A visit to Raising up hope orphanage and meeting a primate keeper
This morning we had our first visit to the orphanage that we will be working with, Raising up Hope,. It was founded by Patrick who today, came and spoke to us at UWEC where we are staying in the morning before we set out on the bus. Patrick spoke about his own background, living in the slums after losing both of his parents. At the age of 19, he is, in his own words, “A single father to 43 children”
We drove to his orphanage, just on the outskirts of 
Kampala. Upon arrival we were greeted by a crowd of very welcoming and smiling faces. We all had a tour of the orphanage and Patrick showed us the rooms where the children slept and had their classes.
We were all amazed at what is provided in such a limited environment. As well as encouraging education, Patrick and his staff are helping the children to develop life skills. They have recently adopted 2 puppies which the children are responsible for and emphasize with.
Although they are in need of more resources, it is clear that simply having a safe and loving environment, makes a huge positive impact on their lives. They treated us to a song and dance performance which was “Fantabulous” and then all of the Yebo volunteers joined in and had a go at Ugandan dancing.
We are looking forward to their visit to UWEC and they too are excited about the activities we have planned for them.
Meeting the children was a wonderful experience, and meeting so many different characters was wonderful. Many of the children were very ‘clingy’ and sometimes would not let go of some of the volunteers for the whole of the time that they were there. Others were quite happy to play as they all took our 
cameras and enjoyed taking pictures of their friends and of us! We noticed one little boy who was very quiet and did not want to talk or come to anyone. We were told that his parents had died. We noticed another little boy who had an amazing talent for drawing. At just 9 years old he was sketching out amazing pictures with his pencil and paper of his friends. Some of the children would get jealous if their friend was getting more attention from one of the volunteers and others were very happy to bring their friends together so they were all with one of us.
In the afternoon,when we arrived home, we had a talk from ‘Helen’ who is a primate keeper from UWEC. She has been working here for 10 years and knows the chimpanzees very well. It was interesting to hear all of the behaviours and characters of some of the chimpanzees that are under her care. In the evening we discussed the link between humans and chimpanzees and compared some of the observations from the morning visit to see the children and some of the behaviours we learned about of chimpanzees in the afternoon.
We are looking forward to learning more about chimpanzees behaviour and traumas when we visit Ngamba island.
By Erin Jolly, July 14, 2010 @ 9:57 pm
So lovely to see the pics Lisa, and that all the children are smiling like at Easter. Fab news on the puppies too, a little animal based theraphy away from UWEC. Checking for blogs so dont forget to write 🙂 Hope everyone is well (Much love to Peace, Patrick, William, Silver, Lisa, Al, Hellen, all the children and co!) and that the project is a huge success. Email you soon, Erin xx
By Roger Mallins, July 17, 2010 @ 2:37 pm
Congratulations to you all and especially Patrick , to give you all a special insight into his objectives,
GOOD TRIP to you all
By Kim Cartwright, July 24, 2010 @ 4:32 pm
I am really enjoying seeing all the photos and the updates of each day’s activities. I hope you all have a wonderful trip, learn lots and have some memorable and amazing experiences with the children, primates and immerse yourselves in the culture of Uganda. The children look ecstatic!