Geoff in Uganda

My home in Bunia

2010-01-13T21:13:00.006Z

This is the Medair team house, where I live with David, Matty and Rachel. There is an office in the house and to the right of the picture there is another building which is 4 offices, one of them for me. The main office is 10 minutes walk away, I have spent time there everyday so far. I have not included photos of the town because the army and police do not like cameras being used in public places

My office is in the building to the right of the picture. Other NGO and mission staff come on Friday afternoons for volleyball, a good way of meeting some other national and international staff

The verandah opens into a living room, dining area and kitchen beyond.

I have a large ensuite room which has traditionally been the Country Director's room. I might have to move out if a couple come to work in Bunia because all the other rooms (5) are singles

Plenty of bugs at night so mosquito net definitely required

Holiday in Rwanda and Uganda

2010-01-09T20:43:00.004Z

The Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali commemorates not just the Rwanda genocide of 1994 but other 20th Century genocides. After the Jewish holocaust it was said never again but the UN failed to intervene effectively in Bosnia and Rwanda. In Rwanda the UN reduced its strength immediately before the genocide and then sent enough troops in the aftermath that would have been able to stop the genocide.

Nytama church, where 10,000 met their death. Clothes are piled on the pews, the altar cloth is stained with blood.
Ntarama church where 5000 people died. Skulls and bones are on racks at the back of the church.
Sunset over Lake Kivu, Gisenyi, Rwanda. The fishing boats are rigged together in threes with long poles for and aft.
Just after a swim in Lake Bunyonyi at Christmas. The water is beautifully still and quite clear but not warm enough for a long swim.
Bushara Island and Lake Bunyonyi are known for the abundance of birds. Here 7 speckled mouse birds huddle together.
Mt Mahavura, Virunga national park, near Kisoro, Uganda, the highest of the 3 volcanoes in Uganda, the highest in the range is in Congo. This is the final rest before the peak which has a 20m diameter crater lake at 4135m. Unfortunately we spent most of the day in cloud.
Ishasha's tree climbing lions. Some lions learn to climb where they can sleep undisturbed and spy their prey for evening hunting. The females do the hunting.
The lions all have collars and transmitters so a US university can track them but the rangers don't have access to the tracking signal so have to go looking for them in the huge national park
This buffalo had just emerged from a mud bath.

Karamoja and health centres

2009-10-17T16:32:00.006+01:00

I have spent the past week in our project locations in the north of Uganda.

Our main project in Pader District is supporting the health system. Support means on the job training of health centre staff, training of community volunteer health workers and ensuring that health centres have access to clean water, a latrine, a bathing shelter, an incinerator for medical waste and a placenta pit for health centres with a maternity unit. The problem is that the health centres are poorly staffed, staff may not turn up for work. A parish health centre (HC11) may have only a nursing assistant with 3 months training, a sub county health centre (HC111) should have a clinical officer (3 years training), a midwife and a comprehensive nurse but often may have just a nurse. Partly the District cannot afford the staff, partly the staff employed do not turn up to work.

This is a bathing shelter, designed so that a door is not necessary.
In the foreground a placenta pit, with an incinerator behind.
This is Alop HC11, about 12 km of the main road in Adilang. People may come 20km deeper in the bush to the health centre. In the background the latrine, in the foreground the new drilled bore hole and hand pump.

This is the health centre at Ongalo: it's on high land with no chance of a borehole. The nearest borehole is about 2km away. So in the absence of a borehole, we have installed a rain water harvesting system which means they will have water during perhaps 8 months of the year when there is a reasonable prospect of rain. The dry season is about to start and typically lasts until mid March.

We were walking from the team house in Kaabong to the office and came across this snake. It was about 30cm long, probably not dangerous.

Karamoja is the north eastern part of Uganda. Kaabong is on the northern part of Karamoja and we have projects on the western part of Kaabong district. Some of the scenery is amazing, huge granite outcrops, volcanic plugs and huge open spaces.

There are big open spaces because the land is arid or semi arid, incapable of supporting agriculture, suitable only for livestock. But because of lack of water, it isn't good for livestock or the herders.

The clouds and skies really were that colour, no photoshop improvements.
The cattle are kept in kraals, protected by the army overnight from raiding warriors from other parts of Karamoja or from across the border in Kenya. As we were leaving Karenga, we came across thousands of cattle being driven back from their pasture to the protected kraals which can contain tens of thousands cattle. Daily movement of cattle from kraal to pasture and back causes significant over grazing and soil erosion.

In a very poor area with hungry people, you can give out food (as the World Food Program has done for 40 years in Karamoja) or you can find projects to employ local people who then earn some money with which to buy foodstuffs. Typical projects are road rehabilitation and construction so there is something enduring to show for their effort. Labourers typically earn USD1.5 per day for 5 hours work and we will employ them for 10 days at a time. It doesn't sound much, but USD15 can make a big difference to poor families. We have no problem in finding willing workers who also get lunch of posho and beans. A road project often involves placing culverts under the road surface so that rain water can be directed away from the road rather than washing it away. Improved roads means improved access to markets, schools, health centres.

Uganda, Switzerland, Scotland

2009-10-04T16:13:00.006+01:00

We have been working in Kaabong in the far north east of Uganda since 2006. It is arid and semi arid land (ASAL in the development lingo). I visited our team there at the end of August to seesome of our project locations. This borehole is in Karenga, the branches are too keep the livestock away- their hooves break the concrete apron and they foul the area. This is the only water supply for a few kilometres. In the background is a smooth rock which would be great for a water harvesting project - construct a tank at the bottom and funnel all the water from the rock to the tank. Kaabong is dry for much of the year but it does occasionally rain torrentially and almost none of it is captured. But we will be closing our base in June 2010, such work will be left to other development agencies.

I managed to take a couple of days leave, the first in the year, and travelled west to Fort Portal and then south 30km to the crater lakes area. The lakes are very steep sides and densely wooded but you can get down to one of them and it is bilharzia free so good for a swim. That's Mhoira, a friend from Kampala, with whom I travelled.

And then we went further south and west to the edge of the Rwenzori mountains which border Congo, the highest mountains in Uganda. we went to see a couple in the town of Kilempe who are working with youth leaders in churches in the region. Kilempe used to have a major copper mine but it fell into disuse in the 1970s. We walked into the Rwenzori foothills and looked back on mining town part of Kilempe.

I was in Europe for most of September, a week at the Medair Country Directors' conference in Switzerland, another week in the Medair HQ near Lausanne and then to the UK for a weeks leave.

The first night in Lausanne, I stayed with a colleague from whose apartment there is a view of the mountains above Montreux and the lake. The zonal pelargonium provides a colourful foreground. What a view to enjoy every day!

During the conference, we took a day out and went into the mountains above Montreux

and to Glacier 3000.

So someone decided that because Oliver and I had sunglasses and similar head gear we should be photographed together !

I had some time to visit Lausanne. The area around the cathedral is a medieval and makes for an attractive skyline. The topography is interesting - through part of the city is a deep valley called Le Flon, where the railway and metro arrive. There are steps or a lift to take you up about 50m to the main town level.

Below Lausanne, on the shores of Lake Geneva at Ouchy is the Olympic Museum. I thought it was a little disappointing but still worth the visit. You approach the museum along a winding footpath adorned with bronze sculptures. I liked this one.

This was taken just outside the museum looking east along the lake side
And then to the UK for a week which included a few days in Scotland visiting Mhoira who arrived a few days before I left for Uganda. Dinner on Loch Fyne was wonderful. Then to Glencoe for some walking. This is looking down in Loch Leven and Kinlochleven. Top right is a dam and another loch. The dam fed a power station that drove an aluminium smelting works. The old aluminium factory is now home to big climbing walls and the world largest indoor ice climbing wall. So if you want to practice ice climbing and ice axe technique in the summer, you know where to go now.
From the hill looking north east across Loch Leven to Ballahuish which is the next town along from Glencoe town. It was a cloudy day with occasional breaks in the cloud with sun beams showing up against the mist.
And then just as we were about to descend, we came across this stag at about 20m.
Back in Kampala now, in the field next week, so may have some more northern Uganda photos to post soon.

The road to Awach and Schools in Nyakwae

2009-07-05T20:48:00.006+01:00

In the middle of June, I spent a week at our base in Abim in northern Uganda. I was there to write up projects but I also took time to visit the two projects that we were running.

The project that continues is a cash for work project, local people being employed to clear a road that had become impassable even to 4x4 vehicles and in parts had become over grown. In 5 weeks we have opened up 16km of road through the settlement of Awach up to the border with Pader District where a 1950s bridge built by the British crosses the river Agago. We will repair and rehaibiltate the bridge which will re-open a trading route and bring some economic activity to Awach.Some sections flood so culverts are required. Digging out this trench took 5 days, the ground is so hard.Up to 140 people work during the morning and finish with a lunch of posho (stiff maize porridge) and beans and get paid US$15 for 10 days work which is the normal unskilled labour rate.

Now the road is open, the World Food Programme could make their first food distribution in the settlement of Awach. But this 10T truck was loaded with 15T of food and this is what happens when an overloaded truck is driven badly over rough ground.

The other project I visited finished the week I was there. We have been helping the local government set up Child Protection Committees and building latrines and handwashing points in schools in the remote sub county of Nyakwae in Abim District. Very few other NGOs are working there, it is very poor and subject to raiding by Karamajong warriors. One primary school has been closed due to insecurity.

We designed the handwashing points so that they have adequate capacity and so that the local community cannot steal the tanks or the taps.

And we have built blocks of pit latrines at schools which either had no latrines or delapidated latrines.

This is a school, built by the community, two thatched mud brick structures.

Kaabong and Kampala

2009-05-14T20:41:00.004+01:00

I was in Kaabong in the far north east for week at the beginning of May. Kaabong is the northern district of the Karamoja region, a dry poor part of a poor country. There are several Karamajong tribes, many are armed, they traditionally steal cattle from each other. The army have been conducting a disarmament campaign since 2001 and, to protect the cattle, livestock are kept in protected kraals over night, driven out to pasture in the morning and back in the evening. Some kraals contain 10s of thousands of animals so the land around the kraals becomes eroded and the pasture over grazed.

We have had a base in Kaabong for 3 years. Our team house is at the Baptist Mission compound, a western style property with running water, power, flush toilets, proper windows, a linoleuem covered floor, fitted kitchen, en suite rooms - very out of keeping with the surroundings. It is about 1km off the road and 50m from a traditional family homestead called a manyatta. About 3km away in the distance is the town of Kaabong and our office.

The cattle are driven from the kraal and back again in large numbers every day, perhaps 200 cattle and 100 goats in a single group.

The herders are often young children, denied an education to look after the cattle. Literacy is 11% compared to a national average of 67%

Water is scarce so there is not enough for a wash each day.

Small children run after the cattle. They look 7 or 8 but are probably 10 or 12, stunted by malnutrition. April to October is called the hunger gap - the crops from last October have been eaten, there will be no more until the sorghum harvest begins in September - if the rains come. There have been 3 years of either poor rain or rains coming late and too heavy for germinating crops.
To provide more water in the dry season, we have created sub surface dams. There is one in this picture but you can't see it, it's buried in the sand. It's a wall across the dry river bed, sitting on the bedrock and keyed into the rock at both ends. There is water in the sand even in the dry season, the sub surface dam means there will be more water in the sand. And because it is in the sand, it means it does not evaporate in the dry hot air.
Another sub surface dam - you can see the wall in the forground, it continues under the sand beyond the rock.

If there is no water pump nearby, women go the dry river bed and dig down, in this case just a metre to find water, and then scoop it out with a gourd (calabash) into a jerry can.

Back in Kampala. Jonelle was my admin/finance manager in Patongo and filled in as project manager when I went to Indonesia. She joined me in Patongo January to March as the personnel manager, leading the process of making 30 people redundant. And then she was temporarily finance manager in Kampala. This was her leaving lunch - she will join Tear Fund in Darfur at the beginning of June. In pink, is the new finance manager who lives in Kampala and the woman on the right looking the camera is Bea, the HR manager. The venue is the veranda of the team house where we eat lunch together each work day.

Last Saturday was the Uganda-Europe Day, a idea of the EC commissioner. The EU is the largest donor to Uganda, most in bilateral aid or budget support, that is money given direct to government. Not the best use of tax payers' money to my mind. Medair was invited to exhibit some photos of our EC funded programmes. I stayed the whole day and enjoyed it. There were various cultural exhibitions including tribal dancing. Children learn traditional dances at home and then come together into larger exhibition groups.

Last Month in Patongo

2009-04-11T20:12:00.004+01:00

The focus of March was finishing the psychosocial project (Supporting vulnerable children), the water, sanitation and hygiene project (encouraging people to return to villages of origin by drilling bore holes, helping with latrines etc) and the hepatitis E emergency reponse (distributing soap, water purification tables, jerry cans, hand washing devices). The psychosocial project was financed by NUREP (Northern Uganda Rehabilitation Project), part of the European Development Fund. The EU bought a new LandCruiser for the project on the condition that it was handed over to the District at the end of the project. So on 26 March a one year old LandCruiser was handed over to Pader District. Claire and the LCV (senior elected leader for Pader District, about 500,000 people) bracket the sticker on the vehicle. I have little confidence that the vehicle will be well used - the District will not have the budget to run and maintain it. There are several abandoned cars and motorcycles around the District offices. If they can't maintain and fuel the 2 ambulances in the District , what hope for other vehicles.
I was curious to go back to Te Kato, the village with only grass and palm leaves huts, 9km from the nearest water supply. They now have a borehole that we drilled for them about 0.5km from their village. They have started making bricks but with the rainy season their priority is clearing their land which has not been cultivated in 30 years. The immediate impact of the borehole is that the women now have an extra 6 hours a day to help farm rather than carry water. This is an old man who remembers when they last farmed the land. Only 2% of the population is over 60 years old.

Part of the village and the gathering place under the mango tree that was planted 70 years ago.
The party to mark the end of the WASH and psychosocial projects celebrated 6 years of work in Pader District. The party started with Bwala dancing by primary school children. The dance is a traditional way of welcoming or saying goodbye to guests. The children were 10-16 years old and have learnt most of the dances at home not at school
I am sitting with Labeja Quinto, the LC3, the senior elected official for Patongo sub county which comprises around 35,000 people. He has been a great supporter of Medair. He is in his second term as a local leader but after the next election in 2011 intends to go back to farming his 50 acres - he made more money farming in 2008 than earned in his job which pays about 100 pounds per month.
For the party, we killed lots of chickens and a goat. Stewed goat intestine is considered one of the best dishes - this is Grace washing through the intestines.
The final photo of the Patongo team before the WASH and Psychosocial teams finished their work. The health team and a small Child Protection team will continue until the end of the year, about 35 people in all.
This young man has been supported through secondary school by previous Medair managers and now by me. He is 19 and completed the equivalent of GSCEs last year. He decided to leave school and do vocational training rather than do A Levels. If you look carefully, you will see his legs are wasted and his feet turned at an awkward angle: he uses a wheel chair to get around. His father died several years ago, his mother lives in Ajali Ladjwa, a few kilometres, away so he moved to the hut behind us in Patongo so he could attend secondary school. He looked after himself for a while until his mother sent a sister to look after him. He is now learning basic computer skills in Lira. His father's brother came to claim his father's land (the traditional culture is that property always reverts to the nearest male relative of the deceased) and in the process beat up Joseph's mother breaking her ribs.

Roads, water, latrines and soap

2009-02-19T15:34:00.003Z

We do some point repairs of roads at sections where they become impassable in the wet season, cutting off people from schools, markets and health care. The process usually involves laying culvert rings to carry the water under the raised road level, and then shaping the road 50 metres either side. We employ local labour selected by the communities, and employ the poorest wherever possible so that there is a direct financial benefit to the community

This is a hand dug well, dug near a natural spring (in this case just behind the trees). You dig down perhaps 3 metres, the water is clean whereas the water in the spring is dirty. Then you line the well with concrete rings and place a hand pump on top. It is much easier to pump the water up when it is so near the surface.
This is another hand dug well showing our staff completing the apron and drainage channel which ends in a soak away so that there is no standing water for mosquitoes to breed. Where possible, the original spring is covered over to prevent mosquitoes breeding and reduce the risk of contamination. This hadn dug well was completed the same day I took the photo.

In 2007/8, we created 1000 latrines and we have done the same again in 2008/9. We provide the materials and pay a slab maker to make the latrine slab. The householder receives the slab only when he has dug the latrine pit, usually 4 metres deep. And then the community receives no more slabs until they have built the walls and put on a roof. We help some communities with materials to make the doors.
We also build latrine blocks for schools: many schools have no latrines but 500 pupils. It is hard to educate children in good hygiene practice when they use the bush as a toilet and have nowhere to wash their hands. This is handing over a latrine in Patongo secondary school which has 800 pupils and had just 5 latrines. The contractor has to come back though - I found the doors do not open or close properly.
Hepatitis E remains a risk in Pader District: there is no vaccine, but good hygienic practice will prevent contraction of the disease which is by the so called "faecal-oral" route. UNICEF have provided the funds to do a general distribution of soap and water purification tablets. We are distributing to about 15000 households. A complete registration has been completed. People come village by village: we edcuate them on the risks of Hepatitis E and teach them how to use the water purification tablets.
Next, village by village, they are checked off the registration and given a numbered card. They take the card to a checker and put their thumb print on the registration.

And then they collect the water purification tablets and soap. Above is Shannon, the hygiene manager, giving out soap. Three bars per household, each bar is 5 tablets.

And below is Rob, the Country Director, doing his bit for a few minutes and for the camera. He makes it look more like a prize giving.
General distributions were done when the people were all in IDP camps with nothing. Food is still distributed to some communities and some people remain totally dependent on such food. This distribution is specifically to combat the threat of Hepatitis E which has been raging in the neighbouring Kitgum District since late 2007. So far, Pader has recorded only 105 cases but mortality is high around 7%. Two weeks ago there was general immunisation against polio which is now rare in Uganda but cases were recorded last year, a new strain coming from Sudan.

Patongo Prison

2009-02-06T15:27:00.002Z

On the edge of Patongo town is the prison which serves the district. Patongo prison is unusual in Uganda in that it is not near the court house. The main court is in Pader 35km away and transport from the prison to the court is a problem.

For western eyes the building below doesn't look much like a prison. To the right of the prison are the staff quarters, some are hut with grass roof, some buildings with a iron roof.

The water point in the foreground is used by both the community and the prison. The land behind the prison, about 100 hectares, is cultivated by the prisoners.

I am told that the roofless section was a consequence of a bomb during the rebel insurgency. A close look at the white plaster shows many bullet holes. The entrance is to the right.

The grey door is the entrance, a single steel door. The prison holds about 200 prisoners, mostly men but with some women, some of whom bring young children.

This is a Sunday afternoon and we are waiting outside before joining the prisoners for a Christian meeting of singing, testimony and preaching. God has moved wonderfully in the past year: many of the prisoners have become committed Christians during their time inside and although there is a continual turnover of inmates, there is a lively Christian community which includes many of the staff.

The prisoners wear yellow, white for section leaders. The man in black is the assistant pastor in the church I attend in Patongo the pastor is in brown trousers on the right of the picture.

The stringed instruments are odongus - they make a great sound, the players are very good musicians playing without music and adapting to instruments of 8,9,10,11 and 12 strings.

We preach the good news of Jesus to these people and every Sunday people respond, perhaps 10 sometimes 20.

Some of the prisoners have been inside for many months without their case being heard but the impact of the gospel has contributed to making the prison calm, peaceful and not at all threatening.

2009-01-23T10:54:00.004Z

Part of our work is drilling boreholes for people returning to villages of origin. I was fascinated when I heard of the village of Tekato which is 9km from the nearest water source. Why do people live there ? Because that is their ancestral land which they will farm. Making mud bricks for a hut requires water but because water is so far away, these people are building temporary shelters from grass and palm leaves. The girl has walked 9km with 10litres of water on her head, the recommendation is 15 litres per person per day for drinking, cooking, washing and hygiene. When we will drill a borehole, they will have much more time for farming and have the water they need for making mud bricks so they can build a proper hut which they will need before the rains come. The boys of Tekato were preparing to lay traps for small animals for food.

The grasses have been collected in the village of Kolaka ready for thatching huts: many people are moving during this dry season to their ancestral lands ready to plant crops when the rains come in April. The land in the foreground is burnt black, a reminder that lots of grassland is burnt by hunters flushing out animals.

The pit is for a school latrine in Patongo which we are constructing; it is lined so that it can be pumped out when filling up.

This man is in the village of Okede. It is the first time I have seen someone build a 2 stance pit latrine with square walls and pitched roof. Normally, they are small round huts over a single latrine slab. Encouragingly, we are finding that as people return to their villages, they want to use latrines rather than the bush.

Australia and England

2009-01-02T17:11:00.007Z

OK, so it's the first Uganda blog entry since July and it's photos of Australia and England ! I left Indonesia at the beginning of November and went to Australia for 3 weeks to visit my brother and his family - and didn't take many photos. Although it was spring, it was cold, even Mitch the dog needed a jumper. But I took my camera to the 84th floor of the 2nd highest residential building in the southern hemisphere (well, that's what they tell you) for some great views of the city.

We had some time in Wilson's Promontory, the southerly most point of Australia about 3 hours south east of Melbourne. Huge empty beaches and miles of virgin forest.

We saw some wild emu and came across this female kangaroo (or was is it a wallaby ?). They look cute but Chris said they have a nice trick of kicking you hard in the groin if you get too close !
In the distance I saw a large adult kangaroo which look so bizarre when they hop along.

Back to Uganda for 3 weeks and then to the UK for the first time since the beginning of November 2007 - I felt as if I was arriving in a foreign country but it was instantly familiar.

I spent a couple of days in London then to Nottingham for a week to renew friendships, returning via Cranfield University to visit Denis from Uganda.

I visited by former neighbours in Burton Joyce and found my old house has been demolished to be replaced with a huge 2 story building - will someone lose their shirt on this ?
That's the old garage bottom left, the only thing left of the old building.

Christmas Day was with Peter's brother-in-law and family in Salisbury.

Peter unpacking a globe so he can work out where his brothers have got to.

In the evening we drove to Salcombe where we spent a week - beautiful area, cold (2-6C) with a strong wind.

That's Suzy giving up the effort of being sheep dog to "the sheep with smiley faces".

Back to the warmth of Kampala on Saturday and Patongo on Monday.

Murchison Falls

2008-07-06T20:03:00.008+01:00

I visited Murchison Falls National Park in NW Uganda and on the Nile 28-29 June. It is Uganda's first and largest National Park, officially created in 1952. Murchison Falls is named after the president of the Royal Geographic Society .

I went with a Medair colleague, Mo. It's about an 8 hour drive to the rest camp so that was Friday. We took a ferry across the Nile at 7am on Saturday morning for a 4 hour game drive and then in the afternoon we took a boat 2 hours up stream to near the falls. Sunday morning we drove to the falls and walked around impressive falls where the Nile drops in to a 8m wide gorge. And then back to Kampala. An enjoyable trip !

Warthogs were in the rest camp - wonderfully ugly creatures, definitely not cute even when small!

Some large crocs on the banks - they open their mouths to keep themselves cool

A water buck, so close to the water a potential victim of a crocodile
An oribi, small antelope. An adult oribi is perhaps 1m tall.
Close up, hippos are huge, up to 3000kg with teeth up to 20cm long. There were hundreds on the stretch of river, often in big family groups. They stay in the water to protect their skin from the sun and then graze on the banks when the sun goes down.
An elephant in the background, hippos in the foregound, a very African image.
This lioness was protecting her kill. She was in a thicket next to the road and quite happy to allow vehicles to come within 10m of her. The first time I have seen a lion in the wild.
Mo on the left, with Mary, an American-Taiwanese medical student doing some research in Kampala who was on the same trip.
Murchison Falls, an 8 metre wide gorge with up to 300 tonnes of water per second flowing into it.
In 1962, when the river was in spate, the water forced its way through some rocky obstacles to create a second falls, the Uruhu falls on the left of the picture. Uruhu means independence, 1962 was the year that Uganda ceased to be a British protectorate and became an indendent nation.

Sun rise from the rest camp over Murchison Falls with the Nile cutting across the centre of the picture.

In Kampala again

2008-06-23T19:31:00.007+01:00

It's a slow business uploading photos when in Patongo but now I am back in Kampala, it is time to load some more photos to the blog. I am on leave this week, going to Murchison game park Friday to Sunday 27-29 June so there will be some more photos after that. Then I am in Kampala for leadership team meetings and then it is R&R when I plan to walk MtElgon- more photos.

So this is Bugagali where Quentin and I tried out white water kayaking - we spent quite a lot of time upside down either because we had been capsized or had capsized the boats in an effort to learn how to roll it. It was harder than it looks - Quentin managed it once, me not once. You have to get a lot of things happening at the right time.

These rapids will change in a few years time - there is a dam being built for hydro electric power just below these falls. The country is desperate for more energy to drive economic growth. It is land-locked so all petrol and diesel has to come through Kenya. But there have been some oil finds in the west of the country
Just before last R&R at the end of April, this hedgehog was found and adpoted as a pet - a perfect pet for an introvert as Jonelle said. Herbert was quite entertaining to watch walking around the table. When we went on R&R one of the cooks wanted to keep him but we think her children mistreated him when she was out and by the time we returned Herbert was no more.
These pictures were taken in Ajali Lajwa.

These are shea nuts from which shea butter is extracted for cooking and ointment preparation.
This is a bathing shelter - they range from a brcik built structure with a door to some sticks draped with some old sacking. We are helping communities to build them properly so they don't leave stagnant water behind for mosquitoes to breed.

There are always children - 50% of the population is under 15 years old and at 3.5% per cent per annum it is one of the fastest growing populations in the world. But these happy children (some in pink primary school uniform) are gathered in front of pile of cow dung. I was in the village with one of the hygiene team, encouraging communities to address some the public health issues they face by not keeping their settlement clean. Hepatitis E is a threat at the moment and animal dung can be a vector.
The swollen belly of a malnourished child. Some children have red hair, another sign of malnutrition. For some of them, the only food they have is maize porridge or posho, rich in carbohydrate and little else.
Some people cook in a separate hut, here there is a little fire pit against the wall of the hut. Look at the rags the girl is wearing, she has to keep hold of them to stop them falling off. A needle and thread would make a big difference.
Ajali Lajwa is one of the poorer performing settements in a public health sense. The community dug latrine pits and these slabs were laid in November 2007 - we provide the materials and pay a slab maker to make them. A slab costs about USD40. But there must have been more than 20 slabs with no superstructure in April. During the day people go to the edge of the camp for a toilet and use these slabs only at night. They want more slabs, they won't get anymore until these latrines are completed. But at this time of the year, the gardens (subsistence farming) takes priority and the grasses for the roofs are not available until November.
35km north of Patongo is Kalongo, notable for its hills in an otherwise very flat landscape. Quentin, Claire, Chris and I climbed the hill (about 500m) one Sunday. In the distance, ancient volcanic plugs.

Below the neatlooking town - looks are deceptive.

Quentin and Claire at the top of the hill.

I wrote the following a couple of weeks ago in an email - it might give you a bit more of a flavour of life in Patongo.

In some ways, working for Medair is no different to any other job except for the context. I have the same issues of people management, budget control, objective setting, planning, writing business plans (or rather project proposals). I am in the office most days, sometimes go to meetings in Pader Town 30km away and sometimes I get out to the field. The main difference is that the vast majority of people live in grass thatched mud brick huts, they are mostly subsistence farmers and extremely poor.

There is no power in Patongo so we rely upon solar power and a generator in the office and just solar power in the team house. So there are no electric kitchen gadgets, we have a calor gas stove and fridge.

I was late leaving the office this evening because I went to see our office landlord, the catholic priest and then had to finish off some work and open my personal emails. So I left at 1940, by which time it was very dark outside and I had no torch and there is no street lighting. So you walk carefully being able to vaguely see the shape of buildings against a clear and star lit sky. No light pollution here, you can see the Milky Way. Back to the team house to find some food – our cooks leave food for us, this evening it was Irish (potatoes), matoke (a kind of banana cooked as a veg), rice, bean stew and posho (maize cake). They must have felt generous today, we don’t normally have so many dishes. The staple diet is beans and posho which are grown locally. I’m not a fan of posho. And there were some ripe avocado so I started with half an avocado, much bigger than ones you can buy in England. And I finished with some fresh pineapple. We had a vehicle in Lira last Friday hence we have a good supply of fruit and veg this week.

We have pit latrines, there is no running water and no sewage system so no flush loos. I doesn’t bother me, I am quite happy with pit latrines and cold showers (from a tank). But today at lunch time there were dozens of cockroaches in the latrines, I have no idea why. I don’t mind them so much but I was happy to step on lots and then kick them into the pit. Good riddance !

So it’s 2130 and I am sitting at my table in my room. We have internet access only in the office so I am writing this in Word and will cut and paste to the email tomorrow, Wednesday (if I have time because I leave for Pader at 0830, will get back by 5pm but will go to the weekly prayer meeting (which I instigated) at 6pm). My room is 3m x 3m, bare concrete floor, concrete plastered walls painted mustard yellow. There is a 3 drawer chest of drawers next to the table – all my clothes go in 2 drawer, other bits and pieces in the bottom drawer. My bed behind me is a wooden structure with a thin foam mattress and covered with a mosquito net. But I sleep well. There is a single light with an energy saving bulb and a single electric socket. But it’s enough. And something just flew into my head ! The window is open, the curtain is a piece of cloth pegged to the railings inside the window and there is a ventilation gap above the door. So it means I cannot shut the bugs out !

It’s probably about 25 C at the moment – I am wearing a T-shirt. Yesterday evening it poured with rain and I was cold for the first time – I wore 3 layers ! I was invited to join a couple from the church – David and Agnes were married 4 weeks ago, I was in Kampala so couldn’t make the wedding, I met Agnes for the first time on Sunday. Their home is a building with 2 rooms, each about the size of my room here. The dimensions of such properties are limited to the length or a corrugated iron sheet which is used for roofing “permanent” buildings. They have no power so the lighting is a paraffin lamp and they cook on a single burner paraffin stove on the floor. There is a pit latrine outside. So no kitchen, no bathroom. David is a social worker with an Italian NGO, COOPI, which works on SGBV, sexual and gender based violence. That means wife beating, rape, child abuse….. it is so widespread in this culture. Agnes is also a social worker but her contract with an NGO came to an end so she is a clerk with Barclays bank and earns 200,000 shillings a month, that’s about 60 pounds. They are both graduates, they would be considered middle class. I declined tea – boiled milk with sugar and a spice mixture, tea massala, but accepted food – rice and Irish mixed together with quite a lot of oil and a few pieces of cow meat ie beef, often quite tough and chewy.

So time for bed– cold shower, clean my teeth at the standpipe in the courtyard, switch off the light, switch on the torch, duck under the mosquito net and make sure it falls around the bed. Alarm at 0630.

Signing off for now with more when I come back from Murchison and Mt Elgon.

Geoff

Kampala, Karamoja, Patongo

2008-04-20T11:25:00.005+01:00

I was in Kampala at the beginning of April for a Medair Uganda leadership meeting. We met at a lodge overlooking Lake Victoria – we used the pool after the meetings, you get a great view from the pool. The first of the 2 days was led by the country director of South Sudan was VP Gillette Europe before he joined Medair 2 years ago. He has left now Medair, he met his fiancée in Medair and has left to marry in 4 weeks time in the Netherlands.

On my flight back to Patongo with MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship), we went via locations further in the NE – Moroto, Kotido, Kalongo then Patongo. It gave me the chance to take a few photos to show what other areas are like.

The NE is Karamoja, poor and undeveloped even compared to Pader where I am. The traditional settlements are surrounded by sticks and brush wood with entrances about 3 feet high, intended as defences against other Karamajong warriors. All very well when they were armed with spears and bow and arrow but they carry semi automatic weapons now and steal cattle, often with force. It is quite normal for Karamojong men to walk around completely naked with perhaps a thin blanket draped over one shoulder.

These 2 photos were taken on the approach to Patongo - these are 2 new huts, you can tell by the colour of the grass roof and that it is only recently that people have had the confidence to return to isolated dwellings like this

And this is approaching Patongo - flat, green, mango trees.

Anna, the psychosocial manager for 2 years, and from my church, left this week at the end of her contract. She was the last of the former management team, the longest serving now is Quentin who came at the beginning of October 2007. Kathleen came a little ahead of him but she has been in the USA for 5 weeks now receiving medical treatment and we do not know when she is coming back – hopefully mid May when we come back from R&R.

Easter in Kidepo National Park

2008-04-06T17:22:00.004+01:00

On Easter Friday, 7 of us left Patongo (the management team plus Denis the driver) and headed for Abim where we picked up Maggs and Mo from the Medair team there. We then drove 2 hours to Kaabong, the third Medair base in Uganda. The journey from Abim to Kaabong crosses the Karamoja area, home to the Karamajong, who are known for their armed warriors who raid cattle. As a consequence the road is patrolled by the army from 0930 to 1330. In Kaabong we teamed up with our Medair colleagues their (3 international staff plus driver), 4 from MSF, 2 US missionaries who have been evangelising the karamajong and 2 linguists who have come to codify the Ik language (15000 Ik live in the hills on the Sudan border) before a bible can be provided in Ik. And then 90 minutes drive to the far NE corner of Uganda to the Kidepo national park. Not many people get their, its a long drive from Kampala along potentially dangerous roads so other than 3 Italians, there were only another 20 or so who had flown up and were staying in the very expensive lodge. There aren't so many animals anyway to attract more people. So a few photos from Kidepo below - I'll add some animal photos later.

The Medair members of the group with accommodation in the background: 2 to each banda, you have to bring your own food, all you can buy is soft drinks and beers.

This is Claire, recently joined us to take over from Anna as psychosocial manager

And this is Anna, intently focussed on something !

Jonelle from Canada, the admin/finance manager

Quentin the water/sanitation manager looking worried - is there something dangerous approaching ?

Quentin bringing a sense of threat to Tracy from the Kaabong team.

There are lots of elephants, we got quite close on a few occasions. It occured to me that they are very odd looking animals, demonstrating God's creativity. How many animals have a musculated nose hanging from thier faces ?

We took Landcruisers, very suitable for sitting on top. There are lions but we didn't see any so little danger of those on top becoming dinner. And there was a ranger with each group.The giraffe were magnificent - I have seen them in the wild before, but they are incredibly graceful.

Plenty of zebra too - normal looking animals in that they look like the horse family but such markings !

Photos from Patongo

2008-04-06T16:59:00.002+01:00

Below are a few photos from Moo Dege primary school, just outside Patongo. This is a meeting with some of the members of the School Health Committee. In the middle are some of the tools we have given them to keep their compound clean. The jerry cans are to provide drinking water (the nearest water is about 100m behind me) and water for washing hands.

Here is the school - 4 class rooms, 4 teachers and 600 children ! They are all running back after their morning break.

We have subcontracted the creation of a new latrine block for the school - the current ones are horribly smelly and rather ram-shackle. This is the pit that has been dug - it took 9 weeks because they hit hard ground/rock one metre below the surface. This will eventually be a 5 stance (5 holer plus urinal) latrine with a handwashing station outside of it. And we will teach the children good hygienic practice which hopefully they will take home with them.

We conduct Community Action PLanning workshops with communities. We use the Uganda Public Health act as the frame work but the communities decide what they want to do and we support them with some tools and materials and follow up meetings to help them keep motivated. This is the beginning of a road to link Abilinino (about 5km from the road) to Lira Kato, a further 10km away. They will clear this all by hand but at least it will give them a second route out of the village
This is Abilinino. Typical huts and typical children, scruffy clothes, bulging tummies

And these are some of the children of Ajwaa- again scruffy and dirty and some distended tummies. They don't seem to do a good job of creating navels - the child second from the right is a common sight.
We were in Ajwaa to recruit Hygiene Promotors - we will teach them good hygienic practice which they will bring back to their community. The community meeting nominated 3 people, when we have about 40 from the local parishes, we will run the 3 day training in Patongo and give them educational materials to use in their community

The Haven in Jinja

2008-03-07T18:16:00.003Z

Jinja is 80km east of Kampala and is where the Nile flows out of Lake Victoria. When Speke discovered the source of the Nile is flowed out over Owen Falls but these were dammed to form the major hydroelectric power station for the whole of Uganda. Jinja is now one of major tourist locations in Uganda and the place to go for bungee jumping and white water rafting.

21km north of Jinja, 3km off the main road is The Haven, a delightful lodge development over looking the Nile and the Dead Dutchman rapids. I stayed in one of the bandas (thatched huts) which are beautifully built and immaculately. The accommodation is full board, the food is great

The Dead Dutchmand rapid on the extreme left of the photo is so called because it was a Dutchman who first tried to kayak these extreme grade 6 rapids. Needless to say his attempt ended tragically. I was told that only 4 people have negotiated the rapid successfully. I went down the rapid on the far side of the river in a raft. Below a jack fruit tree at The Haven. Wehad jack fruit in Patongo in February so these must be nearly ripe. I found this little frog near the bank of the Nile - it was only abut 2cm long but the colours were striking. The supermacro on my camera allowed me to get the lens really close and it has come out pin sharp. One of the other guests told she had seen a 1m long monitor lizard.

Resettlement sites in Pader

2008-02-17T08:45:00.005Z

On Friday I went with my country director, Rob, and a visitor from the Swiss HQ to visit some sites in which we have been working and in which we want to continue working. The 3 resettlement sites are all within a few kilometres SE of Patongo.

This about 1km outside the village of Lukwangole: there is typically a 6 hour wait for water. When we were there, there were 140 jerry cans waiting to be filled. There was a shorter line of jerry cans for the vulnerable women - pregnant and elderly. People come to this well 24 hours a day, if it break down they will have to travel several kilometre for water. World Vision have drilled 2 bore holes in the village but finished neither. We would have drilled and completed a well within 3 weeks if WVI had not said they would provide water.

Below is the borehole at Odokonyero Wikira, again abaout 1km outside the village. It is well looked after and in good condition. The global standard is that no one should wait for more than 15 minutes at a borehole and that everyone should be within 0.5km of water. The Uganda standard everyone should be within 1.5km of water. The global standard for water consumption is 15 litres per person per day - you try carryinh enough water for a family of perhaps 8 people (120 litres) for 1.5km when it is 35C. The reality is that people carry enough for drinking and cooking but not enough for washing.

This was taken in the village of Odokonyero Kadwang and shows the type of dwelling that people are trying to recreate on ancestral lands - a small group of huts for a family separated by 100m or more from their neighbours. There might be a couple of huts for living, a granary raised off the ground for food storage, another storage hut, a cooking hut and hopefully a latrine hut.

We are still in Kadyang, Paul is explaining to Rob how we create latrines. We have taught people to cast the latrine slab, you can see 2. The household digs the pit (at least 4 m deep) and once the slab is in place builds the walls and roof. We supply the cement, wire mesh and reinforcing bars for the slab and we provide rocks which the community breaks into aggregate.

These are latrine huts in Odokonyero Wikira made under our supervision. They belong to a family, we know that because they both had a padlock on the door. These are raised above the ground because this land becomes water logged in the wet season. Outside the huts are tippy taps, simple handwashing devices comprising a 3 litre jerry can and a piece of string. The only things missing was soap but ash is a reasonable substitute.

We went to Lukwangole to look at a latrine block we have built at the primary school. This is one classs room, there are 6 class rooms for 7 year groups and a total of 8 teachers. The new intake P1 was 149 children in one class room with one teacher and will grow to nearer 200 in the next few weeks. The parents are building teachers' houses (grass roofed huts) on the edge of the school. The school is currently over 400 children but last year reached 800 children.

At the latrine we saw this attractive specimen. It was only 10cm across but it would not be welcome in my room !

Febuary in Patongo

2008-02-10T12:13:00.000Z

I’ve just learnt something about jack fruit – one of my staff rubbed oil on his hands before tackling the fruit and now I know why - it has sticky rubbery resin that gets on your hands and doesn’t wash off. If you don’t know what a jack fruit is, there will be pictures on the web. I first saw them in Vietnam – they produce fruits up to the size of a basket ball which hang directly off the trunk of the tree. They are just in season. I am looking forward to the mango season in May when for about 2 weeks there is a super abundance of mangos. The other fruits we enjoy are pineapple, water melon, bananas and passionfruit but they all have to be brought from Lira about 90 minutes drive from here.

The main focus of work is securing funding for the next stage of our water sanitation programme, about 80% of our financing. The current project expires at the end of March so we are in the process of writing a new proposal for funding by the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. We had some of their technical specialists with us 2 weeks ago and got good feedback from them and some indication of what they would be prepared to fund next.

It’s more than 18 months since the last LRA atrocity and northern Uganda is in transition from an emergency to development. People are gradually moving from large refugee camps to re-settlement sites and back to ancestral lands. But it is a slow process – 59% of the population are in refugee camps, 37% in resettlement sites and just 4% on ancestral lands. The fear of the LRA is still very real because ancestral lands means a few huts in a family cluster and then may be 200m to the next hut. So they are very vulnerable to attack and such a diffuse population is hard to protect. This weekend there is some army activity aimed at LRA remnants about 30 minutes drive from here. The impact of the LRA is still very much around us, not just in displaced people but in people’s experiences. The staff member who put oil on his hands before handling the jack fruit told me his mother was killed in an LRA raid. Two weeks ago, we took 2 children to a hospital in Gulu, 3 hours west of here: one child has substantial brain damage when she was beaten by the LRA as a 4 year old, the other was shot through the upper arm in 2004: the bone remains broken and the elbow is shattered. Our guard at the office has a deformed hand from when an LRA soldier pushed it into a fire.

This is the memorial in Opota, a village perhaps 15 minutes from here. There are the names of 27 civilians killed in a single LRA raid on 22 October 2002; there are three names in red, these were cut up and cooked in a pot by the side of the road. I was in the village last month – they said some people were locked in their huts which were then set on fire while others were roasted on a fire. No wonder it is such a traumatised society. These people used to live with their cattle around them: these were stolen in the late 1980 either by the Karamajong or rebel factions, then they were forced into camps (Patongo was the largest at 100,000) where they built huts a few metres apart from each other. For some, a whole generation has known only camp life and has not learnt the traditional subsistence agriculture way of life. And because there is no employment here, that is all there is to go back to. What employment there is, is mostly government or NGOs. There are some small businesses, carpenters, bicycle repairs but there are very few private sector employers.

I was in Gulu 2 weeks ago – is it the largest city in NE Uganda, economically dominated by NGOs, many of whom have their main base in the north there. It has power and some tarmac to is more developed than anything around here. But it is still not exactly a modern town.

Business was slow that day

Urban huts, rather old, concrete shared latrine blocks

between houses, an open sewer, the man in the foreground does his weldong business where he sits

Part of a market on a main street

I went with the US OFDA visitors to some our projects in new settlement sites and bush villages. Here are some photos from Namabili. The small round hut is a latrine, the water point is protected with posts to prevent livestock contaminating it, the woman is cooking some sorghum which will make an alcoholic drink.

I go to the only English/Luo speaking Pentecostal church in Patongo. We meet in a long hut with mud brick walls and a grass roof. I preached there 3 weeks ago and then was asked to speak at a training conference of leaders in 2 weeks time. I have the Saturday afternoon session and then will speak again in Sunday morning. So some preparation is required !

Time is going quickly – I’ll be back in Kampala for a week’s break in 3 weeks time after completing my first 8 week rotation. I’ve no plans yet on what to do and I don’t feel in need of a break yet, I’d be quite happy to stay here a few more weeks. The timing is not great either because we need to be progressing the OFDA project proposal: the current project funding expires three weeks after our return to Patongo.

Our drivers did a training course in the middle of January – here they are proudly holding their certificates.

And Anna and Kathleen messing around at the house.

Christmas in Ethiopia

2008-01-01T19:17:00.000Z

Before I joined Medair, a Christmas trip to Ethiopia was being planned. I accepted the invitation to join. I had spent Christmas 2005 walking in the Simien Mountains in northern Ethiopia but this was to be a site seeing holiday. Eight Medair staff went, 2 from my Patongo team, 2 from the Abim team (an hour from Patongo), one from Sudan, one from Kampala and one on his way home to Germany after 2.5 years in Congo.

The country is surprisingly developed - the roads are good, there is power and telephone lines in most of the northern part of the country we visited, it wasn't difficult to enter and leave the country of change money. And we didn't get hassled much.

It is largely an agricultural economy but the men and women share the labour (in Uganda women do the farm work, men are less active). I was surprised driving north from Addis to Bahir Dar how much of the land is farmed, albeit all by hand.

Bahir Dar, 560km north of Addis Ababa, is on the shore of Lake Tana. There are dozens of churches and monasteries on the shore and on islands, many highly decorated with gospel stories, stories of the saints (especially St George slaying the dragon) and the angels Gabriel and Michael gaurding the way to the Holy Sepulchre where the scriptures are kept and only the priests allowed.

From Bahir Dar, we took a bus to Gondar, the 17th Century capital of northern Ethiopia. The first king to make Gondar his capital was Fasilidas in about 1630. He built a palace and his 5 successors each built there own structure within the Royal Enclosure.

Fasilidas also built a large public bath: late in January they celebrate Timkat, the baptism of Jesus by John Baptist. The bath is filled from a river, the priests bless the water and then everyone jumps into benefit from the blessed water.

The staple food is in injira, a pancake made from fermented dough - take the local grain, tef, grind to flour, mix with water, leave for 4 days then cook on a wide hot plate. Serve with various meats and vegetable (many spiced with a mix called burberry), and eat with the fingers tearing off pieces of injira. I have had many Ethiopian meals and I like the food. Below is Henrieke and Alyche (both Dutch)

From Gondar we flew to Lalibela, which must be the jewel in the crown. In the 11th century, king Lalibela was concerned about Islam and decided to create churches which the Muslims couldn't find and couldn't destroy. So he found an area with unfaulted rock and dug straight into the rock creating churches made of solid rock with no supporting structures. There are 11 in Lalibela, many more in the surrounding area. This is perhaps the most famous image: a cruciform church, the roof of the 3 story structure is level with the ground.

This is the church dedicated to Emmanuel. I was standing on ground level (roof level) when I took this picture.

The 29 december is the day the coptic church remembers the angel Gabriel. One of the churches is dedicated to Gabriel and because Christmas is next week there are many pilgrims (some will have walked for 4 weeks) in Lalibela. Only the priests and singers and a few worshipers get into the churches so the sound of the priest is relayed to the pilgrims outside: we witnessed part of the celebration, all the pilgrims are robed in white.

There is a remarkable church 40km from Lalibela, called Yermehanne Kristos, built by king Yermehanne in a basalt cave in the late 1100s.. The structure has alternate layers of stone plastered with marble dust and juniper wood. Inside is beautifully carved and decorated

The boy is not playing - he is bent double due to some spinal condition. We saw many lame people, mostly polio, and many blind. Unlike Uganda, begging is common.

And from Lalibela back to Addis Ababa for a final dinner together, for a change in an American theme restaurant. From left to right: Anna (Patongo), Henrieke by opposite number in Abim, Alyche (Sudan), Ann (Abim), Kathleen (Patongo), Phyllis (Kampala). The final member of the group, Bernd, was travelling by bus to Addis Ababa (2 days) to arrange visas for overland trip to Germany via Sudan, Egypt, Jordan and Israel.

Back to reality now ! Work tomorrow, then the team drives to Patongo on Thursday. It's the hot and dry season now, scorpions to be expected !

Post card from Patongo

2007-12-16T19:33:00.000Z

This is the Patongo team taken on Kat's last day - Kat has been Water/sanitation manager for the last year, she goes home in the New Year - Kat is the blong woman . On the right is Kathleen, the Hygiene manager, Anna is the red head centre left, the Psychosocial manager. Fromt right is the newest member of the management team, Oryem John Silver, a Ugandan.
We have had a few parties for Michelle leaving, for Fraser (the country director) leaving and for Kat leaving. This was from Fraser's party, some of the local staff playing percussion, dancing and singing.

This is in Patongo, women (and it is always women and children) collecting water from a handpump. NGOs like Medair drill the boreholes, cast the concrete apron, put in the pump and provide the jerry cans. The recognised standard is 15 litres per person per day for drinking, cooking, washing, hygiene. The likelihood of using more than 10litres per day (the other 5 is for hygiene such as hand washing) goes down with the distance from the water and the waiting time. The relief standard is 500m and 15 minutes wait but the Uganda government standard is 1.5km. Try walking 1.5km with 100kg of water per day, enough for a family of 7 at 15litre each per day.

Party time requires goats and chickens to be killed - no supermarket and no prepacks so you buy a live animal and get it butchered. This is a goat being prepared. Top left is the skin.

Pigs wander around the camp site and they are large and fat -plenty of vegetation and scraps but they are also a hygiene hazard. This pig is staying cool by lying in the outflow of a bathing shelter, a structure with out a roof for washing using a bowl and cup.

I feel a bit of a fraud: the normal cycle in Patongo is 8 weeks and then Rest & Relaxation (R&R) for a week. But the longest I have done so far is 10 days and now I am back in Kampala. We drove down on Saturday, leaving at 0830 (the earliest we travel due to security). For the first 2.5 hours to Lira, the staff drivers are driving but a lot of staff leave us at Lira, including all the drivers so others take the wheel from there. I drove a Toyota Hilux to Kampala arriving at 1830. There is no tarmac before Lira, mostly tarmac from Lira to Kampala. The roads are variable, some very good (by Uganda standards) but the worst are in the last 30km into Kampala. For comparison, a good road is equivalent to a rural B road in England. I was quite tired by the time we arrived at the Medair house. But the vehicles have to be unloaded, emptied of anything that could go missing when in for service, the logs completed and the flags taken off.
Tomorrow afternoon we start a series of meeting that last until the end of Wednesday and then it is 2 days off before we leave for Ethiopia.

So what of Patongo ? The out-going country director (Fraser) and the in-coming country director (Rob) came to see us in Patongo. Their verdict is that the programmes are running well and that we have a strong team. I went with them last Saturday to the neighbouring team in Abim about 1 hour east. The Abim team work in the same geographical area as we do but provide medical services. Their living conditions are quite different, more of a compound with offices and living accommodation whereas our office and living accommodation are on different sites. Some of the staff live in grass roofed huts which are cooler than buildings with a sheet metal roof – they can be hotter inside than outside. And there is a large communal grass roofed building. Abim is in the hills so it is cooler but can be windy and they are nearer to Karamoja and the Karamojong , warrior herdsmen who are probably responsible for much of the insecurity at the moment.

This week has provided examples of how things can be slow to work in this part of the world. On Tuesday there was meant to be a monthly meeting of NGOs working in water and sanitation in Pader which is 45 minutes drive from Patongo: it was cancelled the day before because the District Water Officer was in Kampala, and the Unicef officer, the so called Cluster lead, was also unavailable. But I was due at a bi-weekly UN Organisation for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) meeting so I went any way. On Wednesday I had to go back to Pader to see the district Chief Adminstration Officer (the CAO, pronounced the cow) to get him to sign a memorandum of understanding for a project we are already running. I got to see him after only 20 minutes wait and he said can you back at 2pm tomorrow. So I was back at 2pm on Thursday – the CAO arrived at 2.35pm, the MoU was still not signed because he had yet to see the LC5, the senior elected officer in the district. I should explain that the district is an administrative district (Pader district) which is divided into 2 counties (Aruu and Agago). Agago is divided into 8 sub-counties and sub counties are divided into parishes. We work in 5 sub-counties (Patongo, Lupono, Lukole, Adilang, Omot) in Agago sub-county. The CAO is in Kampala from Wednesday so I might get to meet him here and get our signed MoU.

On Wednesday afternoon, I joined 2 of the psychosocial team, essentially social workers, doing the last survey of a settlement in the 5 sub-counties registering especially vulnerable individuals (orphans with little or no support, child headed households, the chronically sick (HIV, polio, TB etc), the mentally ill, the disabled and the vulnerable elderly). Martin and Rebekkah and I arrived in a small village, Apoto, and asked for the camp commander. They explained what they wanted to do and he sent out a message to gather in a block leader from each of the 5 blocks. Martin then explained to the block leaders about Medair and what they wanted to do and who they wanted to identify. The block leaders provided the names and then we went to visit each one to confirm their status. We registered 14 people.

There is a monument in Apoto to a massacre by the LRA in 2002 – about 30 people were killed, the names in red were those who were dismembered and cooked in a pot. People were locked into huts and the huts set alight, others were roasted on a fire. It’s hard to imagine such cruelty.

One of my weekly routines is to check the cash disbursements; it is a 100% cash economy so all, so cash is issued, purchases made, receipts received and unspent cash returned. We can make 200 purchases in a week plus everyone takes at least part of their month’s pay in cash. And last week we also issued the Christmas bonus. The finance officer logs it all and I have to check that the receipts all match and that it has all been correctly coded. And then we have to count all the cash. Last week we were 170 shillings out (3500 to 1 pound) on millions of shillings spend and millions of shillings in cash. My part of the process takes about half a day a week. The cash gets issued in Kampala and someone brings it up typically in bundles of about 5kg.

I am getting used to Patongo and enjoying the work. The challenge in the New Year is to renew funding for the water and sanitation work that expires at the end of March which is 80% of our funding. There is still plenty of money left but there is also much work still to be done before the sub-counties and parishes and assume responsibilities. And by the end of February, we will have seen where people have moved to in this dry season, out from “mother camps” to ancestral homes or new settlements. There is certainly plenty of building going on but imagine making and baking your own bricks, building the house, plastering inside and out, gathering wood to make the frame of the roof and gathering grass to roof it. You might need 3 huts – a kitchen, a store, a living/sleeping space. Then digging a latrine (5m deep), building the latrine shelter and the bathing shelter.

And then we need to start creating the medium term strategy – where do we want to work, which are the most vulnerable groups, what work do we want to do ?

Much of the work so far has been personnel: finalising a package to enable staff to move out of the Medair house and into the community, proposing the R&R weeks, doing an annual appraisal, sorting out a dispute between staff and advising others on how to manage the conflict. And the other piece I am progressing is called beneficiary accountability – how do we inform beneficiaries of what we are doing, how do we consult with them and listen to what they want, how do they tell us if they have complaints or suggestions.

Settling into Patongo

2007-11-25T09:47:00.000Z

So let's start with some photos.

This is Patongo High Street, such as it is. It reminds me a bit if spaghetti westerns! If you want to buy anything, best wait for the Tuesday market which is really quite impressive for size, range of goods and number of people

Here's the Medair Patongo vehicle fleet, Toyota Hilux and Toyota Landcruisers, parked in the vehicle yard at one end of the compound

Turn around and look through the vehicle yard gate and this is what you see. We are lierally in the middle of a camp for Internally Displaced Peoples, current population 30,000

The wall is the side of our compound, the fence in the foreground surrounds a patio and a garden (only partly cultivated but with potential to produce some fresh veg which everyone would appreciate). There are huts up against the other side of the compound too.

Now we're inside, it's a bit like a stable block with 10 rooms down each side. At the far end is a water tank, showers, latrines. And beyond our vehicle yard.

And this is looking back the other way from the water tank to the dining area and the kitchen and a couple of common rooms beyond which don't get much use. And yes, that's a banana tree.

Across the road from the garden end of the compound is the Bamboo Nest bar: the blackboard has all the football matches to be screened on TV in the bar - there is a huge following of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. We have a no alcohol policy so no cold beers. And they often play loud dance music until midnight which is not welcome !

And now for the update.

We left Kampala on Monday at 7am, me behind the wheel of a Toyota Hilux. 5 hours of driving took us to Lira. The roads varied from decent tarmac where 100km/hr was possible to potholed roads where 10km/hr was advisable. The same road could change quality dramatically as it crossed from one district to the next. 4x4’s are definitely required here. At Lira we picked up more local staff and changed drivers – only local staff are allowed drive beyond Lira for security reasons. The roads aren’t too bad, some marram (dirt) roads safe for 80km/h but for some sections the speed is reduced to a crawl. We were the lead vehicle because the aircon doesn’t work so we have to have the windows down. Behind us, they had to keep the windows up because of the dust kicked up by our vehicle. Lira to Patongo is 2 hours drive.

The IDP camps are poor – people living in tukuls, grass thatched round huts. There is little or no employment so men sit around while women tend the fields, harvest, thresh and winnow by hand. The children are often naked and dirty. Patongo is no different. But, actually, our living space is OK. It might be described as a stable block – 20 rooms opening into a central courtyard. At one end is the water tank (black plastic elevated) which feeds the 4 showers (cold) and hand wash point and the kitchen. The latrines are next to the showers. Beyond that end of the courtyard is the vehicle compound and beyond that part of the IDP village. Looking from the water tank, there is the dining area and beyond that a kitchen and 2 rooms which don’t get much use. Beyond that is the garden which contains a bread oven. I want to get the garden going so we have a choice of fresh veg – there isn’t much choice here and Lira, 2 hours away, is the nearest shopping area and we send vehicles there only once every 4 weeks. Sowing season is March ready for the rains in April. One of the staff has tried to get the garden going but without too much success – the soil may need some improving but there is time to do that.

The office is 10 minutes walk away – 6 small rooms. Solar electricity with generator back up. The IT system is barely adequate, no server just an external hard drive used as a common hard drive but LAN and wireless speeds are low and at the moment the internet connection is painfully slow.

I left with Michelle at 0830 Tuesday morning to go Pader for the fortnightly meeting held by the UN Organisation for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Pader is about 40 minutes from Patongo. It was held in a room without windows, near the road, so it was noisy and most locals do not project their voices so it was hard to hear what was being said. But it was my first introduction to the other NGO’s. I was back in Pader with Michelle on Wednesday for a meeting chaired by the district engineer on roads (lots of NGO’s are involved with reconstructing and improving roads, we are doing some point repairs where culverts are needed to make roads passable in the rainy season). And then to the WASH cluster meeting (water sanitation and health). In 2 hours we managed to get through the minutes of 2 previous meetings! The rest of the day Michelle introduced to me to the other NGO’s based in Pader. We stayed overnight in a simple hotel (the best in Patongo, no running water)so we could go to a social gathering at the ICRC house (we don’t travel after 5pm). Amazingly I met Ibramia from the Gambia who has just moved from Y Care International (the relief charity affiliated to the YMCA) to War Child and has worked for the Nottinghamshire YMCA in the Bulawayo project. So he knows people I know.

Back to Patongo on Thursday morning, management meeting in the afternoon, mostly HR issues, team meeting Friday morning. It is CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Govt meeting) in Kampala and Thursday and Friday were public holidays so we closed at lunch time on Friday (normally we work to lunch time on Saturday) although a few of us kept going all afternoon.

My first weekend in Patongo – there are some weights (just one useable dumb bell) so had something of a work out (to the amusement of some local staff) and then read some work documents in preparation for next week. I’m back in Kampala Wednesday (flying this time) to get to a 3 day meeting on a funding programme for NE Uganda from which we benefit: it was meant to be Thursday, Friday but was brought forward to start on Wednesday only a few days ago when everyone knows that flights from NE Uganda are only Monday, Wednesday and Friday arriving early afternoon and need booking weeks in advance. So one of the Kampala staff will have to do the presentation on Wednesday.

So far settling into Patongo life but keen to get out to see the staff in action.

Ready for Patongo

2007-11-18T15:33:00.000Z

This is Friday lunch at the Medair House - posho (maize paste) and beans and a meat stew, very typical Uganda food although for most people meat might be available once a month. The cook (Mama Eva) has her back to me, Diane the reception is on the left and Shelley the admin manager is next to her. On the right is Phyllis (HR) and Fraser (country director and my boss for the next 4 weeks)

That's one of our Hilux turning into the house, the first sign is to the office

The roads are very variable - this is Kironde Rd to the Medair house, plenty of potholes big enough to damage axles if taken too quickly

From Kironde Rd I am looking to the top of Tank Hill - water tanks on the top.

and this is turn from Tank Hill Rd into Kironde Rd - Medair, Medecin Frontiere, a German HIV/TB mission and other NGO's sign posted

Down Tank Hil to Kabalagala, the local commercial area.

Fancy some goat ? Or the Ethiopian restaurant behind ?

On the left a line of motorcycles, the ubiquitous boda boda taxis - you have to admire their skill in weaving between traffic and potholes but I think I'll avoid them

The nearest we get to Tesco is John Rich on the corner of Tank Hill Rd and the main road to Kampala centre. Congestion can be appalling, it was yesterday. Some of the disruption is the run up to CHOGM when road are being repaired and new structures appearing.

Last sunday I went to church at an orphanage people are supporting - that's Ian who has a full time job but is spending lots of time with the orphanage. It has about 40 children on site but supports many more in the community with foster parents. Ian is in the kitchen !

These are girls in their dorm - triple deck bunks covered with a mosquito next with a small trunk for their cloths and possessions

and the boys in their dorm

So what has happened this week ? Mostly handover briefings with Michelle, the current project manager. The rest of the Patongo team has been on R&R. A good week, beginning to get a sense of what needs to be done. And I have written various proposals, mostly HR issues. and my first meeting with donors, this time the EU who are funding the Northern Uganda Rehabilitation Programme (NUREP), a Uganda Government programme. We are delivering support to vulnerable children - Formerly abducted children (FAC's), Child Headed Households (CHH's), Especially Vulnerable Individuals (EVI's) and others.

Tomorrow we drive to Patongo - 2 land cruisers and 1 Toyota Hilux. It has been quite wet here this week, Patongo is hotter and drier. I am looking forward to it. I expect to be back in Kampala in 10 days for some meetings but I'll be out of Kampala for CHOGM which will occupy Kampala - Thursday and Friday this coming week were declared public holidays on Monday this week but inPatongo we will be working to lunchtime Friday.

Musungu in Kampala

2007-11-10T14:22:00.000Z

Musungu is what white people are called by the locals !

The last week in UK was spent in London with my brother and sister in law in London in Belgrave Court where they have apartments are living at the weekend. This is where I have my one bedroom apartment let out. The view from Peter and Suzy's is similar to the view from my apartment, along the river to the city.

On Wednesday, I visited Don and Gwen in Warlingham - not giving away Gwen's age, but the same as my mother would have been, and Gwen has embraced computers and the internet. So if your reading this Gwen, you're a great example to others !

Thursday I got my Ugandan visa, spent a short time in the National gallery (and found myself in front of The Wedding of Arnolfini by Jan van Eyck, a picture that I have known since studying for General Studies A level), had lunch with Andrew then met Becky and visited the Royal Academy to see an exhibition (highly recommended) of English art collected the American Paul Mellon in the 50's and 60's when English masterpieces were not valued, and we took in the National Portrait gallery. So topped up with graphic art !

Friday Suzy and I moved from Canary Wharf to Wimbledon, did some shopping, Suzy lost a bag which by God's grace turned up a few days later. Saturday, last bit of shopping and dinner with Peter and Suzy at the Bombay Bicycle Club. Sunday Emmanuel Church, my eyes moistened and throat tightened a few times during the service. Good to take communion with Peter and Suzy as for me it tightens the bond. Lunch with Des and Liz's.

I thought I might be over on the luggage but not 51kg v 35kg allowance! The check in assistant allowed me to increase to 40kg - I took out one bag and it came to 44kg which went through and repacked most of what had been removed into my hand baggage. And then after some more moist eyes, I was off. I'm sure no coincidence that I watched Amazing Grace (the story of Wilberforce) on the leg to Dubai. I arrived ahead of schedule in Kampala around 1400 local time. I was picked up by the deputy country director and an hour later was in the Medair House.

Various photos of the Medair House. The office, the house, the 2 guest houses (I have a room in one), the view from the veranda and the living rooms and veranda of the house.

I have been made to feel very welcome - there are the Kampala based staff and then various visitors passing through on their way to Medair sites in Northern Uganda (there are three, Patongo, Abim and Kaabong), or on their way to the Democratic Rupublic of Congo. Work this week has been meeting people, induction briefings and reading , finding out how the house and office works. We have lunch together Mon-Fri prepared by the cooks, laundry is done for you (everything is ironed because of mango flies which lay eggs on wet clothes and the larvae bury under the skin !). When I had lunch with Andrew on Thursday, he asked which flight I was taking because he might be going to Kampala to do some work for the Uganda government ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting later this month. Well, Andrew came and we had dinner at the Kampala Sheraton on Tuesday evening. I hadn't seen Andrew for 6 months (since ending in hospital after a mountain mike accident) and then we see each other twice in 5 days !

The Patongo team arrive this weekend on R&R so I look forward to meeting them. This coming week should be induction meetings with the current project manager.

Today, a bit more relaxed - I went to a market to find a pair of sports shoes (I didn't think I would need any) so I went to the second hand market, Owino, a bussling souk like place. Tomorrow, I might go to an orphanage with some Medair friends (I met on the briefing in Lausanne at the beginning of September) who have got involved there. Or perhaps to KPC (Kampala Pentecostal Church, a huge church I am told).

I drive to Patongo with the team on Monday 19 November, back in Kampala for a country meeting on 15 December and then planning to go to Ethiopia for a week over Christmas. Back to work 2nd Jan and fly to Patongo 3 Jan.

Leaving Nottingham

2007-10-30T09:19:00.000Z

I cleared the house in Derby on Saturday - thank you Becky, I could not have done it without you. And thank you to Jean who is storing the few boxes of pictures and ornaments and winter clothing that I am keeping. I kept my promise to Esther for dinner at one of Nottingham's finest - we had a very good evening at Harts. Sunday was focussed on food (and driving) because it was lunch with Steve and Sheila in Bournemouth with the bonus of Sara being there too. I don't think I have driven 450 miles for lunch before !

Monday I weighed the luggage I propose to take - most of the books will have to stay behind - perhaps I'll take them next October. Then boxes of books to a charity shop, to Derby to read the meters and hand in the key, and for the first time in 2 weeks enough spare time to go to the gym for the last time.

Going down to Bournemouth, I phoned lots of people and invited to join me in the Wheatsheaf in Burton Joyce in Monday evening. So Monday evening was great - lots of friends.

But how do you say goodbye for 12 months ? It still feels not quite real - I am reallly going to be out of the country for the most part of the next 4 years ? and after that ? Well, the Lord knows and this morning I was on my knees again - I will go where He wants me to go nd do what He wants me to do. He has gone before me, I just need to find his footsteps and walk in them.

8 days to go

2007-10-27T08:57:00.001+01:00

It's gone from weeks to go to days to go - the last couple of weeks have flown by.

Having left employment, my first task was loading my iPod which the business gave me as a leaving present - Synergy Healthcare is inscribed on the back to remind me ! So who needs a teenager to load their iPod ? It took me a moment to realise that I need to download the iPod software and then for 3 days every spare moment I was feeding the computer with CD's. I loaded about 120 CD's into my 80GB iPod and I still have about 75GB spare. I can't see myself ever using CD's again - to think that a rack of CD's is now on my iPod and backed up on PC.

I had 2 medicals that confirmed that I do not have a hernia or any weakness - both brothers have had hernia repairs recently - and after a doctor thinking she could hear a heart murmur, the echo cardiogram result was normal. So thank you Lord.

On 18 October, I went to Manchester for the funeral of Graeme Angus, someone I knew in the YMCA. He had done 40 years of faithful service, and was recently acting National Secretary. A really outstanding person. He was so looking forward to his retirement in May 2006 but soon after stomach cander struck and the Lord took him home a couple of weeks ago. The church was full, 50% YMCA people, the eulogies from 2 YMCA people and his children were an appropriate tribute to a great man - a great life , lived well.

This past week has been travel - over 1000 miles so far - Peter and Chris in Bristol, Dodie in Cornwall, Terry and Jane in Clevedon then home. Then Robert and Joan in Leicester on Wednesday, and Robert and Amanda in Ampleforth in Wednesday evening. What a lovely part of the country - the family live 10 minutes walk from the abbey and school.

Robert is doing some wonderful work with Catholic young people so I'll put in a plug for his website - keep an eye on http://www.xt3.com/. It is receiving God's favour.

I left Ampleforth to go to a Synergy meeting in Manchester, the last project meeting for the Wythenshawe factory build that I will do. We arranged it for 3pm so we could do dinner together - 1830 at San Marco's the best Italian in Manchester. And who was at the next table but Sven Joren Ericksen (he didn't recognise any of us !). As someone said, "He's smaller than he looks on TV". And Kevin commented that when you see these celebrity figures, you realise that they are just ordinary human beings. Amen !

So yesterday the house was cleared. Esther managed ti find me for the first time but not without a few phone calls and a phone call that lasted for the last 3 miles. Esther was great helpng me with cleaning and took a car load back to Nottingham (having chosen a few things for herself!). The charity Betel took away all the remaininig furniture, most of the kitchen contents. I'm sitting in an empty house doing my blog and emails - today I'll move stuff for storage to Jean's in Stafford and hopefully empty this house and hand in the keys. Becky is coming to help today - great friends ! Tonight, I'll keep a long made promise to take Esther to a good Nottingham restaurant.

And last night, Becky took me to the theatre - I chose Verdi's Falstaff, Opera North are in the town this week- great fun, well done, and a good Falstaff.

Steve and Sheila in Bournemouth tomorrow, then back to Nottingham and down to London on Tuesday (?)

And I handed in my laptop and mobile to Synergy yesterday afternoon so that is now over.

I have participated in a Synergy share save scheme which I chose to cash on leaving the business - I was surprised to receive £6000 - God's unexpected provision, thank you Lord !

Three weeks to go

2007-10-14T22:45:00.000+01:00

As of Friday I am now unemployed, at least gainfully unemployed. I still got a call at 3.30pm on Friday afternoon seeking my input on a contractual problem - the business is rock solid, unfortunately the NHS have signed a contract which hasn't given them everything they thought they were getting. When you are negotiating detailed contracts, it is easy to miss some details, especially when the negotiations were spread over so many months.

In my final week in the business, I only worked Monday afternoon and then all Tuesday in Manchester. The factory was not quite ready but almost there and processing had started. The rest of the week has been very busy though - putting more items on eBay, writing to all those organisations that need to know that I am moving, clearing out the filing cabinet (which goes tomorrow) keeping only the essentials, planning visits to family and friends next week. I have bought a new camera so I can take photos useable for Medair's publications and a laptop arrives soon. And I have worked out how to load music onto the iPod that Synergy bought for me; I have loaded 30 CD's so far, about another 60 to go.

Friday was my last trip to the theatre for a while - Tango Fire, an outstanding Argentinian tango ensemble. A piano, double bass, button accordian and a fiddle made great music. There was a singer whom we named Julio who had the whitest toothy smile. And 5 male and 5 female dancers who were stunning. There must have been about 2000 people in the concert hall.

And then today was my sending out by the church. I was so pleased to see friends joining me in the church and really pleased that my brother and sister in law came up from London. Jamie has put some photos, music and text together to give an overview of the issues in NE Uganda and then interviewed me. Why me ? why now ? And then the elders prayed for me. A good friend and my brother joined me on the platform - I think my brother was surprised to have the microphone thrust in to his hand and invited to start the praying. David Shearman then invited the congregation to call success over me as in 1Chronicles 12:28 "Success, success to you, and success to those who help you, for your God will help you". Afterwards, about 50 people joined me for lunch at a local hotel - I was able to say something more of the background to the problems in NE Uganda and about Medair. It was just as I wanted it to be: my friends gathered around me and sharing something of this adventure.

As I was praying this morning, God led me to 2 scriptures. Psalm 146: 7-9 "He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and widow, but frustrates the ways of the wicked". How appropriate for the people in the refugee camps. And Phillippians 3:12 "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me...............Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to the win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus". I have made it my habit recently each day to kneel before the Lord in the same way that a subject might kneel and do obeisance to a king. I did that this morning and sensed the presence of the Captain of the Lord's host (Joshua 5:15).

So a blessed week, lots of progress and a sense that there is not much more to do before I leave Derby !

Leaving Lunch from Synergy

2007-10-06T11:35:00.000+01:00

I had my leaving lunch on Tuesday- about 45 people joined me at the Derby Conference Centre. As well as Synergy colleagues, I was also joined by Will and Dean from Nottingham YMCA, Gillian from Derby YMCA, Paul and David from the insurance brokers, Caroline from the hospital in Wythenshawe, and Barry and Kevin from Welconstuct. I kept them from their lunch while I spoke for 10 minutes about Uganda, Medair and my next steps. The whole event went well, as I had wanted it to. One colleague told me how much he appreciated my professionalism, another said that meeting me before he joined had positively influenced his decision to join Synergy. One of my guests told me he had enjoyed working with me more than with anyone other of his customers. It's nice to be appreciated !

My boss, the FD, made a short speech of thanks and told me they had ordered a solar powered wind up radio which made me smile - Nottingham YMCA had already given me one and Will and Dean knew that. But in God's wonderful ways, Sarah (PA) called me to say that they couldn't get the radio I had ordered which allowed me say don't get a radio, what about am iPod. So an iPod is on its way.

The rest of Tuesday was taken with various meetings and then I stayed till 11pm clearing my desk and files - it was my last full day in the office. The rest of the week has been spent in the new factory in Wythenshawe - it's a few days late but almost complete, and it looks good. Lot's of work for the team still to do and I won't be there ! But the design and build team don't want to let me go that easily - I will join them for a meeting in Manchester on 25 October and then doing dinner. Which reminds me, the lawyers who have supported me in the projects in Wythenshawe and Lancashire came for a tour of the building they have helped to create (which they really appreciated) and then we did lunch in a great restaurant, Francs in Altrincham, which I can highly recommend.

More items sold on eBay this week - the dining chairs went this morning.

Of security management (and a looming deadline)

2007-10-01T20:29:00.000+01:00

Sunday 4 November, the day I fly to Dubai en route to Kampala is rushing towards me and there still feels to be so much to do ! But it is mostly clearing this rented house - I don't want to put much in storage (photos, pictures, some books, some clothes).

I was in London Tuesday- Friday last week on an HQ Security Management course with a charity, RedR (I think it was originally the Register of Engineers in Disaster Relief). The course addressed policy and implementation of security from an HQ perspective. It was good preparation but it could have been so much better. There were several very experienced NGO staff on the course but the course tutors didn't really get the benefit of their experience or challenge them on how their NGO operates at the moment. But I've come away with CD's full of useful documents should I need to write or re-vamp the security management policies and procedures. I recognised much of the material as standard business risk management tools applied to managing in an insecure area.

Whilst in London, I got a healthcheck from a medical charity that supports releif workers, InterHealth. The doctor listened to my heart and then asked "has anyone mentioned a heart murmur before ?" so I am trying to get an echo cardiogram done before I leave. She said it is probably nothing but worth checking out.

At the end of the course, I met manager of the UK office to exchange some materials and discuss my plans to speak at a few churches. He lent me a book "when the sun sets, we start to worry, an account of life in Northern Uganda" published in 2004. The foreword by Jan Egeland, a UN under-secretary, sets out succinctly, the issues that have led to the plight of the people of Northern Uganda, so I will quote some of it.

"As the world turns its gaze towards the horrors of Darfur, an equally terrible situation in Northern Uganda continues virtually unnoticed: the actions of a fanatical rebel movement, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), have displaced over 1.6 million people, even more than in Darfur. The conflicthas destroyed lives, communities and rich cultural traditions. This conflict, surrounded by an inexplicable international silence, cannot be allowed to continue. The international community must help to end it and staunch the haemorrhage of human suffering.

Where else in the world do we see boys and girls kidnapped in attacks directly targetting them ? Not long ago, I witnessed first hand the suffering of families in northern Uganda. I was more shocked by what I saw there than on any other visit to conflict areas. More than 20,000 children have been kidnapped inclduing 12,000 since 2002 alone. This is a conflict fought by, with and against children. More than 80 percent of the LRA are minors, forced to become child soldiers or sex slaves to their commanders. In the town of Gulu, I met a young girl who had escaped from the LRA. She told me how she had been forced to club and bite another child to death. Like this girl, thousands of other children have been raped, brutalised, drugged and forced to inflict unspeakable violence on others. The result: a generation whose childhood has been forever stolen from them.

Where else do we see the phenomenon of "night commuters"? Each night in northern Uganda, more than 40,000 mothers, grandmothers and chilrden leave their homes and travel many miles on foot to the ain towns, seeking refuge from abduction by the LRA. When the sun rises, they trek back to their villages, usually on an empty stomach."

The situation has improved since that was written, the LRA has withdrawn and peace talks have started. People are gradually returning to their villages. But the damage and the scars will take a generation to heal. It is these refugees in their own country, the former child soldiers and the victims of the LRA that Medair seeks to reach.

On Saturday 22 September, I took advantage of the birthday present, my brother, Christopher, had bought for me, an off road driving experience. The previous Saturday, I had been off road in the Lake District in Land Rover Defender and Mitsubishi Pajero each with oversize tyres running at 18psi, and driving over rocky terrain. This time it was muddy and wet conditions in a standard Land Rover Discovery with "country tyres". Great fun, and they are very capable vehicles !

So my last full week in the business this week - my leaving lunch tomorrow, Tuesday. I'll work Tuesday 9th but intend to be off the rest of the week.

Six weeks to go!

2007-09-21T20:53:00.000+01:00

It's about 6 weeks since I last added to my blog - for a couple of weeks in August there wasn't much to say and then the last few weeks there has been plenty to say but no time to say it !

So let's go back 3 weeks when I flew to Geneva on Sunday 1st September. I stayed in a hotel at the airport overnight and on Monday took the bus into Geneva. I walked along the lake and made my way to near the UN HQ, en route to the Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. It was very moving. The founder, Henri Dunant, a surgeon, was horrified to see nothing being done for the wounded at the battle of Solferino in 1859. He was a passionate Christian and his compassion, and I am sure, the call of God, led to the formation of the Red Cross as an independent organisation that provided care to the wounded in war. Since then the Red Cross has extended its mission to informing families when relatives become POW's, providing comfort for POW's, to advocating for victims of war. Remarkably, Dunant was involved in drafting the first Geneva Convention and in founding the YMCA (which is close to my heart) in Switzerland. However, he was a director of Credit Genevoise, a bank which went bust and dragged him down with it. He either left or was expelled from the organisation he has founded and went in to obsecurity. He was tracked down in 1901 to become the first ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

At the musem entrance and in the entrance lobby are very moving sculptures collectively known as "The Petrified".

From Geneva to Lausanne, and the HQ of Medair for 3 days of briefing. There were 11 of us on the briefing, 9 soon to leave for the field. So I met the HQ staff, my future boss, Rob, whom I met on my orientation course last June and 2 of the people who will be with me in Patongo, Quentin, 35, a self employed builder from the UK who goes as construction manager and will take over the water sanitation programme, and Kathleen, 26, from the USA, a special needs teacher, who will do hygiene education.

The accommodation is described as hacienda style, 4x4m concrete rooms opening onto a central square: we each (3-4 expats, 20 or so local staff)have our own room. There is electricity in the evening courtesy of the solar panels and a battery. The bathroom is 3 cold showers and a pit latrine (not too many cockroaches!). There is a cook, we eat lunch together, otherwise we get our own breakfast and supper, and washing is done every day but you do your own smalls. And there is a market in Patongo so fresh fruit and vegetables are obtainable. The expat team in Patongo is currently 3 women - I hope they are ready for the larger appetites that Quentin and I will bring !

There is broadband access in the office but for security, we must leave the office at 7pm and be in the compound for 9pm.

The 3 days of briefing covered Medair's procedures, finance, security, publicity, meeting with the Desk Officer (the HQ person responsible for funders and funding) and the other HQ support staff. Medair seem to prepare their staff well and provide good support. We were given a few books - Staying Alive (ICRC), Landmine and Explosive Remnants of War (UN/Care), Coping with Stress (ICRC), all useful and reminders that Medair works in areas of potential danger.

Two weeks ago, I met Gabriele at Heathrow, she was in London for a training course. Gabriele was my group leader when I did the Relief Orientation Course with Medair last June. We've stayed in touch by email since then. She was born into a Christian family in East Germany where she and her family experienced persecution and restrictions under the socialist regime. She trained as a nurse and spent 8 years in India. She has spent the last 3 years with Medair in Afghanistan and goes back soon for her final 9 months. She speaks German, Russian and English, leant Tamil in India and is fluent in Dari, the main language of Afghanistan.

Last weekend I was in the Lake District, mountain biking on Saturday and then learning off road driving on Sunday. I drove a manual LandRover Defender in the morning and an automatic Mitsubishi Pajero in the afternoon. If I had gone on foot to some of the terrain I drove over I would have said a vehicle could not get over it - but in low ratio with oversize tyres, they are remarkably capable vehicles. The driving technique is different though - in the automatic, you use the left foot on the break at the same time as using the right foot on the accelerator to both climb (to lock the diff) and to descend (to creep over steps).

Work has been as demanding as ever, I am spending lots of time in Manchester as we approach hand over of a new factory in Wythenshawe. It's due to be complete a week today (28 Sept) with handover the following week. It looks like it will be ready for handover on 5 October with a few things to complete later in the month. My last time in Manchester will probably be 9 October by which time we should be processing to gain accreditation to the Medical Devices Directive. And it goes live the day I land in Kampala.

Next week, I shall be in Wythenshawe on Monday and then Tues-Fri with RedR in London on a security management course.

That will do for now - I've rabbited on enough for now. I hope to add to the blog next week from London.

Lots of progress in a week

2007-08-13T19:39:00.000+01:00

Back in the same hotel in Oldham where I started my blog a week ago. Quite a few things have happened in the past week, it's good to reflect.

One thing I did last Monday was to listen to a donw load from the Christian Centre website of Dan Bloomfield talking about overcoming our giants - remember your Ebenezers (Hitherto hath he helped), remember God's faithfulness as you face new challenges. I can testify that God is being wonderfully faithful to me.

I have been promising to set up a blog so I am pleased to have got it under way. Last Monday I also got my IBAN and BIC bank account codes and sent thsoe to Medair

Wednesday I visited the travel nurse at my GP - I got the first of three innoculations for rabies and hep A (2nd jabs this week) and got prescriptions for cholera and meningitis. And the GP signed a form that says I am of sound mind and body to relief work.

Friday I booked tickets for Geneva for 2nd September for my country briefing 4-7 September and I booked a 12 month return ticket to Kampala, leaving 4 November, arriving 5 November into Entebbe in the afternoon.

Friday I also saw my boss, the FD, for the first time in 4 weeks since my final resignation: I resigned on his last day before he left for three and half weeks in Oz. He doesn't want to make an announcement until the end of this week when he has finalised the position of risk manager and found a home for 30% of my role. No home yet for the other 70%. So on Friday evening and again today, I have been telling staff, colleagues and customers that I am leaving. My experience has been that almost everyone I have told has been tremendously supportive and the same has happened today. I told the chair of the joint management board at South Manchester, Colin Hirst, and almost before I had completed my sentence he had reached out his hand to congratulate me. Colin is very committed to making a difference in peoples lives (which is why he works for the NHS, at least until he retires ar 65 in a year's time) and I think he recognised the same desire in me.

I've been selling a few more items in eBay - a coffee table, oak occasional table, a pair of loudspeakers, a pottery lamp and foot stool will soon all have new homes.

And this week ? More innoculations on Friday, an announcement on Friday perhaps. One of my staff, Andy Tattersall's 50th (and his son's 21st) on Friday, Donna who will lead the Manchester project, has invited me to her wedding party on Sunday evening (she's then away until 19 September just a few weeks before I leave).

I'm trying to find a weekend to do a retreat with Andy Churchill - I would so value that. And the YMCA Midlands Region gave me £200 for a retreat when I stepped down as chair.

I saw friends David and Elizabeth on Saturday evening - great to share my plans with them. And on Sunday my former neighbours invited neighbours for the afternoon to mark the completion of the landscaping of their garden - a great opportunity for me to catch up with former neighbours, very much of God.

The Lord is good !

Start of my blog

2007-08-06T22:09:00.000+01:00

I've been promising myself and others for weeks that I would start a blog and here it is. This is my first ever blog and as I have never kept a diary this is going to be a new experience of writing down my thoughts and recording events not just for my private consumption but for others to read and share.

I'm in Smokies, a hotel in Oldham creating this. I've been working in Wythenshawe and Oldham today, progressing the building of a sterile services unit in Wythenshawe which is due to go live in 5 November, the day I intent to start with Medair in Uganda. Utilities can a nightmare in the UK as well as in Uganda. Our contractor paid £150k in February with the order for a new substation. The substation was delivered in June (late), the surround about 3 weeks later. United Utilities gave 16 July as the on site date to connect power to the substation. That then became 30 July, which was just enough time to get it connected before commissioning is due to start. But they failed to turn up last week and today gave a new date of 9 September ! So some stern words on the phone today with more to come tomorrow. Actually, it is now an inconveniece rather than a major issue because we can run the plant from a diesel generator and we have found a way of working around switch gear that we needed to move

This evening I obtained my bank account IBAN and BIC codes and sent those to Medair. Tomorrow, I must contact Key Travel to progress booking my flights to Switzerland for a briefing at the beginning of September and to Uganda at the beginning of November. I shall be in Kampala in just 3 months ! And I'll confirm an off road driving course in the Lake District 16 September.

The boss is back on Wednesday so this week should see the announcement of my departure - the customers and suppliers will have no inkling. The reaction of people I have worked closely with for 18 months plus my staff and colleagues will be interesting.