PDH Trips – Projects Delivering Hope

March 2025

Hannah — Mon, 19 May 2025 22:59:56 +0000

In March 2025, Andrew and Karen Eustace visited Smile Children’s Charity Village.

The trip was very successful, exhausting but hugely rewarding on various levels. We spent a whole week at Smile School with activities arranged for each day and we enjoyed the luxury of more time to spend with the children.

Andrew Eustace

Kiden, a student of the Smile Academy, received a gift of £255. This was raised by The Hair Lounge in Ripon (UK) to set up her own hairdressing business in Moyo, Northern Uganda. For the duration of her skills training at Smile Academy for 9 months, Kiden had not seen her 6 year old daughter, Eden, and her mother. Kiden was so grateful for the support given and for the belief shown in her. We asked her to keep in touch with Francis Candiga, the director of the Village, and to give updates on how she is getting on.

We were also able to replace 3 laptops at the Academy.

The medical clinic was opened up to the community as a promotional day, offering a no-charge visit to the doctor. Patients still paid for medications they received. This was successful with large numbers of patients attending. It is hoped that more people will use the clinic, which would provide income to the Village, and increased health benefits to the local community.

One of our supporters has been conducting some early research into issues surrounding malaria. We used some of our visit to gather responses, which will help us determine what help would be beneficial to combat malaria.

In 2024, Projects Delivering Hope provided wheelchairs for Suzanne and her son Joseph. We met Suzanne in Kawolokota and she was so happy; happy with the wheelchair and how it has enabled her to have more freedom. She was also glad to have the opportunity to personally thank some of the Projects Delivering Hope team. It was a wonderful moment to see Suzanne again and witness how her life has changed.

During the week, we also:

gave talks on ‘why save money’ for the launch of a savings group at the school, computer training, business training.
judged and presented prizes for a reading contest for the children. The standard of reading in English was brilliant.
observed a debate of girls v boys on ‘Science and IT’. This was such a good event, with great use of humour, some brilliant speaking and thinking on their feet, and thought provoking ideas. Andrew was presented with a fiendishly complex judging scheme!
cheered on the football team in four matches against Wabwoto. Despite the Smile team losing all of the matches, everyone had a lot of fun! The Smile supporters had won the fan competition for their enthusiasm, cheering, singing and dancing, especially when their team was losing.
attended church on Sunday in Kawolokota. It started at 9am and finished at 12 noon. It was long, so long, but wonderful. It included 1 hour of community notices, which included increased incidence of theft, the financial accounts of one group, and reports from other local groups. Although long, it was such a good insight into the culture and how the community operates and gives support.

The graduation ceremony is always a long day but we had been confidently told it would end at 2pm, which was appreciated given the 30C plus temperature.

It started at 10am with a 2 mile walk through the village to celebrate the graduates and their achievements. As guest of honour, Andrew gave a speech and adopted the African style of delivery, speaking for 40 minutes. 2pm came and went, so did 3pm, 4pm, 5pm, and 6pm. We finally left at 7.30pm! But it was a wonderful day of joyful celebration of the achievements of the graduates, all of whom were funded by Projects Delivering Hope.

On our first visit to Uganda and the first graduation in 2023, one of the personal testimonies from a graduate, called Robina, touched our hearts. In 2023, Robina fell to her knees, crying and said she had never been to school and never thought she ever would. She returned this year and updated her personal testimony saying how the skills training had changed her life and the fortunes of her family. This was a beautiful moment and illustrated the whole point of what PDH is doing at the Academy. To cap it off, she was also celebrating her son’s graduation in driving and car mechanics – doubly wonderful!

As in previous years, we met the grandmothers to hand out maize flour, sugar and soap. This really is one of the highlights of these trips, to witness the unbridled joy and love of the grandmothers in appreciation of what they receive. It is a truly soul enhancing and inspiring event.

And we were ‘adopted’ by 3 new South Sudanese mothers during our trip!

March 2024

Hannah — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 21:16:16 +0000

Trip to Uganda - March 2024

Thank you for your support and prayers during our trip.

Monday 4th March

The team arrived safely at the Smile Children’s Charity Village in Uganda after a 3.5 hour drive from Entebbe. The last 40 minutes was on a rough track which made UK potholes pale into insignificance! And the huge sugar cane transporters were quite a sight when thundering towards us!

What a fantastic welcome awaited us as children greeted us with a welcome song and a recital of their motto ‘Every Child Deserves a Smile’
We then enjoyed a tour of the village and were very excited to see the Hope Clinic funded last year by Projects Delivering Hope. We also met Prisca the nurse who Pete is looking forward to spending time with later in the week after we have presented a microscope.
400 primary children (including 300 from the surrounding area) are educated at the school here and we were introduced to some of them in their classrooms.
We had fun handing out teddy bears, children’s clothes, footballs and stationery as well as 10 laptops for the new computer skills training course.

Finally another 40 minute bumpy drive back to our hotel for a quiet night.

Welcome to Smile Children's Charity Village

The road to the Village

A dormitory, 2 children in each bed on triple bunks

The children receiving teddy bears

Andrew presenting children's clothes

Peter handing microscope details to project director Francis Candiga

Lunch being cooked over an open fire

The Hope Clinic funded by Projects Delivering Hope

Pete talking to a primary class

Tuesday 5th March

Today’s celebrations have been full of colour, sound and life. Arriving at the Smile Village at 10am, the marching band led us through the streets of Kitigwa in procession behind the upper primary children, the Smile Academy graduates and the Smile staff. The townspeople stopped their work to watch us pass with many joining in at the back of the procession. We marched for over 2 miles in the intense heat of the sun, passing local businesses selling anything from fried chicken to hand-made coffins! It was fascinating to see coffee beans drying in the sun and sugar cane being sold in its raw form.

Returning to the Smile Village, our next task was to perform the official opening and dedication of the Hope Clinic funded last year by Projects Delivering Hope (PDH). After Andrew R had cut the ribbon, Pete officially handed over the microscope also funded by PDH to Prisca, the nurse.

The focus then moved to the graduation when 27 young women were to receive certificates following a 9-month skills training course in tailoring or hairdressing. There were speeches by many dignitaries and then at 4:30pm (after 6.5 hours since we started!) Andrew R, the designated ‘guest of honour’, gave the Guest Speaker’s address. His topic was ‘Hope’ and he covered: unrealistic hope that leads to disappointment; achievable hope that leads to fulfilment; and hope in God that gives us 100% certainty of His Spirit with us in this life and eternity with Him in heaven.

As the afternoon drew to a close, Andrew & Karen Eustace were presented with a chicken by the mother of the one of the girls they sponsor, and Andrew R was presented with a goat and 100 bananas by the graduates and their parents. Both gifts were returned to the Smile Village and we were pleased to hear that the goat we gave back to them last year has had 3 kids, so they now have 4 from last year, as well as one from this year. A great lesson in investment!

We eventually left the village after 8.5 hours of celebration in the scorching heat, but although exhausted, we are filled with gratitude for an amazing day, and the knowledge that we have done something significant in the lives of these young people.

We were also delighted to learn that some of the girls who graduated last year have gone on to set up small businesses in their home land of South Sudan.

We passed many small businesses on the way, from fruit sellers...

...to coffin makers

On our return, Andrew R cut the ribbon to officially opened the clinic

Pete handed over the microscope

Andrew and Karen Eustace received a chicken

Andrew R received a goat and 100 bananas

We ended the day with official photographs and cake

Wednesday 6th March

This morning Peter and Karen went to Smile Village. Peter spent the day teaching Prisca the nurse the basics of the microscope. Karen enjoyed a day of fun and games with some of the children.

Francis and both Andrews set off to visit the village of Kawalakota, which is deep in the Ugandan bush. A 4-wheel drive car was essential to reach the village as the mud track was waterlogged and very slippery. The centre of the village community is St James Church, and many South Sudanese people live there and have kept their own identity still speaking their own Bari language. The South Sudanese people migrated there in the 1950s when the north and south were at war.

It was a privilege to meet with the Mothers Union group, many of whom are grandmothers who look after their grandchildren having been abandoned by their mothers as unwanted pregnancies. One lady crawled into the church on her hands and knees as she was seriously disabled. There is extreme poverty in this area and the women make a meagre living by growing coffee. However there is only one coffee harvest each year, and therefore only one payday. Many people still live in traditional Tukuls (mud huts) while others have brick built houses with bricks made from the soil around their property.

After some very energetic worship and dancing with the women (shown in the video) , we distributed seeds and hand tools so that they could grow vegetables around their homes. It was a very humbling experience to see the women kneeling at our feet and shrieking with joy as they received their seeds.
Andrew R was asked to speak to the women about Hope and although their situation seems hopeless, they are positive enough to believe that with the support of their community, tomorrow can be better than today.In the afternoon the local business community from a wide area gathered under a mango tree for a seminar. Quite a few of the 35 who gathered had been present at last years one-day PDH business training course and we were very encouraged that they had taken on board much of what we taught them and were putting it into practice. Andrew E recapped the 3 most important aspects of running a business: Cash Flow, Stock & Sales.

At the end of the afternoon we were given a report of the Community Savings Group that was set up following our recommendation at last year’s training session. We were absolutely thrilled to hear that the ‘Savings for Tomorrow’ group has 40 members and in 12 months has saved 2.17 million Ugandan Shillings (about £435). This is an amazing achievement for people who had zero financial resources and this fund has been created through their hard work and determination. The next step is to register the group with the Ugandan authorities so that they can begin offering micro finance loans.

The journey back revealed vast areas of bush being cleared for sugar plantations and this has meant the loss of much of the natural environment.

We end the day once again feeling grateful for all that has been achieved and privileged to have played a small part in it.

Tradional Tukuls - Home to many families

A selection of the seeds we distributed to the women of the Mothers Union

The women were so grateful and we were so humbled!

After lunch 30 members of the local business community met in the shade of a mango tree for a business training seminar

Andrew Eustace spoke about the 3 main aspects of running a business

On the way home we saw this tailor working outside his home

Thursday 7th March

Today was our last full day with the Smile Village community. While are sad to be leaving tomorrow, we have enjoyed every moment of our time with them. Their smiles are infectious and they have shown us extreme kindness and extraordinary generosity and love each day.
Arriving this morning we were introduced to two classes of children from years 5 & 6. Both Andrews gave a basic computer lesson to one class of 30 children using the 10 laptops that we had brought from the UK. Considering that most of them had never touched a computer before they learned incredibly quickly. The use of the touchpad soon became natural to them and we showed them how to power up and open the programmes. Then we did some basic word processing and spreadsheet exercises and taught them how to close and save files and then find and reopen them. This training will be rolled out to the school community and will be invaluable to the children as they learn the skills necessary to make their way in the world.

Meanwhile Peter and Karen were teaching the other class some basic microscope skills.

The Smile Village, having identified the central risk to the health of its community as malaria, chose to extend the work of the new clinic to tackle this challenge. Through partnership and collaboration, PDH’s goal has been to support them in their ambitious aim. It has been most impressive and encouraging to see the hard work and progress of Prisca, the clinic’s nurse, during training in microscopy and using the new microscope. There has been immediate impact.
The arrival of Monica today (a lab technician and relative of Francis) brings the project’s aim nearer to completion. Monica has provided training for Prisca to learn slide preparation techniques most relevant and suitable to Uganda. Her local knowledge provides information on the source of further consumables that may be needed. This ongoing support marks an important stage as the project passes from PDH to the Smile clinic. It secures the longevity of everyone’s aims, efforts and hopes. There will be ongoing success and impact.

Alongside training given to the clinic, older children were able to experience the wonders and joys of microscopy in lessons which introduced them to: 1.⁠ ⁠Using microscopy to explore the world. 2.⁠ ⁠The 3 L’s of microscopy; Look, Look carefully, Look carefully + think and do. 3.⁠ ⁠⁠Developing observation skills. 4.⁠ ⁠⁠Making their own microscopes with water droplets. Just as microscopes help us see the world differently and with greater clarity, it is most heartening to see the immediate difference that the donation of a microscope has made and it’s clear that this will continue in the long term. On leaving the village, the PDH team has left the donated microscope and the clinic project in very capable hands, confident that the new arrangements will change the ‘Hope’ of fighting malaria into a ‘Reality’.

Pete

From left to right, Monica, Prisca and Pete in the Hope clinic

Pete teaching microscope skills to year 5

At lunchtime we were treated to a lovely meal of goat and chicken. (Yes it was the same goat and chicken that we gave back after they were presented to us at the graduation on Tuesday!)

In the afternoon we spent time with some of the staff who have become close friends in this past week. We shared stories and prayed together before saying our sad farewells.

For those readers following our itinerary, we have decided to return to Entebbe for the first leg of our journey home straight after our breakfast meeting with Francis tomorrow. This will save us and our drivers the long return journey to the village and back on the bumpy roads for what would only have been a brief visit.

So with full hearts and a sense of accomplishment, we’ll be heading back with so many memories, stories and ideas. Do check back tomorrow when our final blog will contain a selection of our favourite memories of the week.

Andrew E teaching computer skills to year 6

Viola the Headteacher of the Smile Village School

Francis Candiga and some children from the Village

Our banquet lunch with plantain, maize, rice, Andrew’s goat and Karen’s chicken!

The staff team with the PDH team

Farewell to the Smile Village

Friday 8th March

This morning we met with Francis Candiga, the director of ‘Smile Christian Children’s Charity Village and Academy’ over breakfast. We listened to his aspirations and vision for the village and heard his heart of love and compassion for the children and young people in his care. The trustees of Projects Delivering Hope will be considering his proposals for the forthcoming year and will continue to help where possible.

We are now in the relative comfort of a hotel in Entebbe awaiting our flight home tomorrow. It seems a world away from the abject poverty we have been witnessing during the past week and the contrast between the two worlds is striking.

Thinking back just 2 days to our meeting with the grandmothers – we are challenged again by the joy on their faces as they received their life-giving and life-changing packs of seeds and provisions. One lady told us that she hadn’t tasted sugar for 2 years, and another that she couldn’t remember the last time she had a bar of soap! They left that meeting with hope in their hearts.

And just yesterday, a little girl in our computer training lesson handed Andrew E a letter which said “Thank you for loving us. I know that I didn’t have anything to give you”.

The journey here was long and tiring and we asked Francis if the little that we have to offer makes any difference. He replied adamantly that there is huge significance in the time we spend and the love we show them. Our presence is so valuable and that makes the difficult journey worthwhile.

Being here in Entebbe does provide us with something of an airlock between their world and returning to the UK and an opportunity to reflect on all that we have seen and experienced.

We are so grateful for the opportunities we have had to share our time and resources, and greatly humbled by the genuine and heartfelt gratitude that we have been shown. We are also in awe at the way in which the resources we have offered have been multiplied by God, and that our visit has meant so much more to the Smile team and children than we could have imagined.

One particular example is how, having handed over a microscope to Prisca the Smile nurse, and given her a little practical training in its use, suddenly, yesterday, Francis arranged for his sister-in-law Monica (a lab technician and microbiology student in Entebbe), to jump on a bus and begin the training with Prisca that she needs so much. Monica is like the missing piece of the jigsaw that suddenly fell into place.

The theme of the week has been Hope and we believe that with the dedication of the Smile team and support from us in the UK, there is hope for these children and young people, and that their tomorrow can be better than today.

We’ve put together a few of our favourite images below (hover over them for the stories) and hope you enjoy them as we sign off. We look forward to seeing many of you soon, and if you would like more information about supporting Smile Village or any of our other projects, please get in touch with us at: andrew@projectsdeliveringhope.org.uk.

Thanks for following us this week.

Mary grew up as an orphan in Kajo Keji., South Sudan. Francis sponsored her through school and now employs her as the Smile bursar.

Ivan is the deputy director of the Smile Village. He lives 15 miles away and cycles to work each day. That’s 150 miles a week on rough roads in the heat and the dust.

Having a ride home on grandma's back

4 on a motorbike! Sometimes you see women riding side saddle with a baby on their lap. The most bizarre sight we saw was a coffin being transported on the back of a motorbike 90 degrees to the direction of travel. We also saw a motorbike with an 8’ x 4’ sheet of plywood on the back.

Mushrooms drying in the sun

Coffee beans drying in the sun

Jackfruit - delicious!

An outdoor kitchen

Sugar cane is grown in the surrounding area and is transported to the factory by huge lorries. These lorries drive in the centre of the road to avoid tipping over and if you want to overtake it means driving in the verge. One day we overtook 3 in convoy.

A street market near Kampala.

February 2023

Tom Burholt — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 09:22:27 +0000

PDH Trip - February 2023

Three of our trustees, Adrian, Andrew & Rachel visited Uganda to meet with our local South Sudanese operating partners. This is the first trip we have been able to make in 4 years due to COVID and we were joined by 3 PDH supporters who helped us lead some seminars and business workshops.

The graduates

Business Training in Macedonia Church, Palorinya Refugee camp

This was a great opportunity to train refugee business people from South Sudan. We provided business training in marketing, cash flow and record keeping and it was great to hear feedback on how this will help them.

Visiting Projects in Belamaling Refugee Camp: Bread Ovens & Savings Groups

It’s always good to hear about the benefits of projects after they have completed. And we did just that with the Bread Ovens project, plus the Savings Groups formed after the 2019 business training. According to the people we met, they have created a source of income that has enabled children to go to school, goats to be bought and mental health crises to be averted.

Our partners: Diocese of Kajo Keji and Kajo Keji Christian College

Spending time with our partners to understand their current challenges was really important to help us prioritise the next set of PDH projects to focus on. We had an evening at Mama Cecila’s house, a dinner with Simon Taban Benson and the Diocese of Kajo Keji staff and a meal with Rev. Dr James Lule, the Principal of Kajo Keji Christian College

SMILE Children’s Charity Village, – meeting with our partner, Rev. Francis Candiga

This was set up to look after refugee orphans from South Sudan “Every child deserves a smile.”

We have been partnering with SMILE for a year and funded a chicken farm to enable them to sustain themselves and also funded tailoring & hairdressing training for over 30 young women.

Graduation Ceremony of 32 tailors & hairdressers

Education is something we take for granted in the UK. But for those from South Sudan, it is a luxury. That’s why seeing 32 young women refugees graduate in tailoring and hairdressing was such a great conclusion to one of our projects.

We also gave them sewing machines / hairdresser starter kits. Many are orphans and told us how this training has literally transformed their lives. We were even given a live goat & 100 bananas as a thank you gift at the Graduation Ceremony!

Business Training for the tailors, hairdressers & other business people

We had an amazing day delivering business training under a mango tree!

The tailoring and hairdressing graduates said they had learnt how to set up their new businesses and local business owners gave feedback on how much it helped them. “I now understand where I have gone wrong in the past and I can take forward this learning in the future”. We were excited to hear their desire to collaborate together to create savings groups and reduce costs.

Flying with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF)

MAF is a flying charity which operates in developing countries to bring help, hope and healing through aviation to people living in isolation and poverty. In Uganda and South Sudan, we rely on MAF to fly us to remote locations.