Eight women from GB England and Wales had the fantastic opportunity to travel to Uganda this summer with Fields of Life as part of a team of 13 from GB Europe.
Here are some of their highlights...Hannah Morpeth, 1st Windy Nook
The photograph I have chosen shows the workshop at Balibaseka Secondary School where they make I AM GIRL packs. The girls pictured showed us the process to make reusable sanitary towels and what girls are given.
It was great to see the I AM GIRL programme truly imbedded within a school and see first-hand where the money that has been raised through The Girls’ Brigade has gone.
Teaching puberty and menstruation lessons in Uganda felt so invaluable to the pupils and the wider community, children were encouraged to share what they have learned with people in their villages to improve understanding and well-being.
When learning about menstruation the children genuinely seemed to value the opportunity to ask questions either for themselves or people they know in a way that isn’t often seen in the UK.
After seeing how invaluable the I AM GIRL programme is to schools and communities it is something I will continue to support in the future.
Sam Cree, 1st Windy Nook & 1st Ryton
Selecting one picture from the FIZZ trip in Uganda was a difficult task. There were so many highlights and special moments that made an impact on me. I decided to pick this picture from Balibaseka School; the secondary school where we worked for 3 days.
Around the school, I could see lots of evidence of the Fields in Life project (which helps to teach menstrual hygiene, personal hygiene, child protection and gender equality) in action, which was incredible.
This included the school having access to clean water, handwashing facilities, toilet blocks, girls making reusable sanitary towels, and us being able to teach some ‘I am Girl’ lessons.
Shannon Boyd, 1st South Shields
I personally think the trip was amazing and it made a huge impact on my life. I think the whole teaching experience in Uganda was incredible, the things I'm best at are singing, being goofy and playing games, so on the last day at ‘Grace Christian’ when the students and teachers sang back the songs I taught them for the leaving celebration I was very emotional.
When we went to the senior school one of the pupils wrote down the lyrics to the song and said the song made a big impact on him and he wants to teach his fellow students the lyrics.
The people of Uganda are so kind, so welcoming and ready to learn - even teachers were willing to grow in knowledge, but the one special thing I took from the trip was a little boy, who every day at ‘Grace Christian’ made me feel welcome and special. He would run to greet me with a big long hug and smile from ear to ear, he wasn't getting educated so my goal now is to make sure he is, make sure he's getting as much kindness as he showed me.
Thank you Fields of Life for giving me and the whole of the FIZZ team an amazing experience.
Zoe Parkinson, 40th Birmingham
Here is a picture of me with just some of the Girls from the Uganda Girls Brigade school which is based at The Good Shepard Primary school. We were fortunate enough to visit the school towards the end of our trip.
We were greeted by the Girls formed up ready to parade who marched around the school buildings and into the school courtyard to the sound of the Girls singing 'we are marching in the light of God' and 'Seek, serve and follow Christ' is our motto-GB!
What was probably most special about the school was to hear from the Headteacher and GB Captain about how the school currently has more Girls than Boys enrolled at the school - a fact which is surprising considering only 5% of Girls in East Africa complete their High school education. The school felt that the real attraction to their school for young women was their GB company.
It was fantastic to see them standing there in uniform and for a moment it was striking that we were all one - one in GB and one in Christ!
The Girls of the company are proud to serve and the love of God really shone through every single one of them!
Find out more about GB's mission trips