Search Seven visit Uganda & Nkuringo School

Gavin, our inspirational managing director and his girlfriend Catherine Head, visited Nkuringo as part of their 10 day tour of Uganda.

After arriving via Nairobi and a short stay in Karen, visiting the giraffe centre and the elephant sanctuary where they sponsor Ambo, a seven-month-old baby elephant, they headed west to Fort Portal. They started their adventure with an afternoon trek to the top of the world in Kibale with stunning views of several nearby lakes, mountains and villages. The next five days in the lead-up to their stay in Bwindi and visiting the school, included chimp trekking in Kibale forest, of which they were less than two metres away from the troop, a boat cruise down the Kazenga channel seeing elephants, buffalo and hippos all drinking on the river bank together, bird watching walks, and several game drives, seeing many fantastic animals including the tree climbing lions, giraffes and elephants. They then undertook a five-hour walk from Buhoma to the south of the Bwindi impenetrable forest, with a stop off for a swim in the waterfall en route - when in Rome! The next day they did a gorilla trek, with the permit fee going towards continued conservation work to protect the gorillas and also providing work for the local communities, before spending the entire following day with the Nkuringo community. As you can see from the pictures, they were greeted with a welcome dance from the school before Gavin got to meet Allan Mubangizi, who Search Seven sponsor, as well as to unveil the S7 water tank that has been donated to the school. Catherine handed out clothes to all the girls which were donated by family and friends, and after a visit to all the classrooms, Gavin got to play football with the children and teachers on top of the world (the second 'top of the world' in Uganda).

All the school were there singing throughout the game and Gavin handed out several football shirts to the children who wore them during the game. Gavin was a little emotional afterwards as he dreamt of playing football with them all and it was a truly special occasion. Speaking about the trip, Gavin said "the whole trip was amazing from start to finish. Asgario and David were brilliant but visiting the school and meeting the kids was the pinnacle for me." He goes on to say "meeting Allan, the other children and seeing what Search Seven were helping to support was quite astonishing, and we loved every minute of being in Nkuringo. I can't wait for the rest of the S7 team to experience this kind of trip!" Gavin and Catherine plan on going back again soon and supporting the community even further through other Search Seven related fundraising events back in the U.K. If you are inspired by this post and would like to sponsor a child at the Nkuringo school, then please get in touch!