"Exciting and Humbling..."

Wheels Uganda trip team member, Linda Head, has sent us a great summary of what's been going on so far:

Y’ello from Uganda at the (very late) end of day two! Team travel – safe, straightforward and uneventful. Praise the Lord! For those of us returning to Africa it’s at once exciting and humbling. For our “techie”, Graham, it was a whole new experience of sights, sounds, smells tinged with a fair bit of uncertainty – what had he let himself in for? (Perhaps he should tell you another day!)

As well as the transatlantic travel, yesterday took in a good deal of shopping – bibles (two shops), a foam retailer, and a supermarket sweep. The therapist half of the team meanwhile did a recce of the distribution sight – a clinic in the Mukono suburb of Kampala.

Today we began in earnest and what looked like chaos on arrival soon metamorphosed into a productive and efficient working area as we sorted, shifted and ordered everything. All of this took place with the wonderful help of local charity RILD (Response Initiative for Learning Disabilities), who we found to be well prepared, organised, helpful, keen, diligent and very available. Flexibility and thinking on your feet are key to Wheels trips and RILD offered a brilliant and very simple innovation – a piece of string! This yellow string, tied across the huge awning we worked under, kept everything and everyone in their correct place. Sometimes old technology is what’s needed (especially true given the difficulties with internet connection – another story!)

We saw 30 people today and I was newly struck by how life-transforming the work of Wheels is. Not just giving people mobility aids but how these items also impact and improve the lives of recipient’s families. By working alongside local charities like RILD, we are able to help people access local help for other areas of their lives and the therapists are able to serve the families by offering advice, encouragement and education during the fitting process.

Of all the clients seen today, it was a pair of twins who touched our hearts the most. The girls, aged 8, had ‘fallen sick’ in their early years – one at two and a half and the other at four and a half. Their ‘sickness’ had caused severe deformity to their limbs. They arrived carried by their father and elder teenage brother - the latter had given up three years of his education to help care for his sisters. We were delighted to give them a special buggy each.

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"Absolutely fabulous... Can we come back next year please?"

This was a comment from one of the parents at our short break holiday for families with children on the autism spectrum.

The team of volunteer helpers worked tirelessly to provide a full programme of activities for the children, their siblings and parents. This included visits to Tilgate Park and a leisure pool, a parachute Bible story, discussion groups for parents, lots of craft activities, praise parties and a brilliant puppet show!

Unusually, the weather wasn't so kind to us this year but the feedback has still been extremely positive. If you have a child on the autism spectrum and would like to express an interest in next year's holiday, please email Margaret at the office and she'll be able to tell you more about it.

A huge thank you to all those involved in planning, organising, supporting, helping, praying...

Annual Report

We’re grateful to everyone connected with Through the Roof for helping making a real difference to people’s lives.
Thank you.

Take a look at our annual report summary to learn what your prayers, hands-on activity, speaking and financial support have achieved with God’s help this past year...

'The Happiest Moment of My Life' - the March 2013 Vital Link

The latest Vital Link newsletter (March to August) is now available. Follow this link to download the Spring 2013 Vital Link Newsletter PDF

Please get in touch (on 01372 749955 or by following this link to email us) if you have any problems downloading this, or if you’d like to receive future newsletters by post or email.

March Update

On 12th February I went to ST John's Guild Croydon to give the hour long presentation i spoke about in January's blog. it went really well, and the slide show worked really really well! nobody was upside down or had missing limbs 🙂
the group of approx. 15 responded well and seemed to enjoy the presentation, giving encouraging feedback.

In the same week, I traveled to New milton to speak at the Torch Trust group for the fourth year in a row. it was lovely to see them again, and to catch up with their news as well as sharing all that Through the Roof has been doing in the last year. I also told them in my news including that I am now engaged. they were delighted.

my next speaking engagement has been postponed until July. it is to speak to two youth groups at ST James Church London.

I have now been let lose on Twitter under the user name TTR_uk to post on Through The Roof's behalf. please follow TTR_uk if you have a twitter account and join in with our discussions.

if you have a group you would like me to speak to, please get in contact by the usual methods,
Philippa@throughtheroof.org
07841087806
@philippattr
or Facebook as Philippa Woodcraft TTR

Inspiring a Spirit of Inclusion

A Day of Inspiration and Learning for Children's and Youth Workers

Taking place on Saturday 16th March at Great Lumley Methodist Church (Chester-Le-Street), this training day will help you to discover:

The benefits of being a more inclusive place for all

New ideas to think creatively about including young disabled people

Practical Christian activities and personal stories to expand your outreach with those affected by disability

There will be discounted resources available for sale, and a light lunch provided - we're asking for a suggested donation of £5 towards costs.

To find out more, please email us.

Supporting Families

We recently found this challenging article on the webpage of 'Children's Work' magazine. The author, Alice Buckley, who regularly blogs at www.playontheword.com writes about the experiences of families with children with additional needs in church. How does your church support families?

Follow this link to read Alice's blog post about families with additional needs

Moldova – our next Integr8 team, September 2013

A team of volunteers is to be put together for a trip to take place from 23rd to 30th September 2013. Following the Integr8 team visit to Moldova in February 2012, charity Breadline has again invited us to work alongside and encourage their partners in a desperately poor rural area. Our activities will be to develop the initiatives of the local churches and other agencies.

Training sessions and workshops will be part of the programme as will some community-based work for the therapists. Local social workers struggle to provide sufficient help to elderly and disabled people, and would be greatly helped through more interaction with other groups including the churches.

Community based solutions are being devised and we want to support those through appropriate inputs, whether in the form of training and educational resources, information on reaching local solutions, or the provision of wheelchairs and mobility aids. At the forefront of thinking is the equipping of local people to be effective agents and advocates for disability.

Email Reninca Hill for further details reninca@throughtheroof.org

Join a wheelchair distribution!

2013 wheelchair distributions will be taking place to Uganda (Kampala and outlying areas, in April), Kenya (Elburgon, in July) and Ghana (Ho in the Volta region, in November). The teams are nearly full, but there are still a handful of vacancies.

If you'd like to know more about these (or future trips) please contact Reninca, our International Missions Manager, to register your interest and receive further information.

If you're unable to help on a trip, but would still like to contribute in some way, why not sponsor a wheelchair or a team member? To do either of these, you will need to download a sponsor form.

Thank you for your interest!

Haiti Aid Arrives

Almost exactly 3 years after the Haiti earthquake, our wheelchairs have arrived with our partners, Haiti Hospital Appeal. Reninca, the Director of Children and Disability work there told us, "I just wanted to let you know that the wheelchairs that you so generously have given us arrived TODAY! Much rejoicing and thanksgiving was had by all. Thank you. This is the first large amount of wheelchairs we have ever had so people are really excited." We will be getting more photos and stories as the work progresses but in the meantime thank you to everyone who helped this to happen.