Trustee, Alex Steele, made a visit to AVS Uganda in 2019, heading up a team of volunteers, made up from the Steele family. The purpose of the visit was to review progress being made in many different areas of AVS’s activities, including supporting students, schools, the girls’ hostel, support for vulnerable individuals and families, support for women’s groups, and the ongoing development of the AVS Community Centre. Alex was joined by his daughter, Hannah (19 years old), his two sons, Nathan and Harry (22 and 25 years old), and by his brother, Adrian.
 
‘Team Steele’ had six areas of focus:

1. Understand how the AVS Uganda team manage their day-to-day activities, looking at how they collect data and how they report progress in all areas.
2. Look at the management of the AVS Community Centre and explore ideas on maximising the use for the greatest value for the local community.
3. How to continue to support the entrepreneurial ideas of the AVS women’s groups.
4. Meeting students supported by AVS, gaining first-hand stories of the efforts they all put into making sure they study hard, knowing well that education is a clear route out of poverty.
5. To see first-hand the impact of AVS’s support of some of the most vulnerable individuals and families in and around Muyembe.
6. Work with the Board of Trustees and run a workshop to look at ways of increasing local involvement with AVS, in terms of its long-term growth and sustainability.

 
“Living and working alongside the AVS team in Uganda is both rewarding and very challenging. We need to immerse ourselves deeply into the local way of life, to understand the way things are, and to work together to identify solutions which make life better. Most important is the ability to give people the skills, abilities and resources to take control of their own lives.” Alex Steele.