We had the opportunity to do expeditions on Mt.Elgon, get involved in community projects, travel the county and attend an jamboree with 6000 African Scouts. Chris from (East Sussex County) and Marvin from (Surrey County) visited Soroti, a district in Northern Uganda. Francesca (GLSW and East Sussex counties) completed her Explorer Belt Award in the Kamuli District., Central Uganda.

We all have such special stories that it is difficult to put them to paper, but Fran and Marv have tried. To read more of our stories follow the links below:

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About the Projects - Soroti and Lukataime

Soroti was the district that Chris and Marvin visited. The local scouts in Soroti have been donated a large plot of land which has the potential for a lot of development that could benefit the locals and scouts.

We hope that in 2003 we can help the Soroti scouts develop the site.

Lukotaime is a very rural village that Fran stumbled across during her explorer belt in the Kamuli district. The village is rural that villagers had never even heard of people with white skin let alone seen them.

The village runs a school for many local children yet they have few facilities. The only buildings are a few rotting bits of wood leaning up against one another.

We hope that in 2003 we will be able to go to Lukotaime and alongside the villagers build better facilities for the many children

When I was in Uganda I was so overwhelmed by the skills and proficiency of the local children that I did not know what I could give them or teach them. The lifestyle of an average Ugandan does not require constant use of a computer or any of the modern skills that the youth of the UK learn both in and out of scouting. Their pioneering and outdoor skills are second to none, so what can we give them? Yes, we have money, but surely we must have an aspect of UK scouting that they could adopt. On returning to the UK I though long and hard about this and found one area of British scouting that is not upheld in Uganda. It is very rare that a Ugandan scout group will venture further than their local surroundings, of course they are impaired by lack of financial funding so maybe this is where we step in.

My dream is to take a small number of Soroti scouts to Lukataime. Lukataime has no scouts at all, therefore whilst in Uganda I would hope to establish some scouting root s with the help of the Soroti scouts. It would then be the responsibility of the Soroti scouts to maintain, train and support with knowledge and friendship this new scout group. If scouting is going to move forward in Uganda these links will help. If Soroti wants to 'spearhead' scouting they will defiantly have taken a step in the right direction! I also believe that this experience will be very satisfying for all concerned. Lukataime will gain a much wanted youth program. The Soroti scouts will have a new opportunity to travel and develop which had not previously been available to them.Finally the Uk scouts will be able to leave Uganda really feeling that they have shared and contributed their scouting and skills usefully to their new friends.