Start A Charity

Mary Bennell and Mark White

Mary is currently the regional director of a UK framework procurement company for social housing and public construction. Mark is a retired secondary school teacher, art and art history, these days he tries unsuccessfully to do as little as possible.

Now in the South West of the UK, from 2013- 16 they lived in Gulu, Northern Uganda working as volunteers with VSO on a big vocational training program, consequently they run a small charity supporting vocational training for the disabled in Gulu, ETC of PWD, and return to the area every year.

Mary's CV is long, in the past, she was heavily involved in Woman and Manual Trades, was one of the first trained plumbers in the public sector in London. Certainly the first plumber to claim maternity leave in Hackney, East London and went from there into a range of senior posts in the social housing sector before giving up the obvious career structure and go to Uganda.

Mark trained as artist, so formed a lightly successful punk band because that's what you did then. He left the music business as the audiences became more select, there have been a sort of 40 year reunion recently: a short national tour; a festival and even a new album; the audiences remain carefully chosen. He later worked as a carpenter, set builder etc before training as a teacher. He wrote several text books for art teachers and students and paints and draws every day, landscape mostly.

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Mary and Mark mention several organizations including:

 VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas)

GDPU (Gulu Disabled Persons Union)

Gulu Wheelchair Basketball Club

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