On Wednesday we left St Jude's children's home to head to Masindi. The children waved us off in their new football shirts, it was hard to leave the children behind but they are all so settled and cared for so well, which made it easier for us to start the next part of our journey. After a few problems locating our driver and trying to be patient with African time keeping (or lack of it), we began our journey to Masindi. It is very true that when travelling in U...

St Jude's Children's Home Akello Santa Santa was our first point of contact at St Jude's and had effectively made it possible for us to stay. For the entire time we were there she was our 'mummy', whether we liked it or not, she made sure our stay was memorable and welcomed us as one of her family. Like almost every woman you meet in Gulu she had a very sad story, yet remained positive, fun and a happy person to be around.

It's an early start here at St Judes, the children are awoken at 6am to the sound of the bell.  They are soon all up and running freely around the grounds, lots of sounds of laughter are heard.  Our plan for today is to meet with Liz and Mike, VSO members, in Gulu town. So at 1030 we left St Judes on a couple of bodas and had a lovely drive through the countryside. We met Liz in an Internet cafe so we had a quick chance to blog and catch up on life in the UK! ...

For a change we were up on time this morning to leave for Gulu, however in true Ugandan style our driver was late, and we left at 830 for our trip to the north. As we left Kampala behind the landscape changed from the bustle of the urban hills to lush green vegetation, complete with mud huts, fast flowing rapids and monkeys!!!! After several hours of travelling, and picking up a local on the way to assist with directions, we arrived at St Judes Children's Home....

After torrential rain all through the night we headed to IHK again. On arrival we were each assigned a mentor to work with for the day. Rachel headed to theatres to observe an elective caesarean section and Sam and Stacy took part in the longest ever ward round of four hours! The theatres at IHK were well equipped and had neonatal resuscitation equipment. The first thing that Stacy was shown was where the mirror was to ensure your hair and make up was flawless! ...