PONT

Who is PONT?

PONT stands for Partnership Overseas Networking Trust. It has been set up to link the town of Pontypridd with a town in Uganda called Mbale. The project aspires to link as many professionals and organizations in Pontypridd with their counterparts in Mbale. The purpose of this is to build a multitude of direct personal relationships between interested individuals and organizations with the express purpose of increasing the capacity and governance of individuals and organizations in Mbale to accept and distribute aid to the poorest communities. At the same time we believe the Ugandans have much to teach us about family and community values along with a rich cultural heritage, so the partnership is very much a two way link. To date over 180 visits have been made by folk from Pontypridd , and 34 folk have visited Pontypridd from Mbale.

The concepts behind PONT go back as far as the Ethiopian Famine of 1985. At that time a team of Medics volunteered to work in refugee camps in Ethiopia, whilst another team of medics and church leaders visited camps in Sudan. We realised that many folk in our community were willing to support this, so it affected most sectors of our community. As a result the amount of aid raised in our town was much more significant and many people from all walks of life "bought into the vision." Furthermore, because people in our town were able to hear first hand accounts of the work, they became much more informed as donors.