Trip to Uganda 2014
In August 2014, we—Ines Schultz and Bettina Köhn, as chairwomen of “Help for a Smile e.V.”—traveled to Uganda for two weeks as volunteers. For Bettina, it was her third visit to the helping people in Uganda, while for Ines, it was a completely new experience in an African country.
Our goal was to get to know Irene, our local coordinator, and the children supported by the association personally. A very caring and loving time awaited us. We lived with the children in their home for a week, playing, praying, and laughing with them. They were delighted with their gifts and went swimming in a pool for the very first time with us. We visited the places where they had lived before, where they were exposed to dangers such as alcohol or dirty drinking water. We learned what the children need and flew back with many ideas on how to support them through the association in the long term.
It was very important to us to develop a deeper understanding of the children’s needs and to experience the local challenges firsthand—be it the children’s wish to visit their siblings during holidays but lacking the money for transport, the nightmares they have at night, or the various school materials Irene still needs to purchase for them. In long conversations, we learned more about Irene and her motivation, and we saw how important Irene’s son, Dickson, has become as a friend and role model for the children. We left with one eye laughing because of the joy and warmth of the children, and one eye crying as we said “goodbye,” because we miss them dearly now.
Anyone who would like to get to know these children through our association or personally is more than welcome to support our project. With every contribution, we give the children a little more education and a better life than many other children around them have.
The full travel report can be downloaded here: