Painting the Hostel

The Tigers Club Hostel is the third part of the boys journey (they go from Tigers Clubhouse to Tudabuja and then to the Hostel). The Hostel is a house situated some way from the clubhouse. It has one caretaker (Herbert) who supervises between 33 and 38 boys (aged 15+) at any one time.

The hostel is a house with its own grounds. Inside there are two adjoining communal rooms, then a main corridor with a kitchen, shower room, several bedrooms (with 2 sets of bunk beds in each), and then a smaller corridor leading outside to store rooms and a toilet.

When it was mentioned that the hostel was in need of decoration, we jumped at the opportunity to do something practical to help. Getting the paint and other items was an adventure in itself - we ended up with a very good deal! Then the sanding and painting started in earnest on Tuesday afternoon with the main communal rooms in magnolia for the walls, and a red gloss border for a kind of skirting.

It was a great time of team-work, both for us and for the boys who thoroughly enjoyed joining in. The Tuesday team (Jono, Will, Paul, Mike, Chris, Simon, Debbie plus Francis (social worker), Arnold (our taxi driver), and four of the boys), were relatively careful - cutting in, cleaning up etc. However, by Wednesday (the only other available day for painting), the team (Dave, Helen, Darren, Paul, Chris plus the boys and Arnold again) threw caution to the wind and painted most of the other internal walls in the building...as well as the floors, windows, benches and each other! Darren appeared to think that using a paint brush was far too cumbersome...well at least that's what you'd think if you'd seen him covered in paint. Despite showering in turps he is still a pretty 'magnolia' colour.

All joking aside, the hostel looks great. The clearing up took time but was worth it.

We've also come away with great respect for the boys at the hostel and for the work of the Tigers staff who have taken these lads from dire circumstances and given them hope and a future. This was particularly evident in the delight shown on the boys faces as they proudly displayed the contents of their trunk (a metal box about 3 shoe-boxes in size) containing their worldly possessions. For once in their lives they had their 'own' stuff, this included such things as a bible, a football kit, pair of trainers and various exercise/school books.

The boys at the hostel really engaged with us and seemed to be thrilled with the result. Having been part of the painting team meant that they could feel a sense of ownership and pride. In getting to know them, we found some great characters - Michael (very good footballer playing for Uganda under 15s) and Martin (a budding artist with some lovely paitings on the walls) will stick in our minds. The Tigers staff so clearly look beyond the rags and dirt to see the potential of these young people.

Its a shame we can't post photographs on this blog site (due to lack of equipment here), but there will be plenty to see when we return.