African Adventures

October’s Long Leave gave two groups of our lucky Sixth Formers the fantastic opportunity to visit Uganda and Tanzania.

The Africa trips run biennially and are a long-standing feature of the Sixth Form experience at Leighton Park. Returning to the same communities each time has allowed us to build successful relationships of trust and respect over the years and to make a genuine difference to the lives of children financially less fortunate than our own students.

Tanzania

The Livingstone Tanzania Trust supports local communities by providing tools and knowledge to prevent them from living in poverty and for nine days our students worked under their direction. Rolling up their sleeves, they built a cow shed, six handwashing stations and fenced off the fish pond at a primary school. They perfected their brick-laying skills and even learnt how to make topai, a kind of cement to go between the bricks. They also tried market shopping, ate with the local community and enjoyed a peace talk.

After working hard students were treated to a safari and visit to a stunning lake. 26 types of animals were spotted, including lionesses, elephants and an array of bright and beautiful birds.

“I think for me, one of the most valuable things I have learnt from this experience is to have greater appreciation for what I have in day-to-day life, as well as also making me develop a better work ethic.” commented Paddy Mackay (Upper Sixth).

“Going to Tanzania was such an incredible experience; to get a different perspective and to see that our way of living isn’t necessarily the right way of life.” added Millie Dean-Lewis (Lower Sixth).

Uganda

Travelling via Qatar the Ugandan group drove from the airport through rainforest and downtown Kampala, ending their journey with a boat tour on Lake Victoria, before joining the Jinja Education Trust (JET). The JET charity aims to improve the education, training and welfare of young people in Uganda so they can go on to acquire the necessary skills for a successful and fulfilling life. The group runs several schools and nurseries so our students got stuck in, painting classrooms, visiting a local orphanage several times and spending time with many members of local community.

“It’s amazing how kids with so little smile as if they have everything. Excitement filled the air as we became familiar faces to many tiny hands reaching out and clasping onto ours. When it came time to leave, we all had to sneak out one by one to avoid making any of the children upset!” explained Alaska Engelen (Upper Sixth).

“Seeing the teachers’ reactions to such small gifts that we gave them and working with the orphanages was amazing. I would recommend the trip to anyone; it was a trip of a lifetime!” enthused Jasmine Phipps (Upper Sixth).