They're here.....

Our first group of volunteers from Leeds University arrived on Monday 19th June. Here they all are ready for a hard days work. This particular group get the enviable task of clearing the site. This means that they get to do loads of hard graft all day long like shifting cement, digging up trees and clearing rubble. Subsequent groups will get to do the nice things like laying pathways and planting flowers! We are very sorry that these guys get the rubbish end of the stick but they are working like dogs and we are very grateful.


One of the luxurious bedrooms. Everyone gets their own mattress and a space on the floor. Not unlike prison in many ways. Except in prison you probably at least have access to a inside toilet.

For those parents who are footing an expensive university education bill and who may want to see their children suffer, please revisit the blog in a few days to see some photos of them toiling away!

Quick! They're coming.....!

Over the next two months we are expecting 50 students from Leeds University to come and help us finish off the building and landscape the grounds. They are coming in groups of 15 at a time and will all live on site in one side of the Centre. The first group were arriving on Monday 19th June and the days and weeks leading up to their arrival were quite fraught as we tried to get the Centre semi-habitable for them....

We finished laying the floors...

...the windows arrived (just in the nick of time) and were fitted...

...doors were sanded, varnished and hung...

...and we were done (about 10 minutes before they arrived, granted, but still we made it!).

Check out our lovely corridor.....

..and our beautiful science lab!

It was hectic but we made it, well done to everyone who helped (and who put up with us being a bit stressed and shouty!).

No-one escapes....!

Even friends and family can't escape the evil clutches of the Education Centre. Here we see our mate Claire and Georgie's dad Dave hard at work varnishing the doors to the theatre.


They both came to visit Uganda under the pretence of a lovely, relaxing holiday. They were lured here with stories of swimming in the Nile, relaxing with a book by a pool, maybe even seeing some animals in a game park....ha! Suckers! They soon discovered that visiting a Soft Power person entails nothing but hard graft and misery. So be warned all friends and family members who may be considering visiting anyone connected with Soft Power, we take no prisoners.

We did really appreciate their efforts, though, so big thanks to them both!

And it was a very good job we had Claire on site, as it happens, because we had a bit of trouble fitting a tap to our water catchment tank - none of the big burly Ugandan builders could squeeze inside to ensure the fittings were in place. Luckily we had Claire who managed to slither into the tank and get the job done!
Now we have running water at the Centre! So big thanks to Claire and her skinny shoulders and also big thanks to Johan, our resident Swedish volunteer plumber seen here in very patriotic yellow and blue, without him we'd still be scratching our heads and wondering what to do!