Joy Florence with an Island Coffee t-shirt, which has her picture on the tag.

As you can tell we’re totally immersed in our mission, so much so that this article reaches you a little late. Just blame the pigeon we tied it to.

We’ve got a sweet crew, our Watoto guide Phillip, and our bus driver Antonio. Our bus is rocking. We kind of feel like a touring band from the 70s on a road trip. Perfect. We’ve even got a ukulele on board.

We stayed our first night in Kampala, pretty flash accommodation considering. No signs of squatting toilets just yet. Phew.

Gagging to get out and about, we walked to a local soccer field to break out some ‘All White’ flavour. The African kids ran circles around our jandal-wearing feet; fair enough, their turf after all.

We stocked up at the last big supermarket we’ll see for a fortnight. With chips and tuna dominating our food stocks we made the move to Gulu.

We’re the main attraction. A circus bus of funny-looking pale and caramel skin. Mixed in with our newly recruited friends, we look like a United Colours of Benetton advert on wheels. The locals all wave, giggle and point at us. We wave constantly, trying not to miss anyone who waves out. With just over 30 million people in Uganda alone we might need to re-evaluate this strategy.

In Gulu we’re again lucky to have great accommodation. After our days of hard labour on the Watoto construction site we’re pretty thankful for a good mattress to rest our weary heads.

Emily’s eyes lit up like Christmas when she saw all the development that has happened since her last visit. Many more orphan homes have been built next to the one  completed last year. Her excitement is infectious; it’s a total buzz.

Our work on the classroom is going well. We are closely monitored by local Gulu building supervisors to make sure there are no ‘leaky home’ disasters and that our brick laying stands the test of time.

They make all the bricks on site with a manual compressor. We thought we were working hard until we saw the brick machine crew! A good reality check, especially when our Kiwi lads jumped on to try and replicate the Africans’ pace. Ten points for effort though.

The Village Project team take a break.

On our breaks we get to have a play with the local school children. They all run up, hold your hand and point out the freckles on your arms. Some even try to be helpful and attempt at scratching them off! They crack up when they realise they are attached.

Sarah summed up all our hard building efforts in one line when she yelled out across the dinner table last night, “Hey Anna, did you manage to get all that cement out of your nose?”

In contrast, it’s amazing how immaculately groomed all the locals are. This place is very dusty and people live in small thatched roof huts, yet they emerge daily as if they’ve just come from the salon. All sparkly, vibrant, not a crease in sight, they have so much pride in their appearance. Puts our Sunday couch surfing attire to shame!

We’ve been lucky enough to visit ‘Living Hope’, another amazing Watoto initiative that supports and teaches Gulu women – who either have HIV or were abducted during the war – the skills to make products that are then on-sold  to generate their income. Emily walks in and causes hysteria. As soon as the ladies at their sewing machines saw her they all burst into high pitched African screaming, which of course Emily does straight back. Hilarious. Kind of like a high speed yodel with crystal glass-breaking ability. It’s impressive – ask for a sample when she gets back.

We’ve also spent time in the Watoto babies’ home. Wow. Even the lads in the team went all gaga. Big eyes like moonbeams and when you triumph by making them smile you feel like a possum caught in headlights. Magic. These babies are either orphaned or they have been found in the crossfire from the Lord’s Resistance Army, Uganda’s rebel faction. All these precious children will go into a Watoto home when they come of age.

Yesterday we spent time at the Laroo boarding school for war affected children. The lads entertained the boys with a soccer game and the ladies set up a manicure spa on the sideline. We got swamped; thousands of fingernails got painted and not all of them were female. Not too sure how well ‘tickle me pink’ will go down in the boys’ dorm.

At Laroo, Emily also hunted down the beautiful girl called Joy Florence whose photo we used on the Village Project swing tag and bottle sticker. We gave her an ‘Island Coffee’ pink t-shirt with the tag attached. Her face lit up when she saw her picture.

A final highlight has been the crew getting Ugandan dancing lessons from our guesthouse mamas and papas. Emily shook it like a Polaroid picture and Rua spiced it up with some Rarotongan flavour. The rest of us gave it a go but we looked more like we were trying to stomp ants and ride a horse at the same time. 

Well it’s time to sign off for now, we’ve got loads more building to do and more cement up noses, bus waving, freckle scratching and more soccer debuts. High fives and victory fist punches all round. We’ll send another pigeon when we can.

• Karen Maurice-O’Leary