THE son of a business owner in Frome and his girlfriend have returned from Uganda after building a new playground for a poor community.
Will Hall, whose mother owns Bonbon Chic on Catherine Hall, and his girlfriend, Laura Beaven, have returned home after their three-week charity trip with ‘East African Playgrounds’ to build new playgrounds for the students and community in Uganda.
Will Hall said, “Uganda is an absolutely beautiful country, from the madness of the cities to the stunning, tranquil countryside. The people are very friendly and easy-going. Although some communities were a lot worse off than ourselves, everyone was very happy and grateful for our help”
“East African Playgrounds is a fantastic charity which sees development in a different way, by creating jobs, games and places to play. So far they have built 150 playgrounds all over Uganda, which has improved the lives of 300,000 children. In addition, they have 50 full-time Ugandan staff who help teach the communities about the importance of play and who construct the playgrounds.
“The project was a great success and Kisakye Junior School was very pleased with their new play facilities. It gave their students a place for them to relax and play safely. The headmaster of the school contacts us regularly with updates on how much the children love the playground.
“The trip was more physically demanding than expected coupled with the living conditions, which made it difficult at times. However, all these experiences really strengthened us and made the trip more rewarding.
“From the trip we will take away the friendships we made and a sense of appreciation of how easy our lives are here in the UK, the biggest example of this is water. The children have to walk a mile to fetch their water and carry huge jerry cans balanced on their heads (we gave this a go, it was extremely difficult!)
“I would definitely do something like this again, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and if anyone gets the chance to do something similar, we would fully recommend it!’
Will and Laura’s fundraising link is still open to donations so if you would like to support the work they are doing alongside East African Playgrounds then visit: https:// southampton raggorillas2016.everyday hero.com/uk/wills-uganda- trip They have currently together raised £4,705.39 which has just exceeded their target of £4,700.
