East Sussex couple awarded MBE in New Year’s Honours list for services to Ugandan village

Geoff and Geraldine Booker, originally from Cowbeech and then Eastbourne, were recognised for their services to the community of Kabubbu – a rural Ugandan village located 25 miles north of the capital, Kampala, which they first visited with friends in 1999.

Now in their mid-70s, they have visited Kabubbu regularly over the past 25 years, spending a total of four-and-a-half years of their lives working with the villagers and developing a wide range of infrastructure and resources.

During this time, they helped found an organisation aimed to transform the community – the Kabubbu Development Project.

Geoff and Geraldine described Kabubbu as a village formerly ‘filled with death, destitution and disease’, where ‘most families survived on less than $1 a day’. The village reportedly had no health care, education, clean water or electricity, and the residents had very little food.

Upon arrival back in the UK, Geoff and Geraldine agreed to tell their story and promised to send the community any money that was donated.

Their story has now been told hundreds of times to many thousands of people in schools, colleges, churches and clubs, while more than 1,000 people have visited Kabubbu, including secondary school students from many parts of the UK.

Geoff and Geraldine have raised more than £10 million in 25 y e ars but say their work is not finished.

A spokesperson for GB Trust, a registered charity founded by Geoff and Geraldine, said: "Working with the community, the children now have a primary and secondary school, a vocational training college, adult education centre, health facilities – including operating theatre and AIDs support centre – a foster home as well as welfare, elderly support, farming and agriculture programmes and a maize mill, plus a resort centre.

“More than 160 mud homes have been replaced by brick houses. Electricity is connected and clean water from boreholes.

"Over 1,000 children are in education every year. Some gain first class honours degrees at university.

"100 elderly have a weekly food parcel and a more dignified life. Some subsistence farmers now earn an income from their harvests and can afford to educate their children.

"All can access better health care and an improved diet.”