About Us.
About Us.
It was 2007 (picture during my first trip) when I took my first steps onto Africa soil, travelling solo to work on some projects in Uganda and Zambia and travelling through Kenya and Zimbabwe. I had wanted to go to Africa ever since I was 8 years old and I had watched the Live Aid concerts, but it was many years before I was able to make that a reality.
It was during those months in Africa that I saw the reality of what I had seen on the TV all those years ago and my heart just went out to these amazing women and children who were living in conditions you just could not imagine and who were struggling every minute of every day just to access water.
One day I will write a book about the whole journey because it needs to be heard but for now I just want to share that it was a result of that trip, that I forged an incredible affinity with Uganda, met the most inspiring people and KNEW in my heart that I have the skills, the capability and the desire to make a difference to the lives of women and children there because I had already begun. This picture here is me, having been in Africa for grand total of 4 days and I was on my first project in Uganda. This young girl called Lydia never left my side the whole time I was there and left a huge imprint in my heart.
When I arrived back in the UK at the end of 2007, I told my family about the whole experience and announced I was setting up an official charity and I was going to dedicate as long as I was on this earth to supporting and empowering women and children in Uganda. In 2008, the Africa Childrens Development Trust was formally registered with the full support of my family and friends.
And so the work began.
I am not going to sugar coat things. The years that followed were so hard and so challenging. Not just for raising funds but also navigating the challenges that come with running an organisation in the developing world.
It was a steep learning curve, and at times I made mistakes as I learnt the culture, as I learnt the ‘way things work’, but gradually over time, I got them memo and actually moved to Uganda in 2009 and lived there for a number of years.
Every project you will read about here on this website has evolved from that very first trip and those early days of learning and we continue to learn, grow and evolve.
We still have many challenges but my commitment to these amazing women and children remains steadfast and I am excited to see what the next 16 years will bring!
Meet the Team
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Rose
Director of Ndeeba Primary and co-ordinator of all things on the ground in Uganda. My absolute rock.
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Emmanuel
Our tutor who runs our sewing and tailoring vocational programs for women and children.
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Rose
Our tutor who runs our hairdressing vocational programs for women and children