From Emily

In July 2019 I am thrilled to be part of an exciting trip to Uganda with my school Richard Lander. My parents believe this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity and experience for me and I am determined to raise ALL the money needed for my ticket myself. I have already managed to raise £1150 on my own but I still have a long way to go. This trip will be my work experience for Year 10 as we will be spending approximately 20 of the 25 days of the trip working on building and decorating projects.

SPONSORED DANCE FOR UGANDA - In order to help raise some of the money for the trip I am organising a fun sponsored dance event which is being held on the 28th April at my dance school Bev-Lyn School of Dance. At the event I will be doing a 3 hour sponsored dance where myself and my friends will be doing a selection of dance routines and where any friends and family are welcome to come and watch us. In addition to this my dance teacher Melissa Glover (and with help from me) will be running a special DDMIX dance fitness class where any supporters are welcome to join in with the dancing. I hope it will be a fun event to try and boost my fundraising.

In addition to the dance event I have been making and selling penguin items via my facebook page Em's Penguin Emporium and have also been helping my Aunty Karen with some cleaning work. I have also been doing some jobs around the home and farm and will be continuing with some boot sales to sellunwanted household items this year. Lastly I have donated my Christmas money, and will do the same with any birthday money I receive in May.

ABOUT OUR TRIP - Every year a group of Year 10 students spend nearly 4 weeks in Uganda experiencing African culture and helping with development projects in communities around our sister schools (Molly and Pauls Childcare Foundation Schools in Kamuzinda and Bunjakko, Hoy's College (secondary) and Kidsgear (primary) in Bukomansimbi and St Jude's, a very poor school in Bukomansimi where the average class size is 90 pupils).

In Uganda most of the children in these schools are orphaned so they have to live at the school and are cared for by the staff. We would be living alongside these children as well as helping with building projects (including building toilet blocks) and painting buildings to improve their learning and living conditions.

We will also be experiencing local traditional food and spending time in the capital Kampala. At the end of our trip after all our physical work we will spend our last 4 days at the Queen Elizabeth or Murchison Falls National Park where we go on safari tours which I am looking forward to.

Thank you for supporting me.

Emily