I wish I could say that there was some sort of rational decision-making process behind the moment when I first signed up to the Many Ogilvy Hands November trip to Uganda; that I weighed up the pros and cons carefully, worked out a strategy for reaching the fundraising target and began writing up a cross-referenced and indexed list of the inoculations and medicines I would need to take prior to going. But it wasn’t like that. I had decided I was going before I even allowed myself to begin delving into those sorts of questions. I think most of the other people who went on the November trip went through a similar process too. Truth is, none of us really knew what to expect or how we would feel when we got out there. You can read as much as you like about Uganda but nothing will prepare you for the complex range of emotions and experiences you have when you’re actually there.

We arrived late on a Thursday night to a tropical thunderstorm which confused us no end. Welcome to Africa – and it’s pissing it down. After arriving at our hotel and downing a swift Ugandan beer or two (Nile beers – an absolute pleasure) we bedded down for the night to prepare for our first proper day in the country.

Waking up to blazing African sunshine and crowing roosters was a refreshing change from the miserable shrill of my phone’s alarm clock on a cold wet English morning. After driving into Kampala, the capital city (a confusing and chaotic cacophony of traffic, people and animals), to pick up supplies and currency, we headed off on our drive to Buikwe. Roads in Uganda are, needless to say, not like roads in Europe and we were all glad to step down onto solid land as we arrived at the school about an hour later.

International Needs (the charity Ogilvy has partnered with to build these schools) has got a pretty slick operation in place at the primary school that currently exists. The children are taught a wide range of different courses and fed twice a day. Students come from all around the area and it’s incredible to see how excited they are about being at school, particularly when you compare that to your average British child. Peter, the director of the programme and one of two representatives from International Needs who were accompanying us on the trip, told us about one young girl who walks two hours to and from school every single day. The realisation that this didn’t surprise him at all was more revealing to me than the fact itself.

It’s incredible how much stuff we actually did on the building site over the course of our stay in Buikwe. From digging trenches to levelling ground and clearing rubble, every single one of us pitched in however we could; the before/after photos below attest to that. One aspect of building work in Uganda is that there is no such thing as a broken tool, and the lack of any automated or heavy machinery really does add significance to the old saying “many [Ogilvy] hands make light work”. When we broke our first shovel – and I use the word ‘shovel’ in the loosest of terms, it was more a piece of metal wedged onto a tree branch – we immediately asked the builders where we should go to buy a new one. They laughed out loud and in front of our eyes built a new shovel within three minutes. It was an eye-opening experience for us all.

Unsurprisingly all of us were very excited about eating traditional Ugandan food. Irene, our in-house chef and culinary extraordinaire, somehow managed to create feasts for 13 people at both lunch and dinner, despite having only two hobs and a couple of small pots. The food was fantastic: spicy Irish (potatoes), tilapia fish fresh from the Nile, chicken curries, chapattis – simple fare, but tasty nonetheless.

Our most memorable day was when they took us around some of the villages where we got to meet not only the students but also their families. It was incredibly moving to meet these people and to hear about the impact that being able to attend school was having on their children’s lives. We also met some of the less fortunate families who had not yet secured sponsorship for their children to go to school. If you are interested in supporting one of these children (at just 50p a day), please go to <URL>.

I could write for ages about all the other great experiences we had while we were out there; about the huge range of emotions we all went through or about the incredible memories we were left with. But like I said earlier, you could read all you want about Uganda and it still wouldn’t do justice to the experience you’ll have while you’re out there.

If you have any questions about Many Ogilvy Hands, Uganda, or how you can get involved with fund raising even if you aren’t able to make it out there, please feel free to get in touch.