Young adults from Lisburn Cathedral preparing for Uganda trip

Wednesday July 11th 2018

Street children taking part in an Abaana Street Reach programme in Uganda.

A team of young adults from Lisburn Cathedral will travel to Uganda on Saturday July 21 to work with the charity Abaana.

During their first week, the team will be:

working with street children in Kampala
visiting Abaana’s New Life Children’s Homes and meeting the children who have been rescued from a life on the streets
organising Holiday Bible Clubs at two of Abaana’s Primary Schools, Strathearn Primary and New Foundations Primary in the Kampala area
meeting up with the children from the Abaana New Life Choir

The choir won the hearts of many people across the UK and Ireland during their tour in 2017, and during their trip the Cathedral team will have the opportunity to meet the children who make up the New Life Choir 2019, who will be returning to the UK and Ireland next year.

In week two, the team will travel to the Gulu region of northern Uganda, where they will be based at Dr Andrew McAvoy Primary School. There they will be involved in helping build a new toilet block for the pupils and running another Holiday Bible Club.

Neville Jones, a Lisburn Cathedral parishioner and Assistant Director of Abaana, will travel with the team. He said:

“This will be a challenging and potentially life-changing experience for the team members, most of whom have never been to Africa before. It will be an opportunity to see at first hand the lives God is changing in Uganda through the work of Abaana.”

The 11 team members are Lee Boal, Becky Lester, Vicki Bell, Sara McGucken, Beth Irwin, Erin Gardiner, Zoe McLoughlin, Emily Lester and Owen Churton, Matthew Cairns and Neville Jones.

Earlier this year another team from Lisburn Cathedral travelled to Uganda to visit Abaana projects in Kampala and to support Bishop Hilary of Connor’s partner diocese of Yei, South Sudan, and other members of the South Sudan Church in exile in northern Uganda.

There are 11 members of the Lisburn Cathedral Abaana team: (L to R) Lee Boal, Becky Lester, Vicki Bell, Sara McGucken, Beth Irwin, Erin Gardiner, Zoe McLoughlin, Emily Lester and Owen Churton. Missing from the photo: Matthew Cairns and Neville Jones. Photo: John Kelly