East African Playgrounds

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September

14th 2010

Posted under East African Playgrounds News

It’s been a little while since out last update, so we thought it was time to give you a brief insight into the last few weeks.

We have now finished the Buwagi playground and said good bye to some fantastic volunteers, a fantastic village and a wonderful community. We [Tom & Carla] both jumped on a lorry with all our equipment, tools and belongings, and endured a 17 hour trip to Juja Farm, Kenya. Juja Farm is situated inbetween Nairobi and Thika. We spent a few days getting to know the area and organising the materials for the next build. Then, with a few days to spare before our next volunteers arrived, we decided to take a few well-earned days of R and R.

Feeling revived, the last group soon arrived and we swiftly began to build our third playground of the summer. The terrain here is very different to what we’ve been used to, and our volunteers have had a tough week of levelling the site and digging the foundations. Despite the difficult work and hard ground, everyone has worked extremely well and we managed to complete all the digging in the first four days (no mean feat!). Last weekend, we all headed to south Nairobi for a fun-filled weekend. The volunteers have been on safari, seen an elephant orphanage and taken horse riding lessons. Yesterday evening a few of us decided to head to the main football stadium for two, yes two, Kenyan premier league football games! The quality of football wasn’t up to much but the fans sure made up for it all. Absolutely fantastic.

We are heading back today to get ready for work tomorrow. This coming week we will be cementing in all of the apparatus – more hard work ahead!

More news to follow soon!

Love from EAP.

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August

25th 2010

Another month has come and gone…

Posted under East African Playgrounds News

… we can’t believe how time is flying!

This month we have been in Buwagi – a rural village outside of Jinja - with some fantastic volunteers and some exceptional locals. The project was marked with the sound of endless giggles and ended with many tears. It’s safe to say that the project was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

The playground was built at a resource centre right in the middle of the community. Locals were involved in every part of the build. Our team lived with two families throughout the project, so it was very sad to say our goodbyes.

In the last week, we made the most of our time, celebrating the finish of the project with a British barbecue (without the rain) for the local community to come, eat and play games. Then on Monday we had our open day. Joshua (the Lively Minds co-ordinator) organised for all of our volunteers to wear traditional clothing and to perform a traditional dance (cue a lot of hip-wiggling!)… we certainly entertained the community that day!

Last but not least, the playground went down a treat – the children were surrounding the swings to wait their turn, and getting very dizzy on the roundabout! So a huge thank you to all of you who made the Buwagi project possible – you made it a fantastic one!

With lots of love,

The EAP Team x

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August

12th 2010

*Buwagi Project Update*

Posted under East African Playgrounds News

We are now half way through the Buwagi project. The playground is coming along well – everything is cemented in, and almost everything is sanded down (thanks to the hard work of the volunteers and some fantastic locals).

We have a local called Ken on our projects who we are training up to be our foreman. Everyone is enjoying his company and he is enjoying the project too. We also have Bill Norton (who volunteered on the 2009 Walukuba West Uganda Project) helping us out. It is fantastic to have an extra pair of hands!

The volunteers are doing great, enjoying a taste of rural life in Uganda… like walking for 15 minutes for water. Two of the volunteers carried 20 litres of water on their heads the whole way back! They have also enjoyed two weekends away – one to Sipi Falls where they abseiled down the waterfall; and one horse riding and relaxing on an island, playing volleyball and trying out the natural jaccuzi.

The locals are all getting involved with the build. We have a fantastic cook called Monica, who is fueling the team (and teaching the girls to dance Uganda style!), and her daughter Shefa who is 1 ½ years old who is slowly growing more confident with us! We also have Joshua with us, who is the co-ordinator of Lively Minds (this project’s partner charity) who is always busy running around doing favours for the community – and generally being a great help.

There are many more friends we have made within the community and we are so pleased with the progress we are making on the project. So a massive THANK YOU to our volunteers, colleagues, friends and supporters who have made this project possible.

Sending love from Buwagi,

Tom & Carla x

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July

12th 2010

Quick Update

Posted under East African Playgrounds News

Hello all – just a quick update to assure you that, in light of the recent bombings in Kampala, EAP and all the team are safe and sound in Bugembe – no-one was in Kampala at the time of the bombings.

Our thoughts are with all those who have been affected by or suffered loss through these events.

The EAP Team

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July

3rd 2010

Dates for Your Diary

Posted under East African Playgrounds News

Mornin’ all… here are some dates for your diary so you can keep track of what EAP is up to over the summer – busy busy!

17th – 18th June – Bugembe volunteers arrive

16th July – Bugembe project ends

24th July – Buwagi volunteers arrive

20th August – Buwagi project ends