Poverty at the source of the Nile

School Kitchen and cook




Earlier in the summer I came across Street Child Africa a Thames Ditton based charity working to tackle the issue of street children in Africa and the issues that they face.

The person I met asked if I would consider being "their friend" ? Yes that would be an honour. Friends do each other favours now and again, so It was that when they learned I was heading out to UG they asked me to do them a huge favour of inspecting their project in Jinja a town at the source of the Nile.

I set off at 7.30am on a cold and rainy spring morning and by 9.00am I was at the source of the Nile. I was struck by the poverty in this place in comparison to the landscape. Given the amount of rain here, the vegetation is lush and green, the Nile is almost bursting at the seams.

Having met a rep from the Street child Africa local project we headed 3 KM out of town and arrived at a tiny school that should not accommodate more than 200 students but was accommodating 1300, with each class holding at least 80 children. 300 of these children are from a traveling tribe called the Karamajong and often end up on the streets. The authorities do not want them there but never do anything to support them, another 50 are from child headed households and these are directly supported by Street Child Africa.

My visit here has been anticipated for sometime, I am told and perhaps I would come with answers to some of the issues they were grappling with! The worst thing one can do here is promise that which they cannot deliver!

I quickly set the record straight and explain my background and how it was that I was standing in front of them. Their response was very humbling indeed and reminded me why I set up Ethnic supplies in the first place.

We know you may not have the financial means to resolve our problems, but at least you are able to present them realistically to the rest of the world, and you can speak on our behalf they said!

Incredibly the school was at some point a beneficially of the world food programme but was dropped because this area of UG does not suffer from food shortages. This is true but the school does not grow it's won food and has to buy it in, which make it very expensive.

2.5 hours later I was back at the Nile specifically Bujagali Falls a spectular water fall that forms part of the River Nile. I sat here for sometime and contemplate on the events of the past few hours.



bujagali falls

There is an irony about this place too , tourist come here for the thrills of white water rafting, quad bike rides, country walks in the most amazing scenery but the villages surrounding this beauty are so poor I can't find the words to describe the situation here realistically. The frustration or the villagers' circumstances stare out at you as you drive through the villages.

There is no formal housing to speak of, instead a lot straw thatched and mud hats, that could catch fire any minute!.

Next time you are Jinja stop by Masese School they will be pleased to see you, please take some pens if you can, Barclays bank will give them to you for free!



school washrooms

Motoring stories in Uganda and Paper beads

To say that driving in Uganda is a challenge is an understatement of the century

Apart from the lack of discipline amongst the drivers, there are so many pot holes in the road that finding a road in the pot holes has become a game such as scrabble and the others. Our driver has got it down to a T, speaking of driving, it's madness here a free for all, and if you drive in Kampala the capital city and survive then you need a medal!

Then there is the cost of petrol, around 97p per L that is, if it is indeed petrol that has gone into your vehicle. Drivers are very worried about the cost of petrol as well as the fact that the man at the pump does not always sell you the correct amount that you have purchased and sometimes you are sold anything other than petrol. Apparently Shell filling stations are the worst culprits for this sort of thing so they are avoided at costs.

I wonder whether the folk at Shell international are aware of this? I am not quite sure how this is done but I accept that this is possible as a pump attendant fills your car whilst you wait and have no control over the process.


I am off to the slums of Kampala to meet one of our groups that weave mats out of palm leaves as a way of supporting themselves financially. This is a group of women that have been thrown out of their homes because of HIV/AIDs. I have a feeling I am going to need a large box of tissues

Catch you soon


Update on visit- the producers in the rural areas use whatever they can find the countryside or by rivers and lakes to produce handicrafts and the materials are freely available. The ladies in the slums have to buy everything including old calenders and magazines which they use to produce amazing magazines.

I was surprised that people sell old calenders to such poor women. I was further surprised that this slum is surrounded by amazing homes, think of your worst neighbourhood multiply it ten times or more and move it to the middle of St Georger's Hill in Weybridge.

Anyway my networking paid off, on the second day I was here, I had meeting with the folk at Saatchi and Saatchi, so I called them up and explained the women's predicament. By the end of the tel call, the women were promised as much free old magazines and calenders as they want. The same folk had introduced me to a local TV reporter whose superb, wine bar borders the place we were meeting, I called him up to and asked if he could help by raising awareness of these women's plight. He agreed to take their case to some of the local companies here. So a very good afternoon all in all

Paper beads

Did they really make up an entire travel guide series?

I took my first trip to Madagascar last year and met a woman from Switzerland called Gabriel. She wanted to find an art gallery in Tana but her guide book did not appear to offer proper directions to the place. I was using the Bradt guide, so I suggested that she borrows my copy. I told her that it had not let me down so far.I had managed to find both orphanages I had to visit easily and that if that place is not listed by Hillary Bradt then it does not exist.

Gabriel joked that this could be true as the author of her Lonely Planet guide book didn't appear to have ever set foot in Madagascar at all. When I caught up with her later that evening she informed me that indeed the gallery feautured in her guide book did not exist!

This morning BBC Radio 4 interviewed someone (came in half way through the point) who was saying that the series of Lonley Planet guide books are incorrect and indeed made and that the BBC owns a share in these guides???

Have you ever used a Lonely Planet guide book, if so what was your experience?

Eating Guavas in Havana

I took time out during January and went on holiday to Havana for 10 days. Havana is an amazing place that I can best describe as full of rustic charm, with it's old cars and neo classic buildings reminscent of a bygone era.

Although we had a rented apartment we spent a lot of time at the Hotel Nacional Cuba and had most of our meals here. the Hotel gardens provide a relaxing place from which to take in teh views, drink coffee, sunbathe or knock yourself out with as many cocktails as you can put away , as well watching the goings on at the Malecon below. The hotel laid on an elaborate buffet at breakfast and diner but the thing that excited me most on the menu were the guavas especially when I learned that I could eat them with cheese! I highly recommend this hotel for all food lovers out there.

Trade restrictions mean that life is tough for most people some of whom leave in the most appaling conditions. The people are friendly and always happy to invite you in for a coffee or a Mojito and whatever else they can spare. This time away allowed me to reflect on the events of 2007 as well as the future. The world is full of the haves and have nots, how can this imbalance be corrected and by whom?

We visited a Cigar factory and learned that it takes 85 people to make 25 cigars, some of these people's role is to sort tobbaco leaves out according to size, pass them to another team whose job it is to remove the stem, all this happens in a room without windows! Making cigars is a skill that the factory teaches and not everyone passess and those that do are higly skilled at it.

Travelling through Cuba you become aware of what a proud people the Cubans are but one gets the sense of insecurity too brought about by an uncertain future. The jury is still out there!