I find myself in France, sitting just inside a classic French café in the Paris suburbs, people-watching whilst tucking in to the ‘plat du jour’, almost exactly 44 hours after leaving the settlement in northern Uganda.  53 hours since I got out of bed on Thursday morning.   After work, our security guard took me… Read More »

I went to a training last week.  It was another NGO (who shall remain nameless, to protect the innocent), who specialise in Gender Equality in education.  They have a very interesting (genuinely) methodology, through the medium of art; anyone can draw, especially children, right? I was there to observe (though I took full part) with… Read More »

I went to the capital Kampala to get a visa for South Sudan, where I travel fairly often.  It is possible to cross the border without one; you simply pay.  A lot.  So I took the overnight bus (I want to say never again, but really you should ‘never say never’) from the town close… Read More »

A little trip out to a school this afternoon, an hour each way, and hour there.  No worries.  All is well until on the way back, a metallic sound, crunching maybe, and then off comes our front wheel, spinning away into the bush, as we grind to a halt on in the middle of the… Read More »

I could also have tagged this as ‘who needs M&S food?’.   The regular diet of folk out here is not unexpected, after all this is the middle of a 250 km2 refugee settlement, which is still home to 190,000 or so folk displaced from their homes and lives by a civil war; rice, posho,… Read More »

I’m sorry but I couldn’t take a photo for this one, not without it being rude and hitting the stereotype “great white saviour” NGO type, which I am absolutely not. Anyway, we are putting in a new water main – I think I already shared some H&S stuff around the drilling rig.  The guys digging… Read More »

It has been unusually lonely so far on this trip.  Yes the people have been wonderful and welcoming, there is always someone to talk to, about anything and everything. It may not be so fancy these days, but I can put 2 SIM cards in my phone.  So I have added a SIM for one… Read More »

Quite an adventure last night, driving into the town (Yumbe) at around 5, to drop off a short term volunteer at their hotel, and head back to my 10’x10’ at the Disability Centre in the middle of the Refugee Settlement.  It’s about 20km, very rough roads so you have to go steady (and I go… Read More »

I can’t tell you what a wonderful day it is today.  The drilling team finally arrive, 10 days late.  Did I say already that East Africa Time (EAT) is both a thing and a concept?  It is an internationally recognised Time Zone: GMT +3.  So, I am two hours ahead of y’all in BST.  And… Read More »

I bought a little charcoal burner for cooking on.  The problem is that the petrol here is so dodgy everything is covered in soot and I think my little burner is going to see a premature end.  Besides which it was meant for boiling water fast, not letting things simmer. It was pasta night, though… Read More »