.  Jacala’s Journey .  Alex's African Adventure! Between 22nd June and 16th July 2018 I was lucky enough to travel to Fort Portal, Uganda where I taught in a local Primary School and worked in an orphanage for children with HIV. For this trip with the charity “Global Hope”, I had to raise a minimum of £1,500, which through doing a sponsored skydive from 15,000ft and with lots of support from 10th Crosby (St Faith's) Scout Group, I was able to exceed. Together we raised an amazing £1,617! As a group, we are hoping to continue fundraising to support ‘Manna Rescue Home’, the orphanage I worked with in Uganda. The work they do is incredible and I am delighted that we can support them further. I travelled to Uganda with a team of 14 other people and together we were teaching at St Peter and Paul’s Primary School which provides an education for over 1,100 children. I was teaching P4 (where most pupils were between 8 and 10 years old). P4 was split into two classes, each of over 90 pupils. It was completely different, as can be expected, to education in the UK and it has taught me so much about teaching (which is what I am studying at University). I was teaching all subjects but mainly English, Art, Music and PE. I am used to teaching class sizes of around 30 so this was a new world entirely and it definitely took a few days to adjust to. The children were all so excited to have us with them and they made us feel so welcome instantly. I took many ideas of games for PE with me that I have been playing myself since I was aged 9 at Cubs and still play now with our Beavers and Cubs at 10th Crosby. The children loved all of the new games I taught them and were always so eager to play again or learn more.  I think the best bit for all of my pupils (and me!) were the campfire songs I taught them. The two favourites were “Oh Alayla” and “Everywhere We Go”, which are both call and response songs. They absorbed everything like sponges and it only took us a few times of singing each song before they all knew the words and didn’t need me to lead any more. It was magic for me. Being on the other side of the world and being able to pass on songs, games and knowledge that I have learned in Scouts at St Faith's was such an amazing experience.   At Manna Rescue Home, there are currently 29 children living together and roughly half of them are educated at the Home as they are too ill to attend school. All 29 children at Manna are HIV positive and some have additional illnesses or complications, so working here could easily have been a very sad experience. However, it was the complete opposite. The children were so full of life and so happy to see us every evening or Saturday morning. We were able to take over lots of pens, paper, balls, football kits and other items of clothing such as socks. The children were unbelievably grateful and it was very emotional seeing how excited children got over something as simple as a pair of socks. We take so much for granted in this country and often don’t appreciate just how lucky we are. My time at Manna House was unforgettable and possibly the highlight of my whole experience. I have come home with memories to last a lifetime and a new outlook on life. I am so grateful for all the support I have received over the last year in the build up to this amazing adventure. It will be exciting to see what we can do together in order to support these beautiful children. I had never quite appreciated just how true ‘every little helps’ is until the experience I had in Uganda.   Alex Clark (Jacala) Assistant Section Leader for Beavers and Cubs 10th Crosby (St Faith's).     Youth Index stories and reports from our uniformed organisations