This summer, for 4 weeks I am going to be working with children with language development deficiencies who attend the Matugga Revival Centre in Uganda.

The Matugga Revival Centre is home to 650 of the poorest, most needy and orphaned children in Uganda. Established in the year 2000 with a vision to equip profoundly disadvantaged children with the tools they need to transform their lives. Self-esteem, aspiration, knowledge and skills are all addressed in the hope that the children will be able to support both themselves and their families in the future. The ‘Give a Child a Hope’ charity has been supporting the centre since 2001, and recently the University of Leeds has become involved in this support.

With class capacities reaching up to 70, some children struggle with the foundations of language and often the limited school resources are unable to give the one-to-one support that they so desperately need.

I will be taking small groups of children out of the classroom; which can be loud and distracting, so they have a better chance of expressing their difficulties. My work will include working alongside the teachers to identify the right children and then work with those children on material that they should be learning in the classroom. Using techniques such as language development through play, and communication through music and movement, we are confident that in a safe and caring environment these will children learn to interact, gain skills, grow in self esteem and begin to thrive.

I am thrilled to be awarded funding from Leeds University via the Leeds for Life Foundation, which will pay for a proportion of my flight expenses. However, there will be several other costs to cover such as accommodation, vaccinations, insurance, and most importantly resources to equip the children with the tools and means they need for our work to be successful. I have therefore set up this JustGiving page to raise money for these expenses.

Any amount of support; whether that be through donations or simply by sharing this link with others, will be very much appreciated.

Thank you so much for going out of your time to read this.