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Over the last few months I have become very conscious of how lucky our children are to live in Westernised society, having very little to worry about or fight for survival. Of course it is right that our children should enjoy happy, carefree childhoods but there are many in the world who have never had these basic needs met.

Whilst reflecting on this amidst crys of, 'I need a new game for my DS' and 'urgh yuk I hate that dinner' We decided that our children, starting with Rocky as the eldest (Aged 7), are not too young to see some of the harsh realities of life that other children in the world face on a daily basis.  I hope that by witnessing life elsewhere, first hand he can lead by example, growing up with a caring and responsible attitude towards others in the world.  After some research and planning it was arranged that Rocky will be raising funds for the Quicken Trust to support their amazing work in Uganda.  With some trepidation, at the end of July, Rocky and Catherine will be going out to visit the school and children of Kabbubu in Uganda to see the work and progress that the donations provide as well as actually helping out in the school and on the building projects.  

The Village of Kabbubu is missing a generation, due partly to the AIDS virus and other illnesses such as Cholera, Typhoid and Maleria and whole groups of children are growing up in incomplete families.  Often grandparents are taking the role of parents at the age of 80+.  There is no state pension, no free education, no social services, nor a national health service and basically if you cannot provide food for yourself or money for medicines you die.  I was horrified to think of people living like this when we have so much.  Quicken Trust have set up a primary and secondary school, health centre, sponsorship programmes, farming initiatives, tourism project and many other ideas in order to provide the village with an infra-structure so that eventually the people of Kabubbu may be able to support themselves. 

Meanwhile there is an awful lot of work to be done in the village and we are joining a group of others to volunteer in whatever capacity they need us.  As part of our trip we are raising funds to help build a house for some children who have been orphaned and are living in appalling conditions in a mud hut.  Rocky and I want to help provide money for this as well as labouring alongside the local builders by brick-laying and mixing cement. Rocky has always had a flair for building projects so now is his chance to put it to really good use!  

Rocky will also be involved in a wide variety of ways to help the community including working with children in schools, sports, craft activities and assisting guardians in learning to play educational games with their adopted children.

We will be paying our own costs for the trip however we are also asked to fund raise in order to help fund these projects.  The charity prefers to spend the vast majority of the funds directly on the Kabbubu projects rather than a great deal of marketing but asks that volunteers like us do some marketing for them in return for our visit. I appreciate that the credit crunch has made our task even harder but I would so appreciate any financial help that you feel you would be able to offer.  Any donation, however small, would be very much appreciated and in return I will be contacting the local press before my visit and will be happy to let them know the names of those people who have helped me reach my goal. On our return from the village we will report back to those who have kindly offered financial assistance and send photos of the work that has been achieved.  We also hope to do a presentation in Rocky's school to show the other children the work that has been achieved. 

Rocky and I really want to be able to help these families as much as we can and hope that you will be able to help us achieve this.