The friendly faces of Uganda on #WVAbloggers tour

Meeting the people of Uganda was by far the best part of our #WVAbloggers tour in Uganda in November. I was flown over to visit the projects in Uganda that World Vision Australia is working on there.

It was a pleasure to travel to Uganda with three amazing women. Three World Vision staff and the awesome blogger, Eden Riley. Lou Acheson, who was the wonderful woman we communicated with when organising trip and a social media whizz at World Vision. Lou has provided me with these amazing images of the moments we had there meeting the people. Because it’s the people that are most important, it’s the people we are there to help, and it’s the people who have the stories.

The cry of “WELLCOME” whenever we arrived somewhere brought joy to our hearts. Well -come is how it’s pronounced in Uganda. You are WELL-come. You really sincerely felt that. Everyone wants to shake your hand, tell you their story or even way hello if they’re a little further away. It’s strange going into a community on the other side of the world, you are an outsider and you are well aware of it. But in Uganda, this is not a problem, they genuinely and sincerely mean it and want to show you what impact World Vision has had for them.

From Vocational training skills workshops of sewing classes, to hairdressing salons run by students of the skills workshops. Walking between projects and children on the street wanted to say hello. I loved sitting with these people and being able to just chat and learn about their way of life.

On my final day of visits, we were with a sub county group. The local project manager introduced us as visitors from Australia. He quickly corrected himself and said “They are actually no longer visitors. In Uganda, if someone stays for more than one day, they are no longer a visitor. They are home.” My eyes filled with tears at this lovely welcome once again in Uganda and made me terribly sad that my visit was so short.

The stories, the smiles and the hope that I saw in these communities will stay with me for a long long time. Here are just a few photos that stood out from Lou Acheson’s snaps.