Inspiring Young Hearts
MAF occasionally are able to participate in inspiring young hearts by opening their doors wide to kids that wouldn’t normally be able to experience the world of aviation. We received a letter from 3 students who came to do work experience at the hangar from ‘Rainbow International School’ (see below). They ended by saying ‘These have been some of the best 2 weeks we have experienced all year’.
A few months back, a friend of ours came to visit Uganda short term and instigated a visit to Kajjansi airfield with a group of about 40 disadvantaged and abandoned children from the project we are personally involved in, “Rock of Ages”.
Our friend has a big heart full of compassion for these children whose normal everyday life is made up of the mundane that is paired with the paralysing poverty surrounding them. There isn’t much room for special events…not even trips to playgrounds or green spaces that our children back at home are well acquainted with.
The Rock of Ages children are now thankfully sleeping more comfortably in housing that was built by a few key sponsors back in the UK and Australia. 40 of them are also able to attend school with the help of donations that are sent through from home. Our friend was one of these sponsors who participated in cycling from one end of England to the other to help raise over £2000 to help complete this part of the building project. He came to meet the kids in person and to see first-hand the housing he had helped bring together.
His idea was to arrange a bus to bring all of the kids to Kajjansi for a picnic and also have some fun boarding one of our planes. Captain Greg Vine helped the kids climb on-board until they had all had a taste of sitting in a 208 Caravan. Even without leaving the ground, these kids were ‘airborn’ having never even seen a plane close up before.
Some of the boys were so impacted they are now talking of becoming pilots one day. It gave them a strong sense of value to be given this opportunity. Who knows what will eventuate from this day out in Kajjansi airfield. One thing is clear, it was a lifetime highlight for these kids who will live off the memory for a very long time.
