An update on my trip to Uganda

first off... sorry for the delay in posting an update, I've been meaning to for a week or so but only getting to it now..

To date I have raised 320 euro. thank you to all who have supported me to date.

I have been slow on planning fundraising events. As I think I shared in my last update shaving my head is not a runner..... Disappointing as I wanted to shave my head (not sure where that excitement came from). so I had to return to the drawing board for a big fundraising idea. I decided I would climb a mountain. Due to college and other commitments this would not happen until May 20th. The mountain I would love to climb for this fundraising effort is Crough Patrick but the big barrier there is time needed to travel to Crough Patrick and if I would be able to make this time so as not to impact too much on my study. Feeling that I could not I started to think about Mount Leinster. I have never done Mount Leinster but I do know from my research that there is a road to the top, this would be too easy. So I did a bit of digging to see is the wilderness climb is a marked path and I believe that it is not. Recently I was in Mount Mellerary. At the time there was a man staying there from dublin, living in Wicklow. I meantioned my thinking to him and he suggested Lugnaquilla, the highest mountain in Leinster, that way I would get the height of Crough Patrick (a tad more) without the travel time. Looking it up Lugnaquilla is about an hour from me. If I stayed in Kiltegan the night before it would only be a half hour away. So off to plan a wee walk up Lugnaquilla. To date I have done a little research, I haven't had a chance to visit the mountain yet but was planning on doing soon, no rush, the hike ain't till May 20th......... But then.....
I was up in college today and of course a few of my college mates mentioned my trip to Uganda as they had seen it on Facebook. Other people asked me if I had any news and of course I came in with, 'I'm going to Uganda'. The topics of my modules this semester are 'the Church and Sacraments' and 'Justice and life'. During the day I came up with a great fundraising idea. What impressed me about this idea was I was able to link directly to Uganda. I would love to say that it was during my 'Life and Justice' class that I came up with this idea as we are talking about ethics but I think I thought of it earlier in the day. . i can imagine you reading this shouting.... 'WHAT IS THE IDEA MELISSA!' So my big fundraising idea is a 24 hour fast. While I believe the people I will be working with have adequate amounts of food and there is no shortage of food in Uganda today Uganda is a third world country in Africa. It is well known that third world countries have suffered poverty in the past and food shortage would have been common with this poverty. So, that is where I was able to link my 24 fast with my trip to Uganda. I suppose you could say that it is a sign of solidarity with what the country went through in the past and what I reckon some parts of Africa are still experiencing today. So..... I will not be eating for 24 hours in order to raise money for my trip. the only thing I will be allowed is water.... plain tap water, no other liquid. I have not set a date yet as I shared my idea with a friend and she said that she would do it with me so I want to organise a date that suits us both. But I am looking at doing it in April. If anyone would like to join me in this 24 hour fast give me a shout. I would be more than happy for you to join me. if you would like a sponsorship card in order to get people to sponsor your fast and help me raise funds I can get a card to you, just let me know. Watch this space for a date which I hope to set in the next few days. And if you would like to sponsor me for this event you can do so at idonate.ie/melissauganda

In other fundraising news I was telling our parish sister about my trip to Uganda and how I need to raise 1700 euro. She suggested that church gate collections are a great way to raise money. during the week I emailed our parish secretary to find out what the procedure was to do a church gate collection. First thing to do is pick possible dates (as there are a few impossible dates for me), fill out a permit form and go down to the Garda station. So I'll do that in the next day or 2. I must also give the girls in the IT a shout to see how soon we can do something there. I was talking to them a couple of weeks ago and they are more than willing to help with as many events as I want. So hopefully we can get a charity soccer match going as well as a pool competition. They also mentioned a raffle but I completely forgot about that but it might still be a runner. Also, maybe a box that students can contribute to when using the binding service.

In other news, there has been a change of personnel in VMM. With this change of personnel my unavailability to travel before July 9th got lost so the original team is going out in June without me. But all is good, Fiona has managed to get one other volunteer on board to travel with me. I was going regardless of if she got other volunteers or not but it is great that I will not be travelling alone. Also, Fiona, the short term volunteer coordinator with VMM, is hoping to travel with us. We will be travelling the week of July 17th, lovely timing, I'll have a bit over a week to recharge from my study and exams before having to travel. Hopefully flights will be booked soon. I was also with my doctor last week and mentioned my trip and vaccines. So I have the ball rolling there, I think he is anxious about me getting the vaccines in time. I know very little about vaccines but felt like telling him to calm down, it's only March. But I think the anxiety was getting them into the surgery in time.

That is all from me for now. Don't forget, if you would like to support me you can do so at idonate.ie/melissauganda.

Thank you
Melissa