In February 2026 a group of trustees and sponsors joined Jean Ajin, Founder of the Mityana Charity, on a visit to Mityana to meet with the PaCT team, current and former beneficiaries and to visit several schools and health centres. The aims of the visit were many and varied with a core focus on meeting beneficiaries and seeing first-hand how sponsorship and other donations have had a positive impact on individuals and communities in Mityana and the surrounding rural communities. We also managed to fit in some cultural activities and optional safari and wildlife excursions!
Our busy schedule included visits to Nabukenya and Kalangaloo Primary Schools where we met many students and teachers and saw the classrooms and some activities. At Kalangaloo we saw the new vegetable garden that Geoffrey had previously told the Committee about which is already providing fresh fruit and vegetables for school meals. In a lovely activity we each planted a tree with our sponsored child and others who came along to see what was going on and help out. Before leaving we also saw the girls enjoy using new netball equipment purchased with generous donations from friends of one of the visitors who knew that netball is a major sport in Uganda – seeing the girls’ enthusiasm to take to the field confirmed this! Two of the group – the secondary sponsorship co-ordinator and a school’s inspector! – visited St Muggaga Secondary School and were impressed by the quality of the education which many of our sponsored secondary students are receiving.
At the weekend we enjoyed more relaxed activities with our sponsored children and on Saturday had a very enjoyable morning with them playing games and talking with them in the new Raglan Hall at PaCT. While we were at PaCT several of the children took great pride on showing us their shoe making skills, which were excellent as were their marketing skills with several pairs of flip flops being purchased! In the afternoon we returned to the Enro Hotel with the children where they were able to swim, many for the first time, in the swimming pool followed by a meal of chicken and chips. For many of us the morning at PaCT was the first opportunity we have ever had to speak at length with our sponsored child on their own and get to know more about their day to day life. It was also super to see the children interacting so positively with each other during the games we played and when they spontaneously took to the floor to dance.
On the Sunday we visited some of our sponsored children at home with their families. This is always a very emotional part of the trip as the immense gratitude shown by the families can be overwhelming especially when one sees the extreme poverty and hardship they endure and yet how positive they are despite the enormous challenges they face. Homes typically had mud walls, no windows, one or two rooms and minimal furniture. Toilet facilities, if any, were an outside drop latrine and cooking over an open fire was also outside or in a small shed. The home of one child we visited had a leaking roof, just two simple benches and one bed – the girl was sleeping on the mud floor without even a foam mattress. We were so shocked by what we saw that everyone agreed to club together to buy a tarpaulin to cover the roof, a mattress for the child to sleep on and a new school uniform to replace the threadbare dress she was wearing – which might be expensive in the UK but cost just over £60 for everything!
Our itinerary included visits to Kabule Health Centre and Kalangaloo Maternity Ward both of which were built using extremely generous donations from Mityana charity supporters and are now managed by local organisations with other charities supporting some of their services. At both centres the staff and women attending were very grateful for the improved facilities and were keen to show us around and to tell us how much more they could do if they had the right support – they were clearly very motivated but frustrated by a perceived lack of interest from local authorities or supporting organisations in how they are, the challenges they face and further improvements that could be made. As an example, both talked about providing a local ultrasound service so that women wouldn’t need to go to Mityana for scans – one centre had been donated an ultrasound machine but no gel or printer and weren’t trained to use it and the in the other the staff were trained but didn’t have a machine!
We had several opportunities to meet beneficiaries and it was really inspiring to hear their experience of being sponsored and how almost immediately this had impacted positively on, not only their lives, but their families lives’ as well. Three former sponsored students explained how their education had transformed their lives – all through vocational training – with one becoming a vet, another a midwife and one a plumber. All were employed in jobs they clearly love and told us how they “are giving back” to their communities by providing much needed expertise and, in the case of the plumber, employing four others!
Another beneficiary now runs an amazing nursery school which we visited. The school was very lively and extremely well organised and, impressively, teaches English from day 1 to ensure children have a head start in preparing for primary and secondary school. To see children having a fantastic time, supported by energetic and enthusiastic teachers was a real joy and gives hope for their future. Perhaps not surprisingly the school is fully subscribed and now looking to expand.
Several sponsored grandmothers have set up small enterprises with micro finance and we visited one who has established a successful goat rearing business. Others have market stalls or other small businesses. Seeing how any opportunity is grasped with real enthusiasm and commitment shows the very real difference that sponsorship can make.
The Lwankuba Coffee Farm was an early Mityana Charity / PaCT project. Although our visit was hampered by a torrential downpour we learned about coffee production, planted some coffee plants and saw the on-going expansion of the farm into additional enterprises such as propagating coffee plants for sale and keeping bees for honey.
During the week we had several opportunities to learn about the local way of life including a tour of Mityana where we visited an enormous market for imported second hand clothes, a fresh produce market and a local hardware store with tools and equipment for every possible situation! We also visited Edward Kazairwe and his family who Jean met on her very first visit to Uganda and who she has kept in touch with ever since. The family were very welcoming as always and we were able to participate in traditional activities such as pounding nuts for cooking, planting matokee and collecting water in jerry cans from the local spring.
On our last day in Mityana we attended the PaCT AGM which was held in Raglan Hall and was well attended by local dignitaries including the headteachers of the schools sponsored children attend. Aside from the usual formalities, highlights were a speech given by the Chairperson of the Sponsorship Beneficiary Committee, a presentation to recent graduates and a presentation to Jean in recognition of her extremely well-deserved award of an MBE in the UK New Year’s Honours list.
The Chairperson of the Sponsorship Beneficiary Committee spoke passionately about the benefits of sponsorship and explained how the committee has also been proactive:
“We have not remained passive beneficiaries. We have taken initiatives to strengthen our families and improve our livelihoods. One of the key steps we took was forming savings groups …..these savings have helped parents start small businesses, pay medical bills and contribute to household needs, reducing the burden on sponsorship support. We have participated actively in parenting meetings ….. learned better communication, guidance and supervision skills. As a result we are seeing improved behaviour, stronger relationships at home and better school attendance”
As a break from a very full formal schedule, we had a rest day to relax at the Enro although unfortunately the weather wasn’t really conducive to swimming in the pool. Maybe anticipating this, four of the group left the hotel at 6.30am for a day’s birdwatching at the Mabamba Swamp adjacent to Lake Victoria which we crossed by boat to reach the swamp. Accompanied by our safari guide and a local guide we had an amazing, if wet, day with very many different species of birds and a once in a lifetime sighting of the endangered shoebill stork.
At the end of the formal trip seven of us jumped at the opportunity of a short safari with two people going to Bwindi to see the mountain gorillas and five going to Murchisson Falls national park. Both safari groups benefited from expert guides who ensured we all had fantastic experiences – their amazing observational abilities alongside their knowledge of all the wildlife are incredible.
Although exhausting, wet and muddy thanks to the early start to the rainy season, it was an amazing trip and one I would thoroughly recommend to anyone keen to see the incredible impact of the Mityana Charity and PaCT – relatively small amounts of money in UK terms go such a long way in Uganda and really do make a positive difference to people’s lives giving many hope and opportunity where they had none. If you are interested in joining a future visit please let us know.
Val Davison, April 2026