Skip to content

Raising the roof on hope

Quesnel volunteers spend more than two weeks in Africa including building a school classroom.
6790quesnelUgandabound.1
Uganda Bound volunteers from Quesnel with Ugandan construction people are outside the classroom the volunteers built for Watoto Children’s Village students. The banner

Sheila Pritchard is a veteran of the Uganda Bound mission, which fundraises for the construction of buildings to help African orphans through Watoto Children’s Villages.

Pritchard traveled to the Gulu area in Northern Uganda in 2007 with a group from Quesnel, to build a Watoto home for a house mother and eight children.

This trip, also with a group from Quesnel, set out to build a secondary school classroom in Lamindera, about an hour out of Gulu.

“Every day we were on site building we had that hour drive over unpaved, pothole ridden roads and when it rained, the mud was awful,” Pritchard said.

The group was in Uganda a total of 18 days and in Gulu for 11 days, of which four were spent on construction.

The group raised $23,000 and each traveller had to pay their own way which constituted about $5,000.

However, the trip was much more than a construction job.

They made several visits to a baby home where they helped out with feeding and minding of the children.

“We also visited Living Hope, a day clinic for women with AIDS,” Eileen Cindric said.

“They help the women heal physically and psychologically.”

Two Watoto Children’s Villages outside Kampala were also on their itinerary.

“We experienced authentic local food with a lunch prepared by one of the house mothers,” Cindric said.

Pritchard said they had lunch with another house mother and her eight children in the house the Quesnel group built in 2007.

They visited local markets in Gulu that Enemark said were amazing.

“They were open air, very narrow alleyways where men and women were selling everything imaginable from clothing to fish.”

“You felt part of the community. This was where the locals shopped and the colours and the smells were wonderful,” Pritchard said.

“The people are so friendly and so beautiful, immensely grateful.”

Despite the work of Watoto, Cindric said you still see need everywhere.

“Children running alongside the road looking for handouts,” she said.

“Children in Watoto villages are really blessed, medically, spiritually and educationally, they’re taken care of.”

Each member of the mission brought with them suitcases full of school, medical and sewing supplies as well as toys and books, even sports uniforms they collected from Correlieu.

“Kids will be playing soccer with Correlieu blazoned on their shirts,” Cindric said with a grin.

When asked why they went, Pritchard was quick to respond, “we’re so blessed, with total freedom and so rich. It’s our way of giving something back. Seeing the children making something with their lives is wonderful.”

Enemark said she really wanted to make a difference for others in the world.

And Cindric said with the lives we live, if we can give a little from our life it helps you appreciate the little things we take for granted like turning on the stove or having reliable electricity.

“Even the poor in Canada are rich compared to Africa,” Pritchard added.

“Despite the great works and expanding reach of such organizations as Watoto, Uganda alone still has two million children in need.”

Fundraising has begun for the 2013 trip planned for South Africa just outside Cape Town, where Watoto has expanded their reach.

The Watoto Choir performs in Quesnel March 4, 2012.

Pritchard said they are looking for willing volunteers interested in helping the children. To find out how to get involved, call 250-992-6824.