Small warning…this could be a fairly long one, but please do read on, it’s a massive thing for me and I kinda wanted to give you some background first! In October last year I wrote this on my old blog…
My Mum is beautiful, beautiful to look at, kind to the core and a beautiful soul… I love her lots!
I think she is bordering on crazy for having four children… but hey if she didn’t I wouldn’t be here seeing as I am number 4. On a personal level, Mum is in fact a rock, no matter what myself and my sisters have been through over the years, she has been there without fail, without complaint and without hesitation. She has set me in good stead being a Mum myself, I respect and love her immensely.
All this aside, for the last 7 years my Mum has been going out to Uganda to volunteer. Mum started with a 3 month stint at Sanyu Babies Home, makes me smile and want to cry all at once recounting the stories Mum shared with us on her time there. After a couple of times at the orphanage over the years, Mum decided to focus her time at Wakisa Pregnancy Crisis Centre, which is where she is now as I type. I’ll tell you a little of background of the Centre…. it is run by an inspiring lady called Vivian who was a Nurse. Vivian was actually in the UK this year and came and met us all… again heart wrenching stories and smiles were shared all at once. Abortion is illegal in Uganda, however women and more to the point girls are raped so often, soldiers, family members, gangs. Vivian as a nurse watched a young girl die from septicaemia contracted from a back-street abortion. Vivian set up the centre to help these girls that are so in despair. There is a lot more to the story but this is the short version!
The girls that come to the centre are cast out as second class citizens for being unmarried and pregnant, bearing in mind some of the girls can be as young as 12 year old and had this forced upon them, they don’t know anyway out of their situation. The centre, counsels the girls, teaches them how to look after themselves and their unborn babies, they learn trades and are sponsored back into education.
Each year I do what I can to help raise Money for Wakisa and the girls for when Mum goes over. From filling smartie tubes with £1 coins, fundraiser days, collecting donated maternity clothes for the girls. My son and I even did a car boot (he added his own toys in) to raise money. It has got to the point now where the “pull” for me to go to Uganda with Mum is beyond belief, I trained as a Doula back in 2007 and although I didn’t do it for long (it didn’t fit in well with my young family at the time) I still constantly have a draw to pregnancy and support around that. Going to Uganda would be life changing for me, I want nothing more than to be able to give my time and whatever I could to help even just one girl out there if I could, to be self-less and humble. I am planning to do so in the next 12-24months.”
So fast forward to now and I can barely believe it but guess what?! I’m going to Uganda in October THIS YEAR! I am so ready for it but totally unprepared in the same instance! I’ll be spending 2 weeks with the girls and Mum at the centre. I am taking my camera with me and will be documenting life in Uganda as much as possible. And Productions are sponsoring the project and have also asked me to do a video diary of the work we do there.
This is such a massive, massive thing for me, I’d really like to take you on the journey with me through words and pictures.
If anyone would like to help contribute to help the lives of these children please do get in touch. Maternity clothes, cash donations, help with a fundraiser day (which I am hoping to do soon!) then just holler! hello@caseyavenue.co.uk
Thanks for listening
H x
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