I first visited Uganda in July 2011. What I was not expecting was to be so moved by my experiences on this trip that I would then volunteer to take over the leadership of our school Uganda Link with Nyakatukura Memorial Secondary School and the Reaching Orphans for Care child education sponsorship programme.

Why am I so committed to our Uganda Link and why did I decide at the beginning of the current national lockdown due to the global pandemic of Clovis-19 to attempt to walk and cycle (on an exercise bike!) the equivalent of the distance from my home in Cheltenham to Nyakatukura in Ibanda, South West Uganda – about 6,000 miles?

Three reasons:

• I wanted to regain and maintain my fitness as much as I could

• I wanted to continue to raise the profile of our link School, Nyakatukura, with so many amazing friends, colleagues and pupils out in Ibanda

• I wanted to raise sufficient funds to ensure the sustainability of Nyakatukura and the ROC programme, as I look towards my retirement in the not too distant future.