good deal of talk so far and not much action on the building front, until today.

Crew was required on site at 7.30 am - and we left the guest house at 7.00, sandwiches and squashed bananas in hand.

Arrival at Watoto Subi 2 Village was much anticipated by the team, and we were driven through the earlier stages of the complex en route to pad site 263. All of the houses are built in clusters around a central "green". The floor plan and design of our project is consistent with this.

The drive to the village from Kampala is something of a shock to the unaccustomed senses - heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic congestion, diverse but basic cottage business activities along the main roads and very high density rudimentary housing along dusty lanes to the rear.

In contrast to this backdrop, the Watoto complex presents high quality residential accommodation with open, park like spaces with primary and secondary school accommodation on site. It is clear that if we can get dwelling 263 to stand up - it will provide a quality of accommodation to its child residents which would simply be otherwise unimaginable.

On arrival to the site we were met by Joseph - building foreman and his team who we were to work with for the next few days. Basic building demonstration was completed, and from that point we were officially on the job.

The extent to which we were "on the job" soon became clear; all bricks are made on site - from a damp soil / cement mix compressed into a mould on site and air dried. The brick making team could easily have doubled as the Uganda boxing team - 6 hard bodied chaps with Olympian physiques and a don’t mess with me attitude.

Job 1 was to load bricks from the brick processing area for transport to pad 263, then unload and distribute around the pad. Having amused the brick makers with our initial white collar approach to hard labour and brick handling, we eventually loaded a couple of truck loads of bricks, and armed with gloves, trowels, and a poor (quite poor actually) playlist from the Rhigas ipod, we started the main game.

Joseph's main objective for the day was to complete the external walls to window sash height. It came as a significant surprise to all within a couple of hours that this might actually be achieved. Under the watchful eyes of Joseph and his team of builders (including 3 Ronnies) it emerged that we were not quite as bad as we thought we might be, and the experts on hand were not required to replace / rectify perhaps as much shoddy bricklaying than 1st thought.

By morning smoko time progress was well underway. By lunch time we were at near sash height and contemplating a start on internal walls. With the threat of absolute efficiency looming as a reality, shop steward P Hodby was successful in negotiating an extended lunch time break to slow things down a bit, and distract us with a tour of the secondary school in the Watoto Village.

The school is principally for the orphan residents of Watoto, though it has attracted external students including boarding students for which accommodation has been developed on site.

It was not difficult to see the obvious attraction from our visit to the school. Teacher to student ratios of 35:1 vs ratio of 120 +:1 in the government school system, a diverse academic and vocational education curriculum, a high quality physical environment and a culture of pride and respect was clearly evident. There was not a student that we met who did not offer a disarming Ugandan smile, a warm welcome and a thank you for visiting.

Buoyed by this spirit, Team Kain was able to dissuade Shop Steward Hodby from further diversionary tactics, and we returned to pad 263 with renewed vigour. By the time we wound up for the day we had completed all external and internal walls to sash height, and had installed 50% of the windows.

So back to the guest house we went - happy, dirty, smelly and singing enthusiastically as one (except for Jeckaa, quite understandably) to the appalling Rhigas playlist. It was a great 1st day on the tools - and as we went over the hill and caught a last day 1 glimpse of pad 263, the reality that the house might actually stay up also became a real possibility.

Ben

Mark 'Goggo' Sowerby, Tony 'TV' Vroulis, Sarah 'Mini' Chia and Patrick 'Moose' Walsh
(with John 'Jonty' Kain and Ben Sullivan in the background)
cuddling some of the orphans.

Day seven - 3 August 2009

Johnny 'Born in Africa' Rhigas, Ben 'Sick of Greeks' Sullivan and I met up with the rest of the team on Sunday 2 August.

It was the first time I had ever slept in a bed covered with a mosquito net. It wasn't a bad night's sleep in the Adonai guest house. You can sleep better when you are in a house that has its own guard and is surrounded by 10 metre high barbed wire fences. I have not been concerned for my safety so far - but nevertheless have been made well aware by the team of the Chain Snore that may attack me at any time during the night.

After breakfast in the guest house we drove through the streets of Kampala. Scooters and vans overtaking each other left, right and centre! I commented that I wouldn't mind the challenge of taking hold of the wheel - I was quickly reminded that I had a young wife waiting for me back home in Australia.

It hit me quite hard and fast that the world I know is different to the world I am currently in. Children playing in the dirt on the side of the street, basic stores lining the streets. What's a Long Machiatto?

We arrived at the Watoto Church for a run down of the building project we are to commence in the next few days. The organisation seemed very organised and structured. Whilst we were watching a DVD on the Watoto Story, we could hear the angelic voices of the Watoto Children's Choir practising in the room next to us.

After our run down was complete we watched the choir practice first hand. The children sang for us with smiles from ear to ear; you could see and feel from their music that they were happy and content with their life. Something many of us struggle to do day to day.

After meeting these memorable personalities, it was time for us to leave and go for lunch at Kampala's main shopping centre.

As soon as we sat down we were swarmed by people holding menus trying to sell us their fare. The people who sell the raffle tickets at the front of AAMI stadium could certainly learn a thing or two from these experienced marketers. It was difficult to decide what to eat when there were fingers pointing in all directions on Lebanese, Cuban, Indian and Fried Chicken Menus.

The next part of the day was the highlight of my short travels so far - to meet and play with the babies at Watoto's Bulrushes Orphanage. Situated in one of the most affluent areas of Kampala, the thought process behind the location was for the children to grow up in an environment around the nation's leaders. This will hopefully help the children become the leaders of Uganda tomorrow.

It was just like any child care centre in Australia; with one major disheartening difference - the children we were playing with had no family. I helped feed and play with a young child called Nicole. Soon after, Nicole would not let go of me. The whole time with her I could not stop thinking that my newborn nephew of three weeks would have received more gifts and affection to date than she will receive in her lifetime.

The children's experience left me with mixed emotions. First that it was great that an organisation like Watoto exists to look after orphans in need. On the other hand, that some people get dealt really bad cards in life - and how unfair that can be...

TV