Greetings from high in the sky,

I write this flying over the Tasman Sea, the long journey home almost complete. What an incredible roller coaster the past 8 days have been in Uganda. It seems every year my welcoming committee grows, in size, noise and emotion. There is nothing like landing on the other side of the world and stepping onto African soil and being completely and utterly engulfed in the warmest welcome imaginable. As I stepped into the welcome arms of Dominic and Rose, Henry, Stellah and a dozen other beaming faces, I was overcome by a sense of belonging, of coming home. It’s a phenomenal feeling.

It was hugely emotional seeing Stellah again, the first time since 2019, and the relief of having her safely home from Saudi Arabia was overwhelming. She survived her 2 and a half years working as a live-in house maid – a desperate measure she took after she lost her job in lockdown and was unable to make ends meet and support her parents and siblings who rely heavily on her for support. Stellah told only her mother that she was going, knowing we’d try to change her mind, and in April 2021, along with a group of other veiled young women, boarded a plane headed into the unknown. It took until July of that year for Stellah to tell me where she was, a moment I will never forget, and since then we have been in touch almost daily as I tried my best to offer moral and emotional support as she endured her daily reality as a modern-day slave. Despite the awful conditions, one day I received a message letting me know that she intended to stay on after her two-year contractual obligation was up as she needed to save enough to put her brother, Vianney, through a vocational course so that he could get a job and support himself. Horrified at the idea of her being there any longer than absolutely necessary, Nath and I took on Vianney’s sponsorship to relieve Stellah of her burden. As events would transpire, Stellah ended up staying on another 6 months after her contract ended as her employers insisted upon it. I didn’t understand at first but, with her passport and documents in their hands, and having heard awful stories of what happened to those who refused, Stellah was too scared to say no. So she ended up getting back to Uganda just two weeks before I arrived and that first hug as I got off the plane in Entebbe was highly charged with emotion. Her brother, Vianney, was also there to meet me and I finally got to meet this bright young man that we had been supporting and it was so wonderful to see how passionate he is about his studies.

We all spent a beautiful afternoon at The Guinea Fowl, my adopted home away from home in Entebbe, sitting amidst the lush tropical gardens and catching up on the year that has passed since I last visited. As afternoon slipped into evening, a steady stream of students kept pouring through the gates of the guest house to join our happy gathering in the garden, which turned into an impromptu party as we celebrated the recent graduation of Tracy, who had just been awarded her Certificate in Medical Laboratory Studies. Bruno arrived with his fiancé and their 9-day old baby, who they had named after Bruno’s sponsor. Dominic and Rose’s son was also there with his young son and it was incredible to watch the next generation of my Kiwi Sponsorships family coming through – even though I still think of these students as children, many are now in their late 20s! – and I feel ever hopeful that their educated parents will ensure a different future for their children.

Henry had taken the week off to work to spend time with me, and Stellah, still finding her feet and settling in, had also made plans to spend the week in the village and so we all set off the following morning on our long journey south, stopping along the way to visit students and take the obligatory equator photo as we crossed from northern to southern hemisphere. It was such a phenomenal feeling to be on the road with my Ugandan family and over the next week, Rose, Henry, Stellah and I clocked up the miles making our way from villages to secondary schools to nursing colleges to vocational institutes catching up with our Kiwi Sponsorships students. We were always met with such warm welcomes, and it was so encouraging to see how well they are doing and how much they’re loving and appreciating the chance to be educated at this level. It was a very busy time but I feel incredibly proud that we managed to catch up with 77 students in my 8 days in Uganda!

We had our fair share of adventures along the way, deciding one day to take a short cut from a secondary school to a nursing school – something I would have thought Rose and I had learned better than to do – and ended up quite literally stuck in the mud. Luckily for me, Henry now has his driver’s license and was driving at the time as I sent out sponsor updates along the way when we hit a stretch of road so deep in mud from the morning’s rains that as far as the eye could see were boda boda motorbikes stuck in the mud. Trying to avoid them, we ended up stuck in the ditch, the tyres of Dominic’s 4WD spinning wildly, flicking mud across banana palms and mud huts. After some impressive manoeuvring, including driving into a nearby compound to turn around after our car had spun out 180 degrees, we finally got back underway. Just when we thought we were on track, we slipped off the road again and ended up – literally – stuck between a rock and a hard place. Rose, Stellah and I ended up getting out as Henry reversed back down the road and managed to get the car free just as a truck slid sideways down the hill, narrowly missing Henry who gunned it up the hill. Rose, Stellah and I ended up having to walk up the hill in ankle-deep mud which my flip flops were not very happy about, but you just had to laugh – the entire population of the village we had gotten stuck in certainly was! Eventually, better late than never, we finally pulled into the nursing school caked in mud but immensely relieved to have made it!

In between sponsor visits and off-road adventures, I managed to sit with Dominic and Rose to go through the school’s priority list and see where things currently lie. It was so immensely satisfying going through the list we had made last year to see what progress had been made. An amazing family friend, Simon Gundry, had generously donated money to purchase a piece of land which lies in front of the new KATKiDS Main Hall – something that had been on the priority list since I first came to KAASO nearly 15 years ago. Despite Simon sending the money almost a year ago, it had taken this long for Dominic to negotiate the sale. An elderly lady had lived there and when she died, a seemingly endless stream of family members kept coming out of the woodwork to lay claim to the piece of land – and to state their entitlement to their share of the ever-rising purchase price. Eventually, many hours at the lawyers later, the matter was settled – but not before having had to buy a new piece of land for the family members, construct them a home and exhume and rebury the remains of the ancestors previously interred on the land. Not a simple process! Other major projects were once again completed thanks to the amazing support of KATKiDS in Bermuda led by Jennie Lee and Rebecca, including the upgrade of the children’s kitchen to a ‘modern’ kitchen – still nothing like what you’d find in our kitchens at home, but a system whereby the fire beneath the giant pots can be closed in to reduce smoke and save on wood – the firewood used is now just ¼ of that previously. KATKIDS also funded guttering to be installed on the main hall and purchased two giant water tanks to catch all that glorious rain that falls in the bi-annual rainy seasons – another huge gain for the school that now goes weeks without needing the generator to pump water – an almost daily occurrence in the days before gutters and water tanks.

We had a beautiful day on Thursday celebrating the graduation of the KAASO nursery students who are now moving from ‘top class’ to Primary One next year. 72 little 5-year-olds in graduation gowns singing and dancing in the main hall as parents and community members cheered them on was certainly a day to remember. I was the guest of honour to present them all with their graduation certificates and it certainly felt like an honour. The celebrations ran all day and it never ceases to amaze me the patience of Ugandan children – they literally sat from 10am – 4pm when lunch was eventually served. Nath and I are planning to go to KAASO after the America’s Cup next year with the boys and I can’t help but wonder how our boys will go sitting for such lengths with Ugandan patience but you don’t know if you don’t try, right…?!

As always, there were many tears shed throughout the week. Seeing Brenda exploding with joy as she finished up her final project before graduating from her Fashion Design and Tailoring course was up there. This is a girl I met 15 years ago who, since then, has lost both of her parents and her beautiful grandma and yet who remains forever positive and safe in the knowledge that she is supported by her amazing sponsor and loved by the KAASO family. She has made some truly beautiful crafts – cushions covers, napkins and bags that I’m bringing home to sell on her behalf at my Christmas market. It was with immense heartache that I learned that Carol, one of my original Kiwi Sponsorships students, who gave birth to a baby girl she had so graciously named Emma last October, had lost her baby at only 5 months old, cause unknown. I also caught up with Violah, a graduate nurse now working in a clinic in Kyotera whose father dropped dead the day he enrolled her at KAASO when she was a young girl. She was raised by her beloved grandma Betty in a tiny mud hut across the road from KAASO. Violah tearfully told me of the death of her grandma last December just after I had visited but how lucky she felt to have her sponsors as her second family and to know she was loved by us. I visited Angel at her nursing school and struggled to get through the conversations as flood of tears engulfed her – her family had lost everything during lockdown and she’d had to drop out of school and never imagined that she’d have the chance to complete her education, never mind be studying at a great nursing school on her way to fulfilling her dream.

I think the most emotional catch up, however, came from that of Crespo. Crespo’s mother left long ago for Tanzania and his father was working as a fisherman on Lake Victoria before the government decided to regulate who could fish in the lake, driving all previous fishermen away. Now his father, one of the poorest and yet most dedicated to his family I’ve ever met in Uganda, struggled to make ends meet but was desperate to see his children educated as he had never had that chance. Last year I drove last year several hours to the lake shore to meet with them and to share the good news that his daughter, Annet, would be sponsored and that I’d also found a sponsor for Crespo. Both children had completed Senior Four and were ready to start vocational school this year and while Annet began her nursing school in January, I never heard from Crespo. Rose tried to track him down but it seemed he had disappeared. We spent a frustrating year trying to get hold of him and I communicated with his patient sponsors that we were doing all we could to find him. I’d almost given up hope when, on Friday, the day before I was due to leave the village, Dominic received a call from Crespo’s father to say he had heard I was in Uganda and that he and Crespo wanted to come and meet me. When Dominic told him we were leaving the following day at 7am, Crespo’s father said they would be there. I was sceptical to say the least and when I awoke at 5am the next morning to torrential rain, I knew we wouldn’t see them – no one in Uganda travels during the pounding rains that come each day during the rainy season. That is, it turns out, unless you really, really want something. At 7am, I walked into Dominic and Rose’s house to find two soaking wet but beaming faces – Crespo and his father. As the story unfolded, my amazement increased. It turned out that after our meeting the previous year, Crespo had gone to his secondary school to settle his high school debt but had discovered that it was double what he had initially believed. He felt so ashamed and he didn’t think any sponsor would ever want to help someone with such a debt so he disappeared to Tanzania to work with his mother in a tiny guest house, consoling himself with the knowledge that his sister was studying so hopefully one day when she graduated, she might be able to help him. Crespo’s father, however, had not given up on his son’s dream, and decided that the only way to move his son’s future forward was for them to meet me and discuss the situation face to face. So he borrowed a boat and motored to Tanzania to pick up Crespo and brought him back to the lake shore that night. The next morning, they boarded a bus at 3am to make it KAAASO by 7am to see me. When I got the story out of them, Crespo’s head hung in shame as he told me of his crushing debt, I finally understood why he had disappeared. I reassured him that I was sure his sponsors would help settle his debt (around $600 NZD) so that he could receive his academic transcript and enrol in his electrical engineering course, and upon hearing this, Crespo and his father literally fell to their knees and with tears in their eyes said that they never dreamed that this moment would come. Humbling in the extreme.

There are more stories than I could ever fit onto these pages but all I can say is that the last 8 days have given me such an immense sense of satisfaction and humility sharing these stories with the sponsors who are making these dreams come true. It really does fill me with so much love and happiness to be able to bridge my two worlds. The gratitude and heartfelt thanks I’m showered with on each trip are overwhelming to say the least and it’s such a privilege to be able to relate this intense emotion to all my amazing sponsors.

As always, it was so special to catch up with my dear friend Kim who has lived in Kabira, the village where KAASO is, since 2006. Kim does incredible work helping support abused and malnourished children and it’s always so wonderful catching up with her. We shared a beautiful night up KAASO hill with Rose, watching the sun set over the hills, Lake Victoria shimmering on the horizon as distant lightning lit up the sky around us. It’s such a special friendship we share and even more special to have Rose join us for our evening catch ups up the hill.

My final night in Uganda was one to remember forever. Along with Dominic, Rose, Henry and Stellah, a bunch of old students from 2009 had also come to meet us, including Phionah, Dominic and Rose’s daughter who last year was admitted to the bar and is now a human rights lawyer working for a female empowerment organisation. There was also Ambrose, an adopted son of KAASO, is married and a father of two children, one of whom is now at KAASO. Ambrose graduated as a pharmacist and owns his own pharmacy as well as working with an NGO that helps respond to medical crises around Uganda. Derrick, Dominic and Rose’s son, now also a father and working for The Literate Earth Project, an NGO that supplies books to libraries at schools around Uganda, also joined us along with a cast of other familiar faces. We all sat under the stars until midnight having dinner and sharing stories and endless laughter of 2009 – the songs we used to sing, rehearsing for The Wizard of Mwanza, the school show I wrote in which Phionah played Dorothy, nights of sitting down to dinner when the generator would go out and we’d be plunged into darkness, the world of head torches, balancing phones on windowsills and standing on anthills to get enough reception to send a text message, walking to the well to fetch water. There were so many wonderful memories and my face ached from smiling. As I sat there looking around the table at these people that have come to be such wonderful friends, it really brought home the fact that I do have another family in Uganda. And the best thing is, next time I get to bring my boys with me to share in all that love and joy. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

With much love and happiness,

Em xoxoxo

PS. As always, I have a list of students needing support in their educations next year so if anyone is interested in helping, please get in touch. For various reasons, there are also some students needing support for just one year or two as well so if anyone is interested in a shorter sponsorship, there are options there also. Thank you so much xxx

Jambo from Nairobi!

I sit awaiting the final leg of my long journey which will transport me from my island Kiwi home back to my rural village home. I can’t wait to be back.

It’s been a whirlwind the past few days, weeks, months. We relocated to Barcelona for four months for Nath’s work with Team New Zealand and had an incredible time living a totally different life with the boys. Leaving behind the leafy suburbs of beach-side Devonport with our green back yard and peaceful beach, we rocketed ourselves into inner-city urban living, moving in an apartment on the edge of El Born, Barcelona’s vibrant gothic quarter, and the superyacht-studded marina. We were a 10-minute bumpy cobbled-stoned scooter’s ride from Barceloneta beach, with its pumping music, thousands of scantily clad bodies and hawkers weaving through the throng. Charlie’s favourite phrase to mimic became ‘beer, water?’ echoing the persistent call of the hawkers trying to entice us with cold beer and water. We lived life to the full, enjoying late Spanish dinners, grungy flamenco shows, glorious afternoons in our rooftop pool with the other families from the team staying in our same building, overlooking the sparkling waters of Barcelona, watching the boat crane out at the end of the day, knowing that would mean the arrival of daddy home on his scooter, much to the boys’ delight. Jack (4) and Charlie (2), charmed everyone we met with their smatterings of Spanish, calling over their shoulders to all they passed on their little scooters, ‘Hola! Muy bien! Adios amigos!’ The more the reaction, the more their theatrics grew. It was a really special time and leaving NZ in early July for full-blown European summer was something I’d quite happily do every year. We arrived back home last week, just in time for NZ to start warming up for our own down under summer and it’s been wonderful settling back into our local community and enjoying all that home has to offer – a far cry from the endless buzz of Barcelona but beautiful to move between the two such contrasting worlds.

But in the meantime, Uganda. Ever since Uganda first stole my heart back in 2009, I’ve done my very best to return every year which, except for the years I gave birth to the boys and lockdown year, I’ve managed to do. Returning regularly has kept me closely connected to my Ugandan family and I’m so incredibly excited and grateful to soon be back in my favourite land-locked corner of the world.

As always, it was really hard saying goodbye to the boys but we have amazing support with grandparents and Phoebe, our nanny who has come to be like a family member, and I know the boys will be fine. They’ve already spent the time since I’ve been flying sailing on Jack’s little dinghy at Cheltenham beach with Nath and I know he’ll enjoy this special time with the boys too.

I’ve got an ambitious agenda with 97 sponsor visits on my list. As people have kindly remined me, it might not be possible to see each and every one but as I pointed out to Nath barefoot on the beach yesterday having our farewell coffee, the motivation for these visits comes from a place of love not duty and I’m genuinely excited to see each and every face – many of whom I’ve known for 14 years now. Little Brenda, one of my original beauties from my Primary One class back in 2009 turned 21 yesterday and has just graduated from her Fashion Design and Tailoring Course. We’ve been regulary in touch the last few weeks as she’s been busy making beautiful crafts for me to bring home. Henry, my original 12-year-old spark who began this whole journey (now 27!!) is, mind-blowingly, about to begin the visa process for his PHD in Canada. Bruno, my cheeky seminary-dropout turned teacher, has just given birth to a son and has travelled through the night across Uganda from his workplace in the East to come and meet me on my arrival. Stellah, another of my original gems whom I have sponsored since 2011, has just returned safely from 2.5 years in Saudi Arabia – it’s a long story I will share later but for now, I’m just so incredibly excited to engulf her in a huge hug to help wash away the months and years of worry I’ve endured. We’ve kept in touch every few days during the time she was in Saudi and I just can’t wait to be back by her side. We have a lot of catching up to do.

So as I prepare to begin my final leg, Rose texts me saying ‘all eyes are on the airport at Entebbe’ awaiting my arrival. It’s going to be a very full 8 days but I’m going to cherish every moment I have. This time next year I’ll be back – with my boys at my side. Nothing will be more glorious than my two worlds meeting on African soil. But for now, my 11^th trip to Uganda is about to begin and I can’t stop the smile from spreading across my face.

Much love and anticipation,

Em xxoxoxo

Sitting in my room looking across at my wall plastered with hand-drawn welcome messages, painted pictures and banners welcoming me home. Outside the music is blaring as the children bounce to the beat, scrubbing up a mountain of soapy laundry suds. It’s washing day in the village. And god it’s good to be here.

My annual welcoming committee seems to grow each year and this time, Nicko and I were met not only by Rose and Dominic but also the new head teacher, Teacher Sam and Courtney, our fellow Kiwi volunteer (whose boyfriend I worked with in the Greek Islands – it’s a small world!). We reached KAASO where the school term had already ended but our arrival was colourful as always. The children had strung a ribbon across the school gates and stood waiting for us, squealing with excitement, waving us in. Teacher Sarah invited me out of the car and handed me a pair of scissors. I cut the ribbon and cheers rang through the village: we had arrived.

The best part about coming back during the holidays is that the sponsor students are back from secondary school and I am reunited with these handsome young men and beautiful young women whom I first met as hopeful little children almost seven years ago. Some of them are now finishing school, others graduating from vocational courses, while others are preparing to start courses that will help send them on their way to getting jobs which will enable them to support both themselves and their families. I have learned so much on this journey over the years about how the schooling system works, how educational courses operate, the opportunities available to children here – and the challenges they face. With Dominic and Rose guiding me every step of the way, I am proud to say that we are making progress. Our graduation celebration is set for next Tuesday and I can’t wait to recognise the tremendous dedication these students have shown over the past six years.

Everyone has been so thrilled to finally meet ‘Brother Nick’ – family is everything here and it means so much to the KAASO family to finally meet the last member of the Blackman family. Needless to say, Nathan’s future visit is much-awaited (which will coincide with our Ugandan wedding…).

Nick has joined me on my village visits over the week, walking muddy tracks through villages to meet families who welcome us with open arms into their homes and we catch up on the year that has been. As always, it is incredibly humbling and it has been amazing to share this journey with Nick – one he has been following from afar for years but there’s a huge difference between reading words on a screen and kneeling on mud floors with the people that feature in these emails. It was with great joy that I watched Nick and Henry meet for the first time. They are now brothers and have spent many happy hours together catching up on Nick’s sailing – with Henry dressed head to toe in Nick’s sailing gear.

Life in the village has been busy as ever. The Pope flew in two days after our arrival which saw the entire country transfixed as this predominantly Catholic African nation welcomed their beloved spiritual leader. Dominic, as only Dominic could do, managed to get an invite to meet the Pope and he now grins as he shakes everyone’s hand back in the village – sharing his holy blessings. This boy from the village who now runs a school, is a mentor throughout the whole community and who inspires a generation, never ceases to amaze me.

Nick’s journey is ending but mine will continue for another few weeks and I am excited to continue my visits and to keep moving forward with all the new projects we are undertaking. It’s been amazing to see the progress of the past year – the solar is now fully functioning and powers the entire school, the water pump brings running water to the school each day, the school truck continues to be loaded to the heavens transporting supplies around the community and the chickens are thriving. Thanks so much to all those of you who have contributed to these projects over the past year. Your donations go a long way here.

Sending much love from beneath the banana palms.