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Northside's Watoto Project |
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Watoto Trip 2007
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One of Northside’s major mission initiatives is partnering with Watoto Child Care Ministries in Kampala, Uganda.
“Watoto” means “the children” and since 1994 Watoto Child Care Ministries has responded to the critical AIDS crisis in Uganda. Watoto is impacting the lives of more than 1,200 orphans by providing physical, emotional, educational and spiritual care to Uganda’s most vulnerable children.
Watoto exists to raise the next generation of Ugandan leaders
by discipling parentless children for Christ.
What has Northside committed to do?
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Northside has raised in excess of $100,000 to build a new kitchen block for the Watoto Village. We achieved this through:
- Special fund raising events
- We will take a team of Northsider’s on a Mission Trip to Kampala, Uganda in October 2007 to help build the houses.
- We will also take much needed supplies to Uganda such as:
- Linen
- Kitchen utensils
- Children's clothes
- Northside
was pleased to host the Watoto Children’s Choir on the 4th June 2006
during our morning service. The choir, made up of children from the
Watoto Villages, travels the world raising the profile of Watoto and
the AIDS crisis in Uganda.
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Read more...
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Day 5: Email from Annie Bennett |
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Watoto Trip 2007
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Hi munchkins
Well greetings from the land of roaming elephants! All is Africa
is going great. After a 24 hr journey to get here im loving it. I have
been building for 3 days and at the babies home for one. Yes I can now
brick lay? How impressive is that. If anyone needs a wall built
u know where to come! The hard work has been fantastic. The team is all
going great and thankfully there have really not been any illness or
injuries. We all went to kpc church on Sunday which was out of this
world, n also a few went to connect aka bible study, last nite which
was great, but and apart from that its been 5.30am starts, bricking or
babying during the day and then nights at the place were staying, yeah
it’s a shattering day so not much energy left, but loving it so much.
This morning had a bit of adventure having woken up at 4am realizing I
had been given a shot of collagen in my bottom lip over nite…yeah for
some reason my lip swelled up. I looked like a real African, or
possibly Angelina Jolie…however u spell it. It was quite hilarious,
though slightly freaky when the nurses in the group asked for a
‘private consultation’ with me when they saw it, way to freak someone
out. Thank God it went down during the day and im praying will never
come back, though the full lips were ‘somewhat’ attractive. This
weekend were off on safari which im hanging for. It will be our first
day off in ages so should be fun...i better see hippos! Anyway after a
big day at the babies home, which was incredible - I want pack them all
in my suitcase n bring them home…sooo cute, anyway after a big day im
shattered and heading to bed. I hope alls well in the land of thongs n
sunshine
Lots of love
Annie x
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Day 4: 3 OCT 2007 - Email from Edwina Blair |
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Watoto Trip 2007
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Hi everyone!!!
Please excuse the brief email....slow connection and lots of people
waiting!!!
We are all great...tired but great. We have just finished day 2 of building
and the windows are already in! The team is all happy and healthy with only one
person with lost luggage!!
We continue building each day until Friday and then have a few days off.
Weather has not been too hot with a bit of rain each day which cools us all down
at the right time.
6-8 people are at the Babies each day and are falling in love with the 56
babies there....most with heartbreaking stories. The sights, sounds and smells
of Uganda are enthralling all and we are thrilled to be helping out in such a
substantial way.....still feels like a drop in the bucket at times....but every
drop
helps.
Love to you all....please pass this on to all you can....
Love ed
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Day 3: 2 OCT 2007 - Email from Elaine Cox |
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Watoto Trip 2007
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In Africa coming to you live from the Emaus
Guest house.
Elaine reporting live at 4 39 am.11 39 am your time. Well the
road we are actually on is red dirt. It rained yesterday so we ended up
painting a teacher's home first coat on the inside. There is only a few of
us that can paint well and I'm not one of them but I had a good go
at it...Joe Firenze is great at it. The worker in charge was most
impressed with Joe's work. I think he wanted to offer Joe a job. When the
rain cleared most went outside and lugged bricks and mixed cement and
layed them. These bricks are massive 3 times the size of our Aussie
bricks. There is going to be a lot of great photoS from others.
It is the rainy season here but it keeps everything
cooler.
Bye Love Elaine
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Day 2: 1 OCT 2007 - Email from Mark Jones |
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Watoto Trip 2007
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Reporting to you from Uganda's
sunny capital Kampala!
Our flight from Dubai to Kampala was made more interesting by a brief stop in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia. Interesting that it's so
green in Addis, and secondly that they keep all the old abandoned jet
airliners within view of the terminal. And then when we touched down in Entebbe, just outside Kampala, there was still wreckage from a
small plane crash the day before.
Driving through the streets of Kampala was a real eye opener, and a study of
contrasts. Leather chairs out for sale on the dirt in front of a
shop. New buildings right next to old. Clean, brightly dressed people
walking on dirt. Cars being carefully washed on the dirt. Plastic
chairs perched randomly on the front of the roof of shops where people
apparently watch the passing traffic.
After a first night's sleep that included the sounds of a
dance party at the hotel next door, we all woke refreshed for a very full day
of orientation which included attending a service at Kampala Pentecostal Church
(or KPC, home of Watoto) - and can that church SING! The preaching was,
appropriately enough, about a "lifestyle of giving" - always
interesting to hear that kind of message being preached in a context where many
of the church members are very poor, ie. it's not what you give, or how
much, but whether you give of yourself in all areas of your life.
Church was followed by lunch at a large local
mall/shopping centre. It was here we exchanged a small number of US dollar
notes for a very large wad of Ugandan Shillings, rubbed shoulders with a few
locals over lunch in the food court and bought a few extra bits and pieces we
needed for the days ahead (like more sunscreen!).
Then it was back to KPC for orientation briefings on the building work we have
in the days ahead, before a quick trip to the Watoto babies orphanage, called
Bullrushes. Let's just say leaving the orphanage was not easy!
Our accommodation here at the Emmaus Guest House is very comfortable, complete
with ensuites and mozzie nets hung from the ceilings. The food is equally
fantastic. I think they must go to some trouble to cater for westerners. The
people are wonderful, and the climate is a warm, dry heat of 27c to 30c.
Tomorrow we start 5 days of building work.
Interesting piece of trivia - we are
number 63 of 85 teams that will come to Watoto this year! But we are one of the
largest.
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