Jeani sets out for her volunteer trip in Uganda

My journey to Uganda began two weeks ago and the time is already flying by. I spent the first week acclimating to my new surroundings, meeting so many people, adjusting to the interesting bugs, power cuts, and being called a ‘Muzungu’(a white person), visiting a nearby village, and what I surprisingly found most challenging was learning how to sleep under a mosquito net. Jane did an excellent job of showing me around Kabalagala and the Kampala area. I sometimes feel as though Jane is the town major. Everywhere we go people want to speak with and embrace her. Everyone that she has introduced me to, whether they are involved in the school, church, internet café, or just someone she passes by every day on her way to school, has been so welcoming and friendly.

After a week of adjusting to life in this beautiful country it is finally time for the second term of school to begin. The twenty-seven children that make up Kabalagala Community Academy and I have something in common. We are all eager and enthusiastic to begin this journey of learning together. While they will be learning subjects like math and reading they will be teaching me so much about themselves and myself, about life in Uganda, and the hardships they all face. As I sit in the school office writing this all I can hear are the sounds of happy children playing and singing outside during their lunch break. I have already discovered that these children are so grateful for the little they have and the opportunity they have been given to receive an excellent education.

This is the type of kids I want to see: healthy, happy, confident, dressed for school. That is the difference i.HUG is making on the ground in Uganda.



Jane settles in


All in a row...


Everybody pitches in to help.

been in hospital all of yesterday evening and all of today with Eric, the youngest who has severe malaria and has been on 4 drips throughout the course of today and yesterday. Feeling very protective of his tiny body.

Smile, please!

On my recent trip to Uganda I went to Kabalagala Community Academy. Whilst I was there, so many things about the children struck me—one of them were their smiles.

Many of these children were under the age of seven, and had a mouth full of brown and rotting teeth. The ones that I noticed were the ones whose teeth were missing, discoloured or damaged. But as far as I know, the children who were fortunate enough to still have a bright white smile may have been having rotten teeth at the back.

Most of the children had very little sugar in their diet, and most of them did not have toothbrushes and toothpaste at home. One child whose parents tried to encourage him to brush his teeth was given soap to put on his toothbrush! The issue seemed to be both a financial and an educational one.

I mentioned my concerns in an I-HUG committee meeting and within a week I-HUG have been inundated with excellent quality children’s toothbrushes (which are hard to find in Uganda) and, toothpaste. With these supplies and the commitment from the school to teach and promote oral hygiene within the school day much will be achieved to helping prevent further decay.

I am wondering now if someone knows a dentist who would like to take a trip to Uganda……….
-ruth