In April 2010 an email was sent to some of the Ugandan students who used to live at Maria’s Care.They were asked if they would like to learn to swim on Sat Oct 16th in the pool at the Triangle Hotel. Of course many of the students jumped at the chance.

One email sent said “I love the October idea so much. Its so funny how I can say I love swimming when I do not know how to swim, I’ve actually never gone for swimming lessons and whenever Maria would take us out, we would only play with water at the very shallow ends. I would really love so much to go for swimming lessons but of course no one would think that’s important. Besides it costs some money….. I am so happy looking at the day we will be there….”

We asked local people at Church to donate swimming costumes and buoyancy aids. By the time we left Manchester and flew to Uganda we had more than 50 costumes for men and women, buoyancy aids and money to pay for all the students to swim. On Oct 16th we had a wonderful day. People from Maria’s Care joined us including a lady who used to help Maria Maw in 1994 called Aunt Rose, her daughter Julia and granddaughter Peace. They hadn’t seen some of the other students they had lived with in the orphanage for over 12 years. The shrieks of delight were heard as more and more students arrived from all parts of Uganda. Aunt Rose ruffled the hair of many students, she could hardly believe how tall they had all grown. We had a wonderful day, Moses and Edward learnt to swim, Mohammed, Nevi, Godfrey, Aunt Rose, Juliet, Peace,  Robert, Tom, Richard, Alex, Rebecca and her two daughters, splashed around and had a great time trying to swim. The whole day finished in the Upper Room at the Catholic Church having a time of Praise & Worship and food & fellowship. A great time was had by all during this wonderful reunion.

Katagwa Moses

Congratulations to Katagwa Moses and Kasenke Godfrey who recently graduated from Makerere University, Kampala. Moses was taken into Maria’s Care at a young age and did very well at school. He achieved good ‘O’ levels but then had to miss a year of schooling as at that time, no funding was available for him to continue further studies. Moses writes…” But as always God hears and answers our prayers. After a while two people came into my life and accepted to sponsor me. I talked to them of my dream to become a doctor…” So Moses was enabled to study for ‘A’ levels and to go on to University studying a Biomedical Laboratory course. “ I can work in hospitals, research organisations and standard medical clinics as a lab technologist and researcher,” he says. Although many years have passed since he was a boy, he has never forgotten the early days of Maria’s Care and the opportunity given him as an orphan in his life there.
He writes, “ Maria’s Care laid the foundation for us in Uganda and we are proud of CRU, Maria and Rhona. God is good as he creates a way in the desert and in the wilderness.”
Godfrey gained his degree in Information Technology, going on to work with computer software repair and secretarial work. He is pictured here in his new electric wheel chair which was taken out by CRU visitors last July. Their smiles say it all!

Moses and Godfrey Graduate