The BIG Year Out Cont...

Back to Blighty...

2010-06-17T17:58:00.001+03:00

An interesting news story that you may have heard about in the last month is the case of two guys in Malawi who were sentenced by Malawi’s courts to 14 years imprisonment for being gay. They were subsequently pardoned by the president after immense pressure by the international donor community , human rights groups and, ultimately, Ban Ki-moon, the UN General Secretary. Now, as someone that grew up in a reasonably liberal society I certainly don’t agree with the conviction, but there are so many ironic aspects to this story, on both sides, that I feel they are worthy of mention.

First, the fact that the British government were getting involved, warning that aid to Malawi would be restricted if the laws of the country were not changed, when the law that was used to convict the two guys was a British law dating back to the colonial days...we forget that it’s not so long ago that you could go to prison in the UK for being openly gay... Next, is the fact that men share a very close relationship with other men in Malawi due, in part, to the ‘separation’ of men and women (a womans place is still very much in the home) – most bars and clubs that you go to are frequented only by men and a few prostitutes – when you look on the dancefloor you see a lot of men dancing very closely together, hugging and holding hands. If you took a snap-shut you would think you were in a gay club, and yet, if you question any of the men what they thought about the gay conviction, 99% would support it and claim that homosexuality is a disease from America/the West. They will claim that it goes against their culture, indeed, against African culture – an imported disease/idea from the West...and yet I feel that the root cause of a lot of the homophobic attitudes actually come from the West, via Christian bible teaching. Malawi, like many other African countries, is bursting with ‘missionaries’, particularly evangelical churches from America – strict conservatives who empathise the ‘one man – one woman’ relationship and that homosexuality is wrong. Almost all Malawians go to church and really follow and believe what is preached – no questions asked. [having said that, the ‘one man – one woman’ idea doesn’t seem to have taken hold that much...!]. Finally, after all the noise that human rights groups around the world were making, telling the two convicted gays to stand up for their beliefs and condemning the Malawian government for its actions, one of the recently released ‘gays’ has promptly married a woman ‘pleasuring her up to 4 times a night’ according to the national newspaper here... So, it seems, he wasn’t gay after all...maybe he was just after his 15 minutes in the spotlight...or maybe he was given a pill in prison to cure him of his ‘disease’...?!?!?

A few amusing ‘only in Africa’ moments from the last 4 months:

Squash matches being temporarily interrupted by bats...then birds...and finally cockroaches on the court..!

Golf matches being temporarily interrupted by monkeys running across the green...!

Getting stopped by police, reprimanded for not having my driving license on me...then entering into a 20 minute discussion about why I am not married, and that I need to hurry up and get a wife...apparently not being married at my age was worse than violating traffic laws..

Getting stopped by the police, again, and charged £20 for an insurance sticker falling off my windscreen...until eventually negotiating a £4 bribe after a 40 minute stand-off...

Taking a road trip with a Malawian friend in a car that had recently returned from being repaired after a fairly serious accident...the airbag in the steering wheel and dash-board having been ‘stiched’ together...the windscreen wiper lever missing, promptly starts raining and having to operate the wipers by holding two pieces of exposed wire together to make a connection (and several sparks)...noticing a knocking noise getting progressively worse, until I pulled over in the middle of nowhere in the dark and rain to find that the mechanic who had ‘fixed’ the car after the accident hadn’t tightened the wheel nuts correctly – the wheel was almost hanging off!...then discovering there were no tools in the car – ...waiting an hour for my friends brother to turn up with some tools, only for him to forget the tools and have to go back to get them..!

Sitting in a restaurant and watching as slowly, very slowly, the waitress wipes the left-over food on the table directly into your lap...ordering food in restaurants and not getting it...ordering food in restaurants and not getting what you ordered...

Complete and utter apathy from anyone delivering a ‘service’...even when you are going to pay them for this service and the service is to do exactly what they are paid to do anyway...

...but that’s Africa and I love it!

So, back I head to Blighty, after another incredible 4 months in another beautiful country. This time I really would like to settle back in London for a while, to earn some money (almost 24 months without earning a bean now!), to re-forge friendships and put into practice the lessons and experience I have gained over the last 2 years of adventures. Signing off.

Living in a Bubble

2010-05-07T17:47:00.002+03:00

As mentioned in my previous blog, I am living in an incredible house, with a huge veranda, garden and swimming pool. I have a cook and a security guard. I have access to a car and the majority of my friends are ex-pats. I’m having a great time...but I’m living in a bubble, a complete bubble. This is truly the other end of the ‘African experience’ scale compared to my time in Uganda and, while I’m certainly enjoying myself, I really don’t feel that comfortable. It confirms the opinion I formed when I was in Uganda – I couldn’t live in Africa long-term. Living in a village in Uganda was an incredible experience...but, ultimately, I missed showers, toilets and ovens... Living here, in a big house in Malawi, is also an incredible experience, but it just doesn’t feel real – it doesn’t feel quite right. So many of the population struggle to get access to clean drinking water, and I’m flopping about in my own swimming pool. Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be here and, as you’ll read below, I really feel like I’m making a positive impact, however small, through the work I’m doing...but I couldn’t live here long term, cut-off from most of the ‘real’ people in the country...

...I was chatting to a friend of mine online recently and she was asking me to compare South America to Africa and which one I preferred – and I had to say South America. Why? Not because the sights in Africa are any less impressive, or the countries are less culturally interesting (in many ways they are more so), but more because I feel like I can just ‘fit’ in South America (once the Spanish is nailed) – you can merge, fully-integrate, become a local...but here, you can never really ‘fit’ – you can never really be considered as an equal with the locals – you are always going to stand out, always going to be considered different and, ultimately, I can’t live my life in that way. It’s important to integrate, to feel comfortable in your environment and to feel equal because, after all, we are all equals – no matter your job, the amount of money you have, your religion, or the colour of your skin – we are all equal!

Sorry, not a particularly original point on which to end those rambling paragraphs...I guess, as with the conclusions I drew from my musings last year, it just proves that someone, somewhere has gone through everything you are going through in your life and, thus, has drawn the same conclusions before... as the human race continues it’s getting increasingly hard to be original..!!

So..work..aside from ‘flopping about in my pool(!)’ I have been working incredibly hard. We have now basically set-up a consultancy company – complete with methodology, templates and processes (Accenture eat-your-heart-out!). I have just completed my first client assignment – producing a business and marketing plan for a private college offering courses in accountancy and business. Not the most exciting business, you may think, but it was a really interesting experience, not least working with, and mentoring, the apprentice consultants that we are training. I received great feedback from the client and the apprentices and I feel like I am finally doing what I thought consultancy was all about before I joined the juggernaut of Accenture – I am having a real and direct impact on businesses – helping them with planning and strategy – making tangible changes that will directly improve their businesses and increase their profits. Yes, spreadsheets are still involved, but this time they are recording cash flow, revenue and expenses, not simply tracking the ‘RAG’ status of project activities.. (apologies for those that have no idea what I am talking about – in essence I’m enjoying what I’m doing, I’m making an impact, I’m doing what I wanted to do when I chose consultancy as a career choice – I’m helping to improve the performance of a business and, thus, the lives of the owners, through direct and practical advice. It feels pretty good and I am feeling something I lost a long time ago with this profession – I feel passionate about what I’m doing).

Something else I’m feeling passionate about is the impending World Cup in South Africa! World Cup fever is well and truly taking hold here and, having extended my stay until mid-June, I am going to at least experience the first few games of the competition In Africa – it’s going to be a cracking atmosphere, can’t wait!

On the social side I have been making the most of my weekends – this really is a beautiful country (see pics). Nothing quite beats driving into a game park in the same vehicle you use to drive to work and coming face-to-face with a ruddy great elephant!! This weekend I am off to climb a mountain to celebrate my birthday in style...29...bloody ‘ell...!!

Back to Africa...

2010-03-14T15:27:00.003+03:00

So, here I am, back in deepest, darkest Africa...this time in the ‘warm heart of the continent’ – Malawi. Yep, after 6 months back in Blighty I decided to pack my bags again and head to Malawi after an opportunity came up to work on a development initiative funded by the Scottish government (oddly, the Scottish parliament have their own development fund separate to the UK-wide DFID fund...something, I suspect, with them wanting to think they are independent nation - bless 'em..!!).

The idea of the project is to train a small group of Malawians in the principles of being Business Consultants to serve the thriving MSME sector in Malawi (MSME = Micro, Small and Medium sized enterprises...’Micro’ being one or two man bands...Medium being up to 100 employees). So, myself and a couple of other consultants are out here putting the training materials together whilst also meeting with prospective clients in the MSME sector to tee-up some work. The training programme will be a mixture of classroom based training and ‘on-the-job’ training (i.e. we will work with the Malawian guys on consulting assignments to build their practical skills and apply what they are learning in the classroom). It’s a 2 year programme, with the intention of different UK consultants coming out every 3 months...my initial contract is, thus, just for 3 months.

It’s a really interesting project, well, it is for me anyway, and kind of ties in with what we do with wannabeamazin out in Uganda – the idea of our wannabeamazin programmes is to encourage creativity in the children which we target. A big problem in Africa, in my opinion, that I noted in Uganda and is apparent here too, is that the way children are educated here really stifles creativity. It is based on the English system 100 years ago – everything is dictated by the teacher and the students simply copy the lessons down word-for-word and learn it ‘parrot-fashion’. I really feel strongly that the governments here need to do a huge review of the education system and teaching methods because what this produces is a workforce that can only do what they are told, following rules or simply copying others.

Conversely, people here are very entrepreneurial – much more so than in the UK, partly, I think, out of necessity due to low-wages. Almost everyone has some kind of business (hence the thriving MSME sector) - even if they are employed, everyone you meet will be selling something to supplement their income. The issue, and one that our programme is looking to tackle, is that knowledge of basic business principles is not that high and creativity is also lacking...culturally, too, people are disadvantaged as it is not in their nature to ‘plan’ – again this is partly due to the hand-to-mouth existence that many people live here – but, when it comes to business, it causes problems as the old adage of having to ‘speculate to accumulate’ is not ingrained into their psyche. (Of course, as with any stereotypes, I am generalising, I am not saying this applies to everyone here, and those that are fortunate enough to go to higher education are a different kettle of fish...but, in my experiences, I would say it’s the majority of the population).

Another cause of the apparent lack of creativity is more a consequence of lack of exposure to different ideas that provide the spark for a new way of thinking. One of the elders in Bajjo village in Uganda made this point to me last time I was there – and I think it is extremely valid. The majority of people here do not travel, rather they cannot travel due to lack of funds. People in rural areas will often only go as far as the next village or the nearest town in their lifetimes...even people that have grown up in the cities will only move in the particular region in which they are born (unless they are part of the small elite that can afford to travel abroad). The lack of exposure to new ideas, new concepts, different cultures and different ways of doing things, something that we absolutely take for granted in the West, indeed something that is very hard to appreciate because it is so ‘normal’ for us, is definitely a barrier for inspiration. Even those people that don’t travel outside their own country in the West are still exposed to an incredible array of different ideas through the medium of television, books and, of course, the internet. But most people here don’t have tv’s, they don’t have access to the internet and, due to lack of access to books, there is simply not a reading culture here (something we are attempting to tackle in Bajjo with wannabeamazin). People don’t seek to ‘teach’ themselves through books, people ‘know what they know’, or they learn through what they see others doing.

This environment leads to a lot of ‘copy-cat’ businesses – someone sees their neighbour selling tomatoes and making a bit of money, so they copy and also start selling tomatoes, rather than perhaps complement what their neighbour is doing and sell cucumbers – nothing wrong with that, but it means the markets are way over supplied, forcing prices down and spreading potential profits over a large number of people. Furthermore, people focus on the revenue they receive from sales, rather than focussing on profit...often resulting in profit margins being extremely low or even, in some cases, non-existent. So our programme is looking to address some of these issues by working with small businesses on the planning aspects and build the capacity of small business owners...as well as providing some locals with the ‘skills’ to continue providing this kind of consultancy service once we leave at the end of the 2 year funding. The ‘creativity’ aspect is, unfortunately, a much harder one to address...

So, anyway, what have I been up to since I arrived 3 weeks ago?...well, it was a bloody hectic start - talk about hitting the ground running – I flew in on 17^th February - a Wednesday afternoon - I had dinner with the former high-commissioner to Malawi on Wednesday night, met the Scottish Minister for culture and external affairs on the Thursday morning (at the official launch of the programme I am working on), met 2 potential clients on the Friday and spent the rest of the weekend on the toilet feeling like shit...a year in South America and Uganda and not even a cold...2 days here and I was bed-ridden...the cause? - believing, blindly, the ex-pats and locals who swore to me the tap water was safe to drink....! Hmm, maybe if you've lived here for a few months...but not straight off the plane I think!

The second weekend was all together more pleasant – a trip to Lake Malawi (a huge lake that runs almost the entire length of the country), a spot called Cape MaClear - think sun, clear water, white sand beaches and wooden fishing boats... The rest of my time, when not in work, has been spent getting to grips with driving in Africa (we have a project car) – pot holes, dark streets, pedestrians and questionable driving practices – moving into the project house – huge veranda, massive garden and a swimming pool! – getting used to having a cook and cleaner (im certainly not slumming here – completely the other end of the scale compared to my time in Uganda) – investigating the local markets - tasting the local delicacies (still not sure what I ate, think it was the intestines of some animal), and getting involved in a local running club...

Summary: so far, so good!

Due South (+ Bonus Section: A Years Worth of Musing!)

2009-06-26T17:46:00.002+03:00

After tearing myself away from Columbia (what a country), I crossed into Ecuador to start my long journey South to Buenos Aires for my plane home. I had been in Ecuador before (3 years ago with Morris) so on this occasion I was content with just hitting the capital, Quito, and a pretty colonial town I had missed on my first visit – Cuenca. In Quito I met up with a crazy Dutch guy I had first encountered on the “Lost City” trek in Columbia. We had a great time “salsaring” our way through the bars and nightclubs of Quito – a city that I am actually very fond of. It has a beautiful setting in the middle of a valley, surrounded by mountains and, despite its reputation as a danger hot spot, I found the locals to be very friendly… I had a good time in Cuenca too – museums, wandering aimlessly (I love to do this when I arrive in a new city) and salsa were the order of the day.

At this stage I must point out that I consider myself a fairly experienced “traveler” having spent the best part of 2 years of my life, all-in-all, on the road with a backpack (including my 6 months in Uganda). But, it seems, even the self-proclaimed “experienced” traveler can get scammed…the defense I put forward in this case is that I was tired and, more importantly, so used to the friendliness and helpfulness of the Columbians, that I dropped my guard – and this, I believe, was the ultimate factor in getting led into this trap…

As I crossed from Ecuador to Peru I stopped, as formality demands, to get my exit stamp at the immigration office in Ecuador – it was here that a young guy started talking to me in a mixture of Spanish and English. He was very friendly and told me that he would show me where the ‘collectivos’ (shared taxis) were to cross into Peru, and beyond to the town of Tumbes (where I was aiming to get a bus to Mancora – a beach resort in Northern Peru). When we arrived at the border he helped me retrieve my bag from the bottom of the bus and told me to follow him. He asked if I needed to change money, which of course I did need to, and a guy walked over with a wad of cash (changing cash on the street at border crossings is normal everywhere so I didn’t think anything of it). I changed $60 and continued following my new companion – he introduced me to another guy – the collectivo driver – who was quick to show me his ID (I thought this was strange – its not normal, especially for legitimate drivers!) but I was keen to get across the border quickly and to my destination before dark. I got in the car and we were quickly joined by another man who got in the passenger seat and seemed to be friends with the driver. I asked how much it would be “$1.50 to the border” they replied, that was the price I expected, “And a little bit more to Tumbes” they added – now at this point I, of course, should have confirmed how much the “little bit more” would be, but stupidly I didn’t. So off we went, chatting like old friends, I got my Peru entry stamp and, as we set off for Tumbes, the question of money came up….”So how much more” I asked, expecting $4 or $5…”$20” they replied…And so ensued an argument, one I didn’t want to push too much as I was in a car alone (a collectivo normally fills up with people before it sets off..something else I had thought was strange, but ignored at the border) with two men, in the middle of no-mans land! Upon arrival in Tumbes we were at stalemate, they demanded $20, I was adamant that I wouldn’t pay it (I love how, when traveling, you are quite happy to put yourself in a life threatening situation in order to save a couple of pounds!...for me it’s the principle of it!). In the end, after a stand off when insults were hurled from both sides in Spanish, I parted with about $15 (the normal price, I learnt subsequently, is $7). I was annoyed, but thought ‘bov’, at least I got out unharmed with all my possessions. However, as I purchased my ticket for the bus to Mancora the hammer blow hit - the money was fake, the $60 I had changed on the border was fake – and then it all made sense, they were part of a chain – the young guy at the Ecuador immigration office, the money changer and the collectivo drivers – bollocks, I’d been had. I was annoyed, but quickly reminded myself that, in a whole year of travel, including Africa, this was the first time I’d really been screwed. My “experienced traveler” pride was dented, but in the grand scheme of things $60 is not much considering I’ve traveled through, supposedly, some of the most dangerous countries in the world in the last few months!

So…Peru…I first visited Peru 6 years ago, and on this visit I really noticed the difference – things are changing fast…changing for the better? – who knows – but certainly moving ‘forward’ in the Western sense of the word. There is still a hell of a lot of poverty in Peru, but the infrastructure has vastly improved in the last 6 years. It made me think about Africa, Uganda in particular, and something that Chris Patten (former Governor of Hong Kong) had said to Karl before departing to Uganda last year (Karl works on Harley Street in London and meets a lot of famous/VIP types…including Claudia Schiffer..well almost). Chris Patten, through his governmental responsibilities, has traveled extensively in Africa and Asia over the last 30-40 years, and a comment that he made to Karl has stuck in my mind ever since – “The difference between Africa and Asia is that everytime I return to Asia I notice that it has changed, that it is moving ‘forward’, but every time I return to Africa I don’t notice a difference and, if anything, its going backwards”. To explore this statement, and the reasons behind it, would take a whole book, so I’m not going to go there now(!), suffice to say that South America is firmly in the ‘Asian Camp’ in terms of ‘progress’ (as well as Peru I noticed a huge difference in Chile compared to 6 years ago)...anyway, I digress!

Mancora was, exactly what it says on the tin – a beach and not much else apart from the beach – “small and dusty”, is the best way to describe the town. But it was hot and the hostal I stayed in had a really nice swimming pool (hostals are changing too!), so it was nice to chill out for a couple of days (when in the ‘compound’ of the hostal it felt like I was on a package holiday in Spain – a strange feeling after 6 months on the road).

Next stop was Trujillo – the third largest city in Peru, and home to a good friend (Nora) I had met in Buenos Aires at the start of my trip. I spent 6 fantastic days with Nora and her family, exploring the local pre-inca ruins (including an amazing adobe – mud-brick – palace and city) as well as really experiencing Peruvian family life and Peruvian food (ceviche being my favourite – basically fresh, raw fish in lemon juice – beats sushi hands down). It was a brilliant 6 days and I was sad to leave.

The final stop in Peru was Lima – I had two days in Lima and got a look at the two extremes of the social spectrum in the capital. On Saturday I met up with a couple of friends I had encountered in Brazil and headed to a birthday party in a very rich neighbourhood. If you have ever watched the sickening MTV programme “My Sweet 16th”, you will get a picture of what the party was like – big house, swimming pool, dj, marquee, free bar, free food, waiters in tuxedos…and the guy was only 18! Ok, so it wasn’t anywhere near those disgusting “Sweet 16th” parties, but considering I was in Peru it was pretty damn extravagant…still, it was good to see my friends. Sunday was completely different, and altogether more real.

6 years ago, on my first visit to Peru, I joined a tour for 3 weeks. I quickly learnt that I was not a ‘tour person’, but the guide was brilliant, a really nice guy, and we often ended up going for beers after the rest of the group had gone to bed. Anyway, I had been trying to get hold of his contact details for the last 2 months from the tour company in England, but had received no response. However, whilst walking around Lima on the Saturday I started to recognize places and streets (my visual memory is pretty good), when I stumbled across a plaza that I definitely recognised. (It was at this point that I assumed the role of Jason Bourne…errr, ok, so I’m reading Bourne Supremacy at the moment and might be getting carried away…but, honestly, this was Bourne-esque!) Images flashed through my mind and, following my instincts, I retraced steps I had taken 6 years previously and managed to find the small hotel I had stayed in (bearing in my mind I had no road name or hotel name to go on). I walked in and asked the receptionist if they knew a tour guide called ‘Dante’, who was from the highlands of Peru, had a tattoo of his son on his arm, and had stayed in the hotel with a tour group 6 years ago (the only information I could recall!). He said he had the number of 2 guides with the name of Dante. I called one and, low and behold, it was the right one – chances – Bourne would have been proud! We arranged to meet at 1pm the next day (incredibly Dante was just finishing a tour and returning to Lima that evening) and what followed was a fantastic day with Dante and his family in their house (it was fathers day) and two separate street parties attended soley by people from the highlands of Peru – among the poorest of the residents in Lima. Weird costumes, even weirder dancing…and copious amounts of alcohol - it’s the custom that one glass is shared by the group you are with and this is filled, consumed and passed to the next person as quickly as possible! It was a great day, completely unique, completely authentic and, by the end of it, completely drunk! These are the kind of experiences I really treasure when traveling. Thanks Dante.

And here I am, back where it all started, in the incredible, alluring, addictive city of Buenos Aires. I took a flight from Lima and, as soon as the plane touched down, I started smiling – I just love this city. It’s been an amazing 6 months, full of incredible experiences and, you may ask, what about the Spanish??! Well, I can certainly get by – buying food, drinks, bus tickets, hotel rooms is not a problem…and, I can, now, have a conversation in Spanish, albeit a very slow, simple conversation in Spanish! The 2 months in Portuguese speaking Brazil didn’t help, but I’m getting there, and I’m more determined than ever to continue studying and learning this beautiful language on my return.

******** Bonus Section - Summary of a Years Worth of Musing ********

I’ve had a lot of time to think over the course of this incredible year in my life. A lot of time to look at myself, at my life, at who I am, at where I’m heading and, ultimately, at what life’s about. I haven’t come up with any radically new ideas or theories, but I have started to fully understand some that have been banded around by philosophers, religious leaders, poets and popstars(!) alike over the last 1000 years or so.

This life is the only one you will live – no, the possibility of reincarnation is not entirely lost on me (on the contrary, I have started to think this is a real possibility), but I do believe that the current life you are living is the only one you will remember – the only one you are consciously aware of. You may well have been the Queen of Sheeba, Albert Einstein, or a butterfly, in a former life, but you can’t really remember it can you? You have to (and I apologise now that this last post is going to be full of cheesy clichés) “live life to the fullest”. Everything in life is an experience –and you should embrace each experience, learn from it, and move on. Don’t waste your time and energy getting angry/upset/mad/sad/depressed about “bad” things that happen to you over which you have no control. Just soak up the experience (Bov it) and move on – “life is too short” (that’s 2!). Seek out new experiences – you can only grow as a person if you are learning, and to experience is to learn. Traveling is one way to have hundreds of new, exciting, scary, uplifting, exhilarating experiences in a condensed time period. For those that are reading this, sitting at desks in a job you neither enjoy nor gain satisfaction from, and especially for those that have never felt the weight of a backpack on their shoulders, I urge you to take the opportunity, the huge opportunity, that we, in the West, have to travel. We are so lucky to have been born in countries in which the opportunities really are endless – don’t miss this one particular opportunity that will help you grow as an individual and, ultimately, help you to appreciate all the other opportunities that you have at your disposal.

Traveling also really hammers home the point that “we are all one” (is that 3 now?!). All around the world, regardless of race, religion or creed, commonalities are easy to see. Children display this more clearly than adults (before they are ‘polluted’ by society, cultural stereotypes or ideology) – for example, have you ever noticed how kids everywhere get immense pleasure from simply running around in circles(!)…and, indeed, from chasing pigeons! This, in my mind, is categorically the proof that we are all one! But, ultimately, what bonds us all, I believe, is the common desire to be happy. Now, I acknowledge that people around the world have different ideas about what will make them happy (money, corporate success, fame, spiritual well-being… etc) but we do all have the same objective. Money, for me, is certainly not a source of happiness. Whilst working for Accenture I could never say that I was rich, but I certainly had more money than I had ever had in the past – but was I happy? Working long hours on tedious, mind-numbing projects that neither challenged the intellect, nor provided any satisfaction (“I can’t get no, ouh ouh ouh, satisfaction” – does that count as 4??!) ensured that true happiness was kept firmly at bay - indeed, I felt like my life was on hold for 4 and a half years – and when you’ve only got one life, that’s a long time! I’m not saying I’m going to run off to the hills and set my self up in a self-sustainable farm somewhere (although I think this would be an interesting experience) – I know that I need money to live, I’m just saying that the pursuit of it (and, indeed, the pursuit of a ‘career’), at the neglect of other more important things in life (relationships, friends, family, simply enjoying oneself), is not the route to happiness. Someone rich in experiences and knowledge, for me, is a much richer person than someone with huge material wealth.

True happiness then, to achieve that allusive state, I’m starting to learn that you need to be happy with yourself, who you are, where you are, what you do, where you are going – you need to be confident in what you believe, but leave yourself open to new, different ideas. You need to build strong and genuine relationships with family and friends – to be unselfish, to be there for them, to listen and to respond. Your physical location, for sure, can have an influence on your state of mind (as can the weather!), but this isn’t a permanent contributor to happiness – I have always maintained that it is not where you are, but who you’re with that makes a great night out – and this applies in the wider context of where you are living your life. [Some of the happiest, certainly some of the smiliest, people I know reside in a small village called Bajjo in Uganda. And, while we’re at it, I firmly believe in the old saying “smile and the world smiles with you” (that’s 5)].

The last couple of years have also taught me that the “cherry on top” (can I include that as 6?!) of it all is to find someone you love, someone who is in the same position as you (physically and mentally), someone who loves you equally and unconditionally - to share your life, who you are and you relationships, with that person is magical. You need to be your own person first, however, to be your own ‘circle’ – the other person shouldn’t “complete you” (7) – Jerry Maguire was wrong on that count! You should be happy and complete first – but sharing that happiness with someone you love really does enhance it. This is the ultimate, the ‘final piece of the puzzle’ and the most difficult to achieve, but, I believe, from my limited experience, it’s worth the search.

As I board the plane tomorrow, leaving behind this incredible and beautiful continent and, with my exit, the end of my ‘Big Year Out’, I don’t feel sad as I thought I might. Instead I am incredibly excited. I’m excited about seeing friends and family, I’m excited about roast dinners, gravy, fry-ups and a good cup of tea! I’m excited about re-loading my iPod with music (my iPod was wiped in Brazil – I’ve had some very painful, very long, bus journeys!) and I’m excited about the future. I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do when I return, but I’m not scared. I have some ideas and which ever one transpires will be an experience in which to learn and grow. One thing I know for sure is that I can’t face doing a job in which I neither believe in, nor gain satisfaction from – I’ve done that, I‘ve experienced that and I’ve learnt from that.

I’m going to end with a quote from an incredibly cheesy movie (Australia) that I saw on a date with a beautiful Peruvian girl. It may be cheesy, but bov, it really rings true for my current state of mind… “Some people surround themselves in possessions – houses, cars, gadgets – in the pursuit of happiness, but, all of these things can be taken away and, at the end of the day, all you are left with is your story – and I’m just trying to live a good one”.

The Hunt For Shakira...

2009-06-03T22:35:00.007+03:00

Columbia has produced many things over the years - cocaine and, arguably, the most successful drug dealer of all time - Pablo Escobar - are the obvious ones that immediately spring to mind. Then there is the most famous haircut ever to grace an international football field (courtesy of Carlos Valderamma) and, of course, one of the most organised and dangerous terrorist groups in the world - the FARC. But, for me, the most successful product of Columbia is the incredible, writhing sexiness of the popstar Shakira. For those of you who are oblivious to the Columbian hip shaker, log on to iTunes and download the video ´Beautiful Liar´featuring Beyonce - you will not be disappointed! And so it was that I crossed over the border from Venezuela with every hope of bumping into the Columbian superstar and convincing her that we are, obviously, soulmates and should settle down in a nice pad on the Caribbean coast of Columbia. One of the reasons for my conviction that we should spend the rest of our lives together is that surely only I could match her wiggle for wiggle on the dancefloor - with Salsa, Tango, Samba and Forer lessons under my belt I was feeling confident that I could impress her with a few dance moves! Unfortunately my dream was shattered in my first week in the country when i discovered - on my birthday no less - that Shakira not only has a boyfriend, but she now resides in Miami! After drowning my sorrows with a bottle of Rum - the tipple of choice here - I picked myself up and set about exploring this incredible country.

First on the agenda was a 6-day hike in the North East of the country, deep in the jungle, to explore Ciudad Perdida (the "Lost City") - an ancient city long-forgotten until it ws discovered by grave robbers in the last century. Some of you may recall a story in the news about 5 years ago of a group of tourists that were kidnapped in the Columbian jungle - 2 English among them - with one escaping and walking through the jungle for days on his own - the other kept in captivity for a couple of months...yep - they were on the very same trek! There is a strong military presence now, however, we were reliably informed by our guide that the FARC were still only one days hike away from our campsite in the Lost City...and a driver had been shot dead only a month before...! Needless to say we didn´t encounter any FARC...but we did see 5 men with guns running, no, sprinting, past us as we set up camp on the first night, followed by a couple of gunshots - "nothing to worry about", said the guide nonchalantly, "they´re just going to kill a chicken for dinner"! Now, I know I only have limited experience in killing chickens (1 to date - in Uganda you may recall), but I´m pretty sure you don´t need 5 heavily armed me to kill 1...hmmm.... Aside from that it was a great trek involving numerous river crossings, 7 deadly snakes (I very nearly trod on one!), a huge tarantula, 5 ticks (small parasites that burrow thier heads into your skin and proceed to suck your blood - nice!) and a tour around a cocaine making factory!! The "factory" was, rather disappointingly, set up for tourists - the owner explained that his real one is hidden deep in the jungle, with 20 employees busily preparing the marching powder day in day out - still it was interesting to see the production process of Columbias biggest export! The ruins themselves were nowhere near the scale or beauty of Machu Piccu in Peru, but it was still an enchanting place, and what gives it a bit of a special edge is that the only way to get there is to trek through the jungle, there are no roads, no trains, no helipads and, concequently, no day tourists snapping away with their huge SLR cameras! In fact we pretty much had the place to ourselves - the second night at the city (we stayed 2 nights in the city itself) being my birthday - a pretty unique place to spend it for sure.

After the trek I spent a well-deserved 4 days in Tayrona National Park - think sleeping in hammocks, on near-deserted beaches, while watching bikini-clad women dip in and out of the sea - paradise!

Next stop was the jaw-droppingly beautiful (and sweltering) city of Cartagena - it goes straight into the top 3 "prettiest" citys I have ever had the pleasure of visiting - the other two being Venice in Italy and Dubrovnik in Croatia. All different, but all beautiful. You will fall asleep if I started to describe all the incredible colonial buildings, wooden balconies, churches, plazas and cobbled streets that fill the historic centre - take my word for it - it is stunning.

Medellin, infamous for being the home-city of Pablo Escobar, was next up and, at this point, I feel I must just make a quick mention about the women in Columbia - Shakira was no fluke - the women here are gorgeous. They do, however, like their plastic surgery, especially chest enhancements, and Medellin is famed for having some of the most beautiful (and plastic) women in Columbia! I spent a few days visiting museums, and generally having a good time - the night life is pretty damn good. One other site we went to visit whilst in Medellin was Pablo Escobars grave, which felt a bit weird - wandering around a cemetry with a camera - but its one of the things to see/do in Medellin!, but that wasn´t the most serial bit. I went with two Irish lads I´d met in the hostal, and as we got in the cab to go back to the Metro station we got chatting with the driver. We went through the formalities of "where are you from" and "do you like football", "who is your team"...classic taxi banter - practising the old Spanish - but this guy could also speak a bit of English..."where did you learn English?" I asked innocently, "in the USA" he replied, "I lived there for 2 years"..."ah nice" I said, "where abouts?"..."In Colorado, in the prison" he said..."oh", i said, starting to wish i hadn´t started this line of questioning, "what for?"...he gave a quick sniff of his nostral and said "lots of money to be made, but its dangerous work"..."indeed...you´ve stopped now then?" i asked..."oh no", he said, "i can get you whatever you want"..."ah, thanks, just drop us at the station for now, maybe later a"...and with that we got out of the cab and looked at each other in complete disbelief - did that really just happen??!

Bogota followed Medellin and I was very pleasantly suprised by the capital - a former "no-go" area due to terrorist activity - the city has got a very friendly atmosphere (Columbians are incredibly friendly people on the whole actually) and the old historic centre where I stayed was very pleasing on the eye. Museums, parks and partying were the order of the day again...

After the excess of Medellin and Bogota I needed some time in the mountains to re-cleanse - San Agustin provided the perfect rest bite. It´s a pretty little town set amongst stunning scenery and happens to be the location of the second most important archeological site in Columbia (after Ciudad Perdida). At some point before the Spanish conquered and plundered Columbia, a civilisation thrived in this remote region - their legacy was hundreds of stone statues all over the hillsides marking tombs and sacred sites. I spent a couple of days exploring this enchanting area and chilling out - just what I needed.

The final couple of stops in Columbia for me were Popayan (pretty, white washed colonial town) and Ipiales (fairly mundane border town, with the exception of the most striking location for a church i have ever seen - see photos). And so it is that I start my long journey South via Ecuador and Peru, back to Buenos Aires for my flight home at the end of June. I wish I could spend more time in Columbia - there is so much more to see and do and the people here really are amazing.....Shakira who??!

Don´t judge a book by its cover (or indeed a country by it´s reputation)

2009-05-12T06:33:00.000+03:00

Venezuela – what springs to mind when you hear the mention of this country? Perhaps Angel Falls (for those that know their geography), maybe Beauty Queens (for those with an interest in the fairer sex – Venezuela has had more Miss Universe winners than any other country), perhaps oil (for those that have an interest in the worlds depleting supply), and most certainly Hugo Chavez (for anyone with even a remote interest in global politics)…and, for any recent travellers to South America, the word “dangerous” is also very much associated with this oil state – even more so now than its close neighbour Columbia – for so long held up as one of the most dangerous places to travel - Venezuela is now perceived as much more dangerous. So it was, on the back of this knowledge, and the fact that the currency in Venezuela is fixed against the dollar, meaning that all currency exchanges must be done on the black market (at the official rate the country is more expensive than England to travel around!), that I set off from Brazil with some trepidation into this country on the Caribbean coast of South America.

On the bus to Venezuela I met a German girl from my hostel and 3 really nice Brazilian students all of whom had the same objective upon entering Venezuela – to climb to the top of Mount Roraima – a huge, flat table-top mountain, some 2700 metres high and the inspiration behind Arthue Doyles´ “The Lost World” novel. I had heard about the trek a few years ago from my sisters boyfriend and, apparently, Ben Fogle (that Z-list celebrity, darling of house wives) also completed the feat on the BBC last year (so says my mum!). So it was that the 5 of us arrived in the border town of Santa Helena and promptly arranged a guide for the 6 day trek. We decided to save as much money as possible by buying our own food and carrying all our equipment (tents, food, clothes, sleeping bags etc) and set off the next morning with large packs. The first glimpse of the mountain as we walked across the surrounding savannah sent shivers of excitement through my body – it was a truly impressive sight. 3 days later, after walking under waterfalls, through a cloud forest and, at some points, rock climbing over huge bolders, we arrived at our hotel (an overhanging cave) at the top of the mountain. Wow, wow, wow. It is going to be incredibly hard to try and put into words the next day and a half we had at the top, exploring what is truly a different world. The landscape was mysterious – the mountain is made of sand stone and the wind and rain have sculpted an incredible, eerie landscape over thousands of years, full of caves, crevices, waterfalls, lakes and pink beaches(!). In places the ground is littered with crystals (there are kilos of diamonds hidden beneath the surface) and the unique flora just add to the feeling of being on a different, alien planet. Being a table top mountain we were, at certain points, able to walk right to the edge and peer down a straight, vertical drop of over 1000m – the feeling as I crawled to the edge and looked straight down and across the savannah for miles was indescribable – a mixture of fear, excitement, freedom, insignificance and awe – just incredible. It is definitely one of those places that photos will never do justice – it has to be experienced to be believed – the best thing I have seen/done on this trip in South America – it blew me away.

Next on the agenda was to glimpse the highest waterfall in the world – Angel Falls – some 980m high (that’s 1 km!!). This involved an overnight bus journey to a city called Ciudad Bolivar, and an hour flight over Cainama National Park – a beautiful flight from which forest, mountains, lakes, rivers, beaches and waterfalls could all be glimpsed. This was made easy by the fact that we were in a 6-seater Cessna – the smallest plane I have ever been in – although the feeling of unease as the tiny plane jerked about in the turbulence wasn’t made any easier by the fact that the pilot just read a newspaper for most of the journey, oblivious to the sudden drops in height every 10 minutes! Before I booked the trip I thought that Angel Falls was the only point of interest in the park – how wrong I was. The first day was spent in a small village in the middle of the national park, on the edge of a large river with a beautiful white sand beach, and a back drop of 6, impressive waterfalls. It was these waterfalls that we explored by boat and foot on the first day, walking behind 2 of them – by far the biggest waterfalls (in terms of volume of water) I have ever had the wet pleasure of walking behind – it was like a solid wall of water – brilliant. I woke up the next day to board a small long tail boat for a stunning 5 hour boat journey up a river fringed by rain forest, beaches and table top mountains. The end destination was, of course, the big falls themselves – again an awesome sight – and whilst lolling about in the pool at the bottom and peering up 1km at the highest waterfall in the world I once again had to pinch myself and appreciate how truly lucky I am to be able to travel and see these incredible sites in the world. That evening was spent in hammocks opposite the falls and I woke up the next morning truly refreshed and in a great mood – what a sight to wake up to, it really doesn’t get much better than that.

The next, and final stop in Venezuela, was Merida – a university town in the Andes, famed for being one of the top destinations for adventure sports in South America, and I duly took advantage! I spent a great 4 days paragliding (jumping off a mountain with a parachute – great fun), mountain biking (on and off road in the mountains, crazy hair-pin bends – awesome), and canyoning (walking, running, jumping, swimming and absailing down rivers and waterfalls – wet, cold, brilliant!).

So, although I only spent the best part of 3 weeks in Venezuela, I had a great time. Angel Falls and Mount Roraima are the best things I have seen/done on this trip so far…and certainly go straight in near the top of my personal list of things to do/see in South America. Whilst I heard lots of stories from fellow travellers about violence and robberies in Venezuela, I didn’t encounter any myself (although I didn’t venture to the capital, Caracas, which is supposed to be crazy). Unfortunately I also didn´t encounter any beauty queens (apparently they are all on the coast in and around Caracas – you have to risk the threat of violence to experience the best that Venezuela has to offer in terms of women!!). Finally a quick insight into Chavez – a bit of an enigma in the West – I asked as many locals as I dared on their thoughts and got a thoroughly mixed reaction – it seems that, much like marmite, if you are a Venezuelan you either love him or hate him!!

Next stop Columbia, the hunt for Shakira begins(!)…

FOOTNOTE(!): I have actually been in Columbia for a week now, spending the last 6 days on a trek deep in the Columbian jungle to explore the “Lost City” (a city built by an ancient civilisation)…but you´ll have to wait for the next post to hear the full story of snakes, tarantulas, ticks, cocaine factories and the Columbian army…!

The 'Trio in Rio' (and beyond..) – (Brazil Part 2)

2009-04-15T18:09:00.000+03:00

Some of you may recall the theme tune to an 80's sitcom called 'The Wonder Years'. The Wonder Years was a great show that, as a young boy, gave me an insight into how to deal with the challenges that i would face as an adolescent – how to talk to girls for example! Anyway, the theme tune was a song that has been covered many times, most famously by Joe Cocker – '(I get by) with a little help from my friends'. True friends in life should be treasured, they get you through life's gristle and you always laugh longer and harder with someone with whom you have shared the highs and the lows of your life. And so it was that I met up with two true friends in Rio – Wandy and Scott. We began a 3 week adventure navigating from Rio to Salvador, spreading Bovology, minimilistic dancing, getting robbed, getting introduced to the 'Brotherhood', uncovering the fact that nothing makes sense in Brazil, 'meeting' the girl from Ipanema (the new one!), discovering the best bar in Brazil and generally having a bloody good time – Happy Days (incidentally another great sitcom!).

What better place to start an adventure than in Rio de Janeiro? As mentioned in my previous blog, Rio has a truly breathtaking setting, and i finally got to appreciate just how beautiful when we scampered up the famous 'Sugar Loaf' peak to get an incredible panoramic view of the city – its sky scrappers, its beaches, its favelas and its jagged mountain peaks – amazing. Unfortunately the view from the Cristo Redentor (the famous statue of Jesus Christ that looms over the city, arms outstretched) was not so good as the clouds rolled in and obscured the statue from view – still it gave it a slightly mystical edge.

Whilst in Rio I finally managed to get to a football match in South America – and what a setting – The Maracana stadium (arguably the biggest football stadium in the world...and certainly one of the most famous). We watched two of the biggest rivals in Brazilian football (Flamengo v's Vasco de Gama) go head to head in a crazy game involving 5 red cards! There is always at least one red card in every South American game – it seems to be a tradition – and no-one even batted an eyelid at 5! In the premier league most of the challenges wouldn't have even merited a yellow card, let alone a red! The quality of the football was actually surprisingly low, but the atmosphere was awesome - the stadium was over 3 quarters full (more than 75,000 people) - great night.

Ouro Preto was the next stop for the trio – a beautiful little university town set in the mountains about 7 hours North West of Rio. It was built during the 'gold rush' era of the 1800's and retains all of its character and charm – cobble streets abound and there seemed to be more churches than people! We spent 3 days walking around the city, visiting a dis-used gold mine (which involved swimming in a sub-subterranean lake) and meeting the 'Brotherhood'. Most of you will be familiar with the sorority/fraternity system that many universities have in the States. I have always viewed these organisations with a certain amount of disdain. People only party with, or date, people that belong to the same sorority/fraternity - or one of similar standing – people are judged on what sorority/fraternity they belong to and, in general, it seems, that they encourage people to only mix with those of the same social standing, racial and religious background. Now, for me, this eradicates one of the most important aspects of going to University – the opportunity to mix with people from all different backgrounds, to listen to other opinions and ideas and, ultimately, to reduce ones ignorance and develop a more rounded view of the world in which we live. The Brotherhood/Sisterhood tradition in the University of Ouro Preto, on face value, appears to mimic the sorority/fraternity system in the states (you have to 'apply' to get accepted as part of a brotherhood/sisterhood and you live in the same house as all the others in the same brotherhood/sisterhood), but once you get under the surface you realise what its all about – to humiliate the 1st years, to get 3 years free accommodation and to generally have a bloody good time! Basically the boys that want to join a Brotherhood have to endure a year of 'torture' by their older 'brothers'. The bare minimum is that for 6 months of their first year the older brothers are allowed to cut the hair of the new applicants in any way they desire (words shaved into heads, images of female genitalia, chunks of hair!), they have to wear a 'sandwich board' style piece of card around their necks (for 6 months!) and get girls to sign it...and have to get drunk, every day, for 6 months (regardless of whether they have exams or coursework!). We spent a great night with a bunch of these wannabe 'brothers' in a suitably dirty student bar, getting drunk and joining in the 'brotherhood' chants (they all have their own song), and whilst there is a strong bond between 'brothers' – all the brotherhoods mix together to ensure their university days are the best of their lives!

We left Ouro Preto happy, if a little damp (it rained every day), and so went in search of sun, sea and sand. This involved a 24 hour bus journey (not helped by a 4 hour traffic jam) – a challenge for Wandy and Scott – arriving in Arrail d'Ajuda, a highly recommended beach resort. The beaches were nice but, to be honest, we were a bit put off by the lack of people (its low season now) and the 'theme park' feel to the place (the main street has been purpose built for tourists in recent years and felt a bit 'fake').

From Arrail d'Ajuda we continued North for a further 8 hours to another recommended beach resort and this time we stumbled on an absolute gem, and my favourite place in Brazil – Itacare. An incredibly laid back town, with some of the friendliest people I have ever met, some of the most stunning beaches I have seen and the best bar in Brazil – Favela! We spent 5 days chilling on the beaches, watching Scott attempt to surf (he did stand up once – i saw it – for about 3 seconds!), meeting some great people, dancing on the beach and having 5 great nights in Favela! Just to explain – Favela is a wooden shack, with a tree as part of the decor! Due to the small size of Itacare, and the the lack of bars, everyone ends up there. Its just an incredibly down-to-earth, friendly bar with a mix of tourists and locals, all of whom are there for one thing – to have a good time! It only reinforces my belief that in order to have a good night, its all about the people you are with and the atmosphere created by those around you – it didn't matter that the bar was in worse condition than the shed in my mothers back garden – I loved it!

After 5 nights of partying we needed to cleanse ourselves, and what better way than in a stunningly beautiful park called Chapada Diamantina. We arrived in Lencois (the starting point for treks into the park, and a very pretty town in its own right) and promptly booked a 2-day guided trek in the park. The trek involved an overnight stay in a cave, plenty of huffing and puffing of steep hills, some downright dangerous rock hopping/climbing, 3 absolutely stunning waterfalls and for one, long, hour the very real fear of impending death!! Ok, so the photos can illustrate the cave, the views and the waterfalls, but the last point needs some explanation! In order to reach the largest and most spectacular of the waterfalls we had to trek along a river through a narrow canyon for the best part of a day. This involved some pretty risky leaps of faith from rock to rock along the river bed, swimming through the canyon and climbing up waterfalls! For these reasons we left most of our equipment (sleeping bags, rain macs, extra clothes etc) in a cave and continued with the bare minimum. Upon our return to the cave we discovered that our bags had been opened and money had been stolen (bear in mind we had not seen another soul for the last 2 days). Before we knew what was happening our guide, Washington, instantly took off without saying a word and we were left sitting by the cave, on our own, in the middle of a vast wilderness without so much as a compass! To start with we thought Washington had just gone to see if he could hear/see anyone in the immediate area...but as time passed we began to get increasingly concerned. The sun was starting to set and we were a good 2-3 hours trek to our pick-up point with no way of getting there (the park is riddled with different trails). A period of 15 minutes went by when no-one said anything, then all sorts of theories started to get banded around – was Washington in on it – had he arranged the theft, were the rest of our valuables we had left in the hostel owned by his mum also gone, had Washington been captured by the group of thieves, were we going to have to spend a second, sleepless night in the park...after 45 minutes we were getting really worried – it was at this point that i noticed some white 'rocks' in the dusty soil – as I poked them I realised they were not rocks, but bones – and large ones...the more i looked the more i found – the atmosphere changed – what the hell was going on – were all the horror stories that i had heard about Brazil about to come true – were we about to be killed for the sake of £30 and a few smelly clothes?! Over an hour had passed when we suddenly heard somebody approaching – running hard – we all braced ourselves to see who was going to burst through the undergrowth – this was the moment of truth – would we fight back or crumble into submission??...it was a massive relief when Washington appeared! Apparently he had an intuition of who had stolen the money (a recluse living in a cave on the other side of a nearby mountain) and ran off to see if he was there (he wasn't). After a huge collective sigh of relief that we weren't about to be butchered and eaten alive(!), we headed off to the pick-up point at a ferocious pace (the sun was about to set). All in all it was a dramatic end to an incredible 2 day trek (one i would recommend to all – minus the but-clenching ending!). [Incidentally, the bones that i found were the remains of cow – the caves had once been used by diamond miners who had enjoyed a feast from time-to-time!]

The final stop for the trio was Salvador – a city with a beautiful historic centre, let down by the amount of people trying to scam you. And so it is that I say goodbye to Wandy and Scott as they return to the drudgery of the real world! I've thoroughly enjoyed the last 3 weeks and it has again helped me to appreciate the true value of friendship. Next stop for me is Manaus (a large city in the middle of the Amazon), then Venezuela – which is apparently now more dangerous than Columbia (just to make you feel better Mum and Dad!!)

Brrrrrraaaazzzziiilllllllllll. Part 1(!)

2009-03-24T18:27:00.000+03:00

So then, Brazil, first stop Rio for Carnival - it´s just one of those things that has to be done in life - even thought the majority of locals say to go somewhere else for carnival (Salvador for example) - the words ´Rio´ and ´carnival´ are just synonymous, so, against local advice, i landed in Rio, ridiculously excited...but before I get onto that, a quick word is needed about my journey from the international airport after my flight from Santiago in Chile...

Being a penny watching backpacker I opted to take the bus into town rather than a taxi (a difference of about 25 pounds - thats 2 nights accomodation!), but I soon wish i hadn´t. There was a huge traffic jam as soon as we left the airport...and a 15km journey turned into a 5 hour mission, culminating in me violating every lonely planet guideline on how to stay safe in Rio due to my hotel being beyond the reach of the airport bus and, concequently, having to switch to a public bus. The lonely planet clearly states that `most robberies in Rio occur on buses´..and stresses the point ´not to travel alone on buses´..and certainly ´dont travel with a backpack on the bus´..and to ´NEVER travel at night on buses´...so there i was, first day in Rio, sat on a bus, on my own, with my all my bags, in the pitch black (it gets dark around 7pm here), having no idea where i was! Suffice to say, I survived and arrived safely at my hotel in one piece, later meeting up with my good friend - Stella -who was here for work (lucky timing or what)! Indeed for all the warnings I had read and listened to about Rio I didnt actually feel threatened once for the whole duration of carnival. Now obviously I didn´t venture into the ´favelas´ and search out ´little Ze´ (favelas are the ´council estates´of Brazil...except more ´slum´ like and with one hundred times the amount of drugs and guns!), but the worst I witnessed was some pick-pocketing and little kids ripping necklaces off girls - ´touch wood´ nothing happens on my return. I returned to Rio to meet up with two of my best mates from home - Wandy and Scott - who have flown in for 3 weeks of hedonistic pleasure in the North of Brazil. Im really looking forward to it - as much as I love meeting new people, sometimes the ´whats your name..where are you from..how long have you been travelling..and where have you been´ routine can get a bit tiresome. At the end of the day, nothing beats travelling with your real friends.

So, Carnival, Rio, 2009 - waht can I say??! Well, actually, I have got to admit something...it was different to what I expected. Now dont get me wrong here, i had a good time, a bloody good time, but i was kind of expecting more - more parties...more costumes..and, well, more craziness! Maybe I should have done a bit more research but, for example, I thought that the parades you see on TV (the giant floats and beautiful women in ´spangly´ bikinis) were in the streets of Rio...i was wrong - it all happens in a very controlled environment called the ´Sambadrome´ - basically a purpose built ´street´ with stadium style seating for which you have to pay a small fortune to sit in (or get a cheap ticket on the black market as i did!). There are 12 Samba schools (each from a different favela) that parade for exactly 1 hour and 20 minutes down the ´street´ and, to be honest, its all a bit clinical, a bit commercial and, to watch, a bit boring! In other cities such as Salvador, the parade is on the stareets and everyone gets involved, but in Rio irts all a bit proferssion fro my taste and the public are far removed (although tourists can pay a wedge to participate!). The street parties that happen throughout the carnival period (5 days) are where its at for the people - but again, maybe its my ignorance, but I thought these would be everywhere and the city would virtually shutdown during the period as everyone would be on the streets...but instead the parties were fairly localised affairs, happening over 4 or 5 blocks in different parts of the city, at different times, on different days. The parites were cool...but not crazy! People stood around drinking beer, some dancing, some were dressed in random costumes (e.g. Amy Winehouse) and there was plenty of kissing - the Brazilian men were unbelievable - they just grabbed girls as they were walking along, sometimes by the neck(!) and just kissed them, before parting ways!...it actually reminded me of the under-18 discos I used to go to when i was 16 - no talking, just kissing!!

The setting for the city of Rio itself is the most striking I have ever seen. It is lined with beautiful beaches and surrounded by jagged mountain peaks, draped in lush, green vegetation. It really is breathtaking. I have saved all the tourist spots for when Wandy and Scott arrive (hence no pics of Jesus Christ looming over the city), but I still got a sense of the magic and enchantment that the city holds from just walking the streets (and partying!).

After Rio I moved down the coast to a small town called Paraty, which was a welcome relief after the crowds of Rio. Paraty is the type of place that I love to find when travelling - its a small, pretty little town, with cobbled streets and candlelit restaurants and bars playing live music - actually a very romantic little setting. The surrounding scenery was also beautiful, but I am a bit worried that I am starting to get blase about about beautiful scenery - I´ve seen some stunning places since I started travelling 6 years ago, and it does now take something a bit special to make me stand back and say ´wow´...luckily a 40 minute bus ride to a beach called ´Trindade´ provided that breathless moment in Paraty. It was like paradise - a perfect curving beach, with soft white sand, fringed with rainforest type vegetation, hills and clear warm water with gentle lapping waves - just beautiful - best beach i have seen so far in Brazil.

After Paraty I arrived with a bump in the metropolis of Sao Paulo city - it is a huge place and, to be honest, quite overwhelming. Luckily i met up with some Brazilian friends that I had met on my Spanish course in Buenos Aires, and they showed me around the city and took me out in the evenings, including a couple of cool Samba bars/clubs. It it hadn´t have been for them I dont think I would have bothered with Sao Paulo - its just too big and not a particularly pretty city.

One of the places i was keen to get to in the South of Brazil was a vast wetland area called ´The Pantanal´. The Lonely Planet (the backpackers bible) raves about it and, being a nature lover, i was keen to go and check it out. My only doubt was the amount of time it would take me to get there...but sometimes you just have to ´bov´ it up - so I set off from Sao Paulo and, 23 hours later, arrived at my lodge in a swarm of mosquitos! I booked myself on a tour and spent the next 3 days fishing (and eating) piranahs (very little meat on a piranah considering how much they eat themselves!), horse-riding (first time i´d been on a horse since I was 6 years old, and the short trek in ´the Pantanal´ just confirmed that i am definitely not a ´horsey´ person - it just bloody hurts when they start to trot!), trekking after armidillo (hard on the outside, soft on the inside), aligators (completely harmless unless you wander too close to their nest...which i happended to do!) and giant rat like creatures...and of course floating down the river on a giant tube (standard activity around the world in any jungle type environment that has a river!). It was a nice trip, but not really worth the mamouth journey to get there (Brazil is sooo bloody big!) - it took me 36 hours to get to my next destination (Florianopolis) which was a killer!

Florianopolis is a cool surfing island, with beautiful beaches and some laid back live music venues - Im getting into the Samba now - asking the locals to teach you is a great ´ice breaker´!! ;)

The final stop before arriving back in Rio was Ilha Grande - a tropical island covered in dense jungle, with not a single motor vehicle in sight - pretty much paradise and a good place to chill before heading back to the bright lights of Rio. It was while on Ilha Grande that I had one of those magical travelling moments - I fancied a bit of ´alone time´ one day so hiked through the jungle to a near-deserted beach to chill out. Upon entering the water for the seond time that day I was suprised to see a large, reptilian type head pop out of the water right next to me! After a bit of a panic that I was about to be attacked by a monster from the murkey depths of the ocean, I realised it was, of course, a turtle! I followed it for a while as it glided effortlessley through the water, coming up for air every minute or so - magical.

.....Ok, ok, before I go, I know that all the boys reading this are thinking the same thing ´yeah, yeah, animals, cities, beaches, samba, blah blah blah - but what about the women?!´...well boys, I can confirm that the widely held belief that Brazilian women are ´above the average´ is most certainly true - this country is blessed!!..And yes, the bikinis are very small!!

Chilling in Chile

2009-02-17T20:53:00.000+03:00

I left Buenos Aries with a measure of regret – I had had a great month in the city, and met some great people, but the knowledge that I would return ensured that the cheesy grin I’ve had on my face since landing in South America did not fade. I crossed into Chile via a 20 hour bus ride – which some of you may balk at the idea of – but I actually quite enjoy long bus rides in South America. The buses are bloody comfortable, you get to see some of the country (and let me tell you, the views crossing the Andes mountain range were pretty incredible) and you have plenty of time to think…actually a bit too much time to think – your mind wanders all over the place and you always exit the bus at the other end with more questions about your life than answers…but it’s all good!

I met Oscar, my Chilean amigo, when I arrive in Santiago after a swift ride on the impressive city subway system, and was treated to the same incredible hospitality I received from Agus & Fran in Buenos Aires (mucho gracias to Oscar, Marisol and Pedro!). I kicked around the city for a few days, taking in the main sites, including a park – San Cristobal - I had missed on my first visit to this city 5 years ago. San Cristobal is situated upon a series of large hills and has breathtaking views over the whole city…and the nicest outdoor public swimming pool I have ever seen – Guildford Lido “eat your heart out”! I also visited, purely out of cultural interest (!), one of the institutions in the city of Santiago: a “Café con Piernas” – literally translated “Café with Legs”. They are basically cafes, come strip joints, that are frequented by businessmen for coffee inbetween meetings (they are open during daylight hours only). There is no actual nakedness, but the waitresses wear the smallest bikinis I have ever seen, and are paid to “chat” to you! It was actually quite an uncomfortable experience – there were just two businessmen and me inside the café and the waitress was chatting away to me in Spanish – I didn’t have a clue. I downed my coke, made my excuses and left: “Café con Piernas”: tick!

Last weekend Oscar and I went for tour of a vineyard about an hour outside the city in a beautiful valley. I consumed wild boar (much the same as pork, unsurprisingly!) and drank wine! We then moved on to the coastal town of Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar for the rest for the weekend. Valparaiso is an intriguing port town, with sharp hills rising up from the waters edge, creating some interesting problems for the “town planners” – the houses are stacked on top of one another, coated in metal sheets and brightly coloured, providing lots of photo opportunities. On Saturday, after dinner in one of the smallest, cutest and nicest restaurants I have ever been to (only 6 tables!) we frequented one of the local nightclubs…and immediately felt incredibly old – I don’t think there was anyone over the age of 20 inside! Still, they had a salsa room so I showed Oscar and the rest of the Valparaiso how to dance before retiring for the night! On Sunday we pushed on to Vina Del Mar – a bit like Brighton (in terms of proximity to the capital city) – but with a nicer beach, nicer food, nicer weather and nicer girls…!

For the last week I travelled South to the “Lake District” region of Chile for some hiking and chilling. First stop was Pucon – a popular vacation destination for Chilean families and “hipster” crowds alike…and I can certainly understand why. The town is on the edge of a stunning lake, with a large black volcanic beach, surrounded by mountains and dominated by a large, classically shaped “cone” volcano! This very volcano I set off early one morning to climb…only to be forced to turn back half way up due to ferocious winds and ice…I’m sure we experienced worse conditions on Snowden when doing the 3 peaks for wannabeamazin last year – but the guide insisted we turned back – annoying, but I was still presented with some incredible views of the surrounding area.

It was while in Pucon that I did something that I’m still trying to understand myself – I’ve joined the “over-sized sunglasses” posse! I’ve always silently laughed at people that sport sunglasses that cover half their face – I just think they look ridiculous. They are also one of the cheapest forms of Plastic Surgery – you’re never quite sure if the wearer looks like Nora Jones or Nora Batty! But, on my eternal hunt for the perfect pair of (cheap) aviators, I succumbed and purchased a pair of giant ones – the kind you see in joke shops for fancy dress evenings! I don’t know what came over me – I think it was the fact that they are bloody comfortable and, as anyone with a funny (or large) shaped nose like mine will know, its bloody difficult to find good fitting sunglasses, indeed aviators are about the only style of sunglasses that look reasonable when placed upon my honk. They looked big on the stand – they look even bigger on my face…they look ridiculous…but they’re comfortable, and at $4 I’ll roll with them for a while – if nothing else they give me a laugh everytime I catch my reflection in a window whilst wearing them!

After Pucon I moved another 3 hours South to a pretty, little University town called Valdivia on the edge of a tributary of a large river. Spent a couple of days meeting some nice people, dancing to regaeton and Salsa in a random”local” club and attending a “mini-festival” to gorge myself on local delicacies and watch a display of dancing from all over South America – nice.

As I prepare to depart this land I’ll just give you a quick rundown of my observations of Chilean people & culture…like Argentina, the focus is on family & friends – people live at home until they are in their late 20’s or, more commonly, until they get married. They vacation with their families regularly and even when they move away from home they remain close, returning for family meals most weeks. The racial mix is still heavily dominated by a “European Look” but you definitely notice a stronger mix of indigenous Indians here than in Argentina. The boys all have mullets (Harris – if you weren’t ginger you would fit right in) and, when young, bad moustaches! The girls are nice…but not as nice as Argentina – indeed I’m still confused as to how the girls in Argentina look so good when the diet is so bad (steak, pizza and empanadas (pies) are the staple) – the diet seems better in Chile – more vegetables and salads…but somehow the bodies are not as good…could be something to do with the amount of plastic surgery in Buenos Aires…!

Ok, so if you are feeling down at the moment don’t read the final sentence of this entry…

…On Thursday I fly to Rio. It’s Carnival. ‘Nuff said. Waahhhhhooooooooooooooooooooo!

New Home?!?

2009-01-26T00:23:00.002+03:00

I can´t believe how quickly my time is passing here...a true sign that I´m enjoying myself! Since this is my second time in Buenos Aries (I came here 4 years ago) I have really just been living the life of a Porteña rather than rushing around ticking off all the tourist sites...and the more time I spend here the more I think that I could actually live here. For a long time now I have wanted to live in a different country, one that provides a challenge in terms of a different language and culture...but one where I can still live a life that I am accustomed. As much as I loved Uganda I dont think I could ever live there long term. 6 months without water, toilet, shower, oven, fridge etc was fine...but I couldn´t do it long term. The richer residents in the capital of Uganda do live with more luxieries, however I don´t think I could ever justify living that way in a country where the majority of people live in such severe poverty ( I would just feel guilty the whole time). Now, I know that Argentina has its fair share of people living below the poverty line, but its no where near the scale of Uganda, and when you are in Buenos Aries you really could be anywhere - it has everything that you would find in a large European city (museums, art galleries, parks, restaurants, bars, cafes) with the addition of, in my opinion, a much more favourable culture. So much more emphasis is put on the social aspects of life here - of enjoying a good meal with friends/family, of actually spending time talking to one another and basically doing the things that give you pleasure! This is in contrast, again in my opinion, to the rat race world of London where the majority of people are rushing around trying to earn as much money as possible to buy a flat, or a car or the next iPod...and to spend the weekends in a drunken stupour - the thought of going back to that just bores me. I know living here would be different to what im doing now...and i´d have to get a job...and this city isnt particularly cheap to live in (when you compare salaries)...but it´s a thought at the moment, a serious one...

So, as i said above, I dont have much to report on in terms of ´things´that I´ve been doing as I´ve just been ´living´and enjoying myself! Last weekend I went kayaking on a river about an hour outside the city and chilled on the beaches that line the river banks (its a popular weekend spot for Porteñas wanting to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city). I had a tango lesson (the basic steps are pretty easy...i think!), and of course I have been enjoying the steaks, bars and clubs...a little too much actually - i keep forgetting Im 27, and not 21 anymore!! I´ve met some cool people (as you always do when travelling) and my Spanish is coming along...slowly!

I only have one week left of school (in hindsight 4 weeks is not enough time to learn a language - who would have thought??!) so I´m starting to plan the next part of my South American jamboree. First stop is Santiago in Chile to see Oscar, a good friend of mine that I met in Chicago through work...and then it´s on to Brazil for carnival and beyond! There are quite a few Brazilians at the Spanish school and the more i hear about that country, the more excited I get. If it´s half as good as everyone says, then i´m gonna have trouble leaving the place...and all the time I have put into my Spanish will be wasted, bugger!!

Hola!

2009-01-11T17:55:00.003+03:00

I don't know what it is about this continent, but as soon as I land here (this is my forth time in South America) I instantly have a smile on my face. It just 'feels' right, like I belong here somehow. Maybe, as regards to Argentina, it is the amount of incredible meat that is available at ridiclous prices - steak that just melts in your mouth (it really is a meat-lovers dream, especially after 6 months barely touching the stuff in Africa). Or maybe it is the language that I love but, as yet (watch this space), cannot speak! Or maybe it is the relaxed attitude to life...the effort put into family and friend relationships...the music that just makes you wanna dance...and then again maybe it is the number of beautiful girls just walking around (even the ugly ones are pretty here!)...I think it's probably a combination of all these things that just turns my mouth into a permanent cheesy grin!

Ok, so, what have I been up to for the last couple of weeks? First up, a quick mention of my friend Agus, and her boyfriend Fran, that I am staying with. I met Agus at an Accenture training course in Chicago a few years ago and she, and her boyfriend, have just opened up their apartment and friends for me since I have been here. It's been great to stay with them and experience Buenos Aries through the eyes of a 'portena' (word for a person born and bred in Buenos Aries). I went with them to a friends house party in a rich suburb of Buenos Aries for New Years Eve (most locals either leave the city or have a house party for NYE), so while it wasnt quite the wild, crazy fiesta I had envisioned as NYE in Beunos Aries, it was a really nice evening - just relaxing in an incredible house, drinking and making home-made pizza in a proper wood burning pizza oven! The day after we soaked up the alcohol at a bar-b-q at Agus's family 'country house' (it was here sister-in-laws birthday) - this was a great experience in itself...and the amount of steaks cooked was just ridiculous (check the the pic i have uploaded!)...!

I have completed my first week of Spanish school and, although it's not easy, I am definitely improving...and am loving it! It's a small class - just 3 other students (an old American couple and a young guy from Sweden - who, incidently, isn't that impressed with the women here - which just confirms the fact that Sweden really is spoilt in that respect..!). The school itself has over 200 other students and organises lots of 'extra-curricular' activities - which is a great way to meet the other students. So far I have been to an open-air percusion concert (quality), played 5-a-side football (was great until I sprained my ankle - honestly I had 6 months of playing on un-even surfaces in Africa with guys who were indestructable, and I didnt get injured once..then, 10 minutes on an indoor, purpose-built, 5-a-side pitch and I sprain my ankle - ridiculous! ...Luckily it's not affecting my dancing, i can still wiggle my top half!), and, or course, I have also been to numerous restaurants, bars and clubs (you have to, this is Buenos Aries baby!). Next week I'm gonna to do a spot of Tango (assuming my ankle holds up)!

Just a note on the culture of going out here. Clubs and, indeed, bars don't even start to get busy until 2am in the morning - the time when most people in the UK are dragging their limp, weary, alcohol infested bodies home to bed! It's crazy - you go out to dinner around 10pm, finishing around midnight, have a few drinks in the 'warm up' bar(s) of choice, then hit the clubs around 2am (and continue until you drop..!). It's tiring, but great, as you end up having two or three nights in one - you can go to dinner with one set of friends - meet another set of friends for drinks in a bar - then go to a club with a third group of people...all of which means you have plenty of oppotunities to practice your Spanish with different chicas (purely to improve my Spanish you understand!) ;)

Today I am moving out into an apartment with other students - big Thank You to Agus and Fran for being such great hosts and letting me stay for the last couple of weeks. I need to get used to packing and unpacking my backpack again for when I set off on the gringo trail, but the thought of doing it today in 32 degree heat (did i mention that the weather has been beautiful?!) is not a nice one. Anyway, I'd better get on with it, signing off from a city where even the girls that work in McDonalds are cute...!

Part 2 Begins...

2008-12-29T18:12:00.002+03:00

After a whirlwind pit-stop at home, I am off again for part 2 of my 'Big Year Out'. I'm spending the next 6 months in South America - visiting friends, travelling and soaking up the continent that I love. The aim is to come back with a reasonable grasp of Spanish...whilst having a bloody good time!

The rough plan is outlined below - although the only part that is fixed at the moment is the first month in Buenos Aries where i'll be studying hard at my Spanish school...whilst enjoying the delights of an incredible city:

Jan: Argentina (Buenos Aries)
Feb (first two weeks): Chile (Santiago and South)
Feb/March/April: Brazil (carnival time!)
April: Venezuela
May: Columbia
June: Panama/Costa Rica

All i ask is that you occasionally drop me an email to tell me whats going on...and that you try not to mess up the economy any more than you have done in the last 6 months...If I can't get a job then I may not come back at all!

Big Year Out - Half Time

2008-12-15T12:59:00.002+03:00

So, this is it, the last entry from Uganda, from ‘Part 1’ of my year out – how is it possible?! It only seems like a couple of months have gone by since I set off from blighty to change the world (!) – and yet I have experienced so much, seen so much, learnt so much and, I think, achieved so much!

Ok, before I get all emotional lets update you on the last 5 weeks (it’s been a while since the last entry!)

First up is the visit of my good mate Jez. Jez was over for 10days and it was just quality. It was brilliant to show him around Bajjo, to introduce him to my new friends, to watch his face as he saw small children running around with large machetes for the first time, to put him to work digging the 5-a-side football pitch and to just kick back and laugh, a lot, with a good mate. During his visit we also spent a few days up in Murchison Falls National Park, spying elephants, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles , waking up to giant warthogs sniffing the tent and trekking with Rhinos…and, or course, sampling the night life of Kampala for a bit of well earned party time!! Thanks for coming out mate, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

One thing that I hoped to get invited to while I was here was a local wedding. My wish came true when the brother of Justine (our neighbour) got married last month. We rushed around Kampala the night before buying cheap shirts, ties and trousers and turned up at a gospel church in Kawempe (a slum area just outside Kampala) the next day. Being a gospel church they had a great choir which was definitely the highlight of the day (along with the strange whooping noise that people make when they are celebrating a joyous occasion!..)…waiting 2 hours for the bride to arrive in sweltering heat dressed in thick trousers, shirt and tie was not so fun (I know its tradition for the bride to turn up late…and time has no meaning here…but 2 hours was just taking the piss!) The reception wasn’t quite the crazy, dance fest I had expected…instead it was about 4 hours of speeches from men (only) in the family saying the same thing over and over again, all translated into three languages (‘thank you God for putting these two people together, we have been blessed’….etc…). I did get some booty shaking (and of course pointing!) in at the end, but not enough for my liking! Still it was good day and I’m glad I got the chance to experience it.

On the project side of life we have had a great, if incredibly busy last few weeks (and there I was naively thinking that we would get all our work done early and kick back and enjoy the experience for the last couple of weeks!). In the last 3 weeks we have:

- Built a playground at the school which included; monkey bars, tyre swings, stepping stones, rope ladder climbing frame, parallel bars (for disabled kids) and colourful benches.
- Painted health messages on the school (a requirement in Uganda)
- Attached guttering and bought a huge water tank for the school to ensure the kids have fresh rain water (they currently drink very dirty water from a well close to the school)
- Organized the second village party (a great success with nurses from a local clinic in attendance giving a talk on HIV and providing outreach HIV testing and counseling….along with the ever popular football and netball tournaments)
- Marked out the best football pitch in the district (we have spent the last few months digging a trench to drain a large area of land, which was finally dry enough to be marked and an exhibition match was played at the end of the village party…a game in which my team lost 2-1…after I missed a penalty in front of a capacity crowd…its gonna haunt me months to come!)
- Picked up a wheelchair for a severely disabled kid in the village and took him for his first ride
- Karl completed a week of training with AMREF staff (the whizzkids HIV & lifeskills programme that Karl wrote in South Africa and that we have been running in Bombo is to be used by AMREF as part of their strategy to fight Malaria, TB and HIV in Uganda – a great partnership and one that I feel I can take some satisfaction from having made the introduction between AMREF and Whizzkids following the work I did for AMREF in London earlier this year)
- The ‘Bajjo Craft Makers’ had a day trip to Kampala to meet prospective buyers for their products and were officially formed as a business/organization when they paid their registration fee, signed the group operating rules and received a donation from wannabeamazin to help them with their capital costs (a proud moment for me – its been a struggle, especially with some of the business training I conducted – most of the women in the group hadn’t picked up a pen since they were at school 30 years ago…that’s if they even went to school!!)
- And, finally, we finished writing our wannabeamazin programme manauals for Art, Creative Studies, Junior Academy and Sports. We have printed them and put them together in folders to form a very professional looking set of programmes..and something we are all incredibly proud of.

So, in an ode to my time at Accenture, what were the lessons learnt in the last 6 months:

- Things take a looooooong time to happen in Africa
- Maybe Idi Amin wasn’t all bad
- In a dark bar I look like Michael Schofield (stop laughing)
- Tiny parasites called Jiggers hurt, a lot.
- I can’t live without a shower, toilet or oven indefinitely – 6 months is enough
- Kids in the UK are wrapped up in too much cotton wool – let them play with knives – they’ll soon learn
- Things take a long time to happen in Africa
- Human sacrifice is still performed fairly regularly in Uganda!
- Malaria, TB and HIV really do kill a lot of people every day in Africa (I’ve seen it first hand)
- We really don’t appreciate how many opportunities we have in the UK – we can do anything if we really want to – anyone moaning about their situation needs to just look around at all the possibilities and grasp them
- Kids don’t need expensive toys – a bottle top can keep them amused for hours
- Termites are bloody destructive creatures
- Things take a long time to happen in Africa
- I can happily live without a TV…but I do miss watching major sporting events (still gutted I didn’t see Bolt break the 100 and 200m records at the Olympics…and the recent Joe Calzaghe fight..)
- Experiences are enhanced when shared with a loved one…finding someone that you love, that you truly love, who is in the same place as you (mentally and physically) is a near impossible task
- Fried grasshoppers are really quite nice…fried white ants are not so nice
- I still love travelling and meeting new people – but friends and family are impossible to replace
- Things take a long time to happen in Africa
- Change in Africa has to come from Africans
- Education is key to a countries development – it really can affect the mindset, culture and development of a country
- Working in a culture that has no concept of time is at first interesting, then annoying and ultimately incredibly frustrating!
- Things take a bloody long time to happen in Africa!!
- I can kill a chicken.

I have had a great weekend to finish on - we invited around 40 people to our house on Friday night to have a big Christmas party and gave out presents to many of the people there –seeing the kids faces as Vinny (our local employee) came round the corner dressed up in a Father Christmas outfit was priceless! We followed that with a meal on Saturday at the local chairmans house, and another one yesterday with SPAU (the charity we have ‘officially’ been working under here). I left Bajjo yesterday and it was hard, really hard. I have become so close to the people there, especially our immediate neighbours...I’m not ashamed to say that a tear was shed.

And so, I fly home today. Looking back at the goals I had for my time in Uganda – to have an adventure and to do something ‘good’ – I can say, hand on my heart, that they have been achieved…and I am just so thankful that I have had this opportunity, and that I picked this option over a couple of others that I had. This has been an incredible experience, one that has helped me to develop again as a person, as a human being. And, as I leave Uganda, I know that Uganda and the people of Bajjo will never leave my heart – I’ll be back, that’s for sure.

Change is coming...

2008-11-11T18:01:00.001+03:00

The end of my African adventure is in sight, less than 5 weeks left…where has the time gone?! We are busier than ever trying to finish writing our recreational programmes, building the sports pitches, train a group of budding business women, launch the outreach clinic and get everything in place to ensure that what we have started will continue long after we have left the place I have come to call home for the last 6 months – Bajjo!...

Last week was Annas birthday and she decided a trip to Kampala for the night to sample some meat, wine and a hot shower was in order to celebrate – I certainly wasn’t arguing. We took Vinny (our local programme manager) along for the celebration. Now, although Vinny is reasonably well educated (he almost finished secondary school) and his English is pretty damn good (he’s even using a bit of slang now!) he is a true village boy, and rarely travels into the city (this was his third time in 2008 and the second time was when we took him to watch Uganda play football last month!). It was truly a night of ‘firsts’ for Vinny – his first ever hot shower, his first ever pizza and his first ever time on the internet (I have been giving Vinny regular computing training sessions on our laptop so he can send us reports when we are back in the UK but this was the first time he had used the internet and email!). When I told him that the internet was like a giant book with pages about every conceivable subject he could ever imagine I don’t think he believed me…but an hour sitting on Google typing in anything that came in to his head convinced him and, to be honest, blew his mind a little bit!

My rare mid-week internet access is due to the fact that I am preparing myself for the impending arrival of Mr Jeremy Katz tomorrow morning. Jez is a good mate of mine and I’m thoroughly looking forward to the next couple of weeks. I shall be ensuring he earns his keep with some hard graft sorting out the five-a-side football pitch, constructing a climbing frame and painting the school…but will also take in one of the highlights of Uganda – Murchison Falls National Park (includes the worlds mast powerful waterfall). And yes, for those that have requested it, I will try and sort out some pictures of the locals stroking the body hair of my furry friend (see earlier blog for those who are confused)!

The big news item last week, that no doubt didn’t go unnoticed where you were(!), was of course the US election. It’s amazing how the election has gripped Africa as I’m sure it has everywhere else. Food stalls have re-named themselves to ‘Obamas outlet’ and ‘Barrakcs Buns’ (ok I made the second one up, but you get the idea!) and on the lead-up to the election locals in Kampala would regularly call out their support for Obama as you walked past (we muzungu are all the same – American, English, whatever!). The night itself coincided with Annas birthday so we were in Kampala and thus had access to TV’s – indeed the hostel we were staying in had an all night election party for all the ‘Peace Corp’ in Uganda (can never say ‘Peace Corp’ without using an American accent…or smirking afterwards…not sure why!). The reaction the morning afterwards was even more amazing – as we walked through Kampala locals were constantly coming up to us shouting the name ‘Obama’ and enquiring as to whether we supported him. There is a real feeling that because of his African roots he is gonna directly help every individual here in some way. Now, while I think that Obama is a great choice, I’m not sure American policy towards Africa will change that much and ,indeed, one of the things that people don’t necessarily give Bush credit for is the huge amount of money he has ploughed into Africa over his 8 year term (albeit with a number of conditions attached...). At any rate, if change is going to really happen in Africa then it will have to come from the people that are here, not a leader from some ‘developed’ country overseas… Right, before I get into a really deep political rant, lets talk about eating bugs!

So, when I am travelling I always like to try and sample the local foods. For me it’s part of the experience and living here in Uganda has been no different. One of the local delicacies that has only recently come into season are flying ‘white ants’. They are about an inch long and are similar to the flying ants we get in England in the summer – the ones that all of a sudden appear on a summers day and start flying around in swarms (how the hell they all coordinate and synchronise when they emerge from their nests is one of lifes great mysteries!). It’s exactly the same here – although it seems to be every couple of weeks that is designated as ‘flying day’ and the little beasts decide to take to the air...and the locals love it, especially the children! They run around catching them as they fly from their nests (they are quite sluggish in the air) and pop them straight into their mouths! Now, whilst I like to try everything, I haven’t quite brought myself around to eating them ‘raw’. Nope, being a sophisticated fellow, I wait for Justine next door to wash them, then fry them before I sample the little blighters! And what are they like, I hear you ask…’crunchy’ is all I can say – they are neither good nor bad, just kind of crunchy!

Idi Admin, the name in the West conjures up images of mass graves, of oppression and of evil dictatorship. But the impression of Idi Amin here in Uganda is not the one that was portrayed in ‘the last king of Scotland’. Indeed I have spoken to a number of people now about Idi Amin and what they think of him and have received the same view from people of different tribes, from different areas of Uganda and with different levels of education – that Idi Amin was not such a bad guy, that he didn’t commit all the atrocities we are led to believe in the West. Indeed the general feeling is that he was a good, honest leader who helped to develop the country in many ways. The stories of mass killings that we are told in the West are said to unfounded, unproved or the work of the opposition who then blamed Idi Amin for the atrocities. It is interesting that this view is repeated across Uganda and you start to wonder who has been fed propaganda…is it us in the West, by Governments that had fallen out with Amin and were not comfortable with his relationship with Colonel Gaddafi and so led a huge smear campaign assisted by Amins opponents in Uganda…or have the Ugandans been brainwashed into believing that one of their former leaders was really a hero and that the meddling of foreign governments prevented him from fulfilling his dream of developing Uganda into a great developed nation…who knows!?

Finally a quick word to all the accenturites out there reading this – have a few leaving drinks on my behalf this Friday! For those not enclosed in the dark world of accenture you probably won’t be surprised to find out that the current global ‘credit crunch’ (that has barely made the news over in Uganda) has hit accenture hard and they have been through a big process of cost cutting and redundancies. The process has, apparently, been a long one, although I only heard about it last Wednesday evening when HR rang me informing me that the deadline for applying for voluntary redundancies had passed! I managed to get an extension considering my circumstances (complete and utter ignorance of the whole process!) and, after considering the package on offer, had my mum submit the appropriate forms on Thursday (lack of internet needn’t be a blocker in these circumstances when you have supportive family!). By Monday this week my application was accepted and that is pretty much that. After a little over 4 and a half years of working for one of the biggest consultancy companies in the world I am out of there. It’s a strange feeling, but I think it is definitely the right decision – I have been thinking about leaving for a long time and this provided me the perfect ‘get out’! It feels good, I can go into the second half of my year out with a clear head and can think about what I really want to be do with my life, hmmm…

Michael Schofield? - Yeah thats my brother

2008-10-23T12:27:00.002+03:00

Football - what most of us know and something that Americans just need to accept – it is the most popular game in the world. No question. In Europe it’s huge, in Asia they are fanatic, in South America there are more football goals than you would believe and in Africa it’s a way of life! People love it here and, in particular, the English premiership! People are either Man Utd or Arsenal fans (with a few Chelsea and Liverpool thrown in for good measure!). Bombo (the local town) grinds to a halt when there is a big game (the local team even cancelled there league game when Man Utd played Chelsea earlier this season – all cramming in to a local shack in Bombo to watch the game!). To fully experience the love for the game out here Karl and I played for a local team a couple of weeks ago after an invitation from one of the guys in Bombo. We travelled on the back of a motorbike (more about that later) to a ‘pitch’ about 8 miles away and played a game, in the middle of nowhere, in front of about 300 people (biggest crowd I’ve ever played in front of!). It was a great experience and a proper African game – tackles were flying in (I’ve said it before, but these people are indestructible!), crooked goal posts and sloping pitch (with pot holes everywhere!). We came on to play the second half with our team 1-0 up, me in centre midfield, Karl in the centre of defence…and soon it was 1-1!! The rain started falling but we pressed on – I almost got a shot in, before one of my team-mates cracked a half-volley into the back of the ‘net’ (metaphorical net of course). And that’s how it ended 2-1 (bloody relieved we didn’t lose it for them!), brilliant. I added a team photo in my last set of photos (the one with the yellow shirts)…

Another great football experience was watching a world cup qualifier in the national stadium (Uganda v’s Benin) last weekend. We took our local employees along as a treat (and for protection!!) and got involved, wearing Uganda shirts and dancing along to the drumbeats in the crowd. It wasn’t the best quality football, but was definitely an exciting game - Uganda had to win to stand any chance of progressing to the next stage of qualifying…and Benin were the unbeaten group leaders…some of the refereeing was a bit dodgy (apparently hardly anyone ever loses when they play at home in Africa – corruption/bribery?...surely not!)….Uganda won 2-1, but unfortunately results went against them elsewhere (Angola also winning and progressing at the expense of Uganda). It was a great atmosphere though…even when the police started firing tear gas into the crowd (this was after the local support had pelted the Benin players with bottles as they were walking off the pitch – I wouldn’t like to be around when the team loses!!)

One thing I don’t think I’ve really mentioned yet is the transport that we use to get around here. Most muzungu living in Uganda are with large charities or NGOs and thus get chauffeured around in 4-wheel drive trucks. But for us, in ‘wannabeamazin’, we keep it real and go local! The main transport between towns are called ‘taxis’…but not the taxis that you and I are accustomed – these are small mini-bus vans (about the size of a VW camper van) with 4 rows of 3 seats in the back and 2 seats (+ the driver) in the front. They are licensed to carry 14 passengers…but this is Africa and they routinely squeeze 20 passengers in…I think the record I have seen is 24! It’s not the most comfortable of experiences and the drivers are crazy – for a country that is, in many ways, incredibly slow-paced, these guys do not hang about – time is literally money for them, the faster they can get somewhere, the faster they can offload the current set of passengers and get some new ones on – they hammer it! The taxi parks, where the journeys start and begin in Kampala, are just as crazy. The best term to describe them is ‘organised chaos’ (think a huge open space, crammed with mini-buses pointing in every conceivable direction, with no obvious ‘roads’ inbetween the rows of vehicles, and the conductors trying to fill their taxis by shouting out their end destination). I don’t know how it works, but somehow it does! Crazier still is the mode of transport to get around towns – ‘boda bodas’. These are small motorbikes that get up to 4 passengers on the back before weaving through the crowded streets of Kampala (a lot of areas are grid-locked) at break-neck speeds. They are bloody dangerous (obviously no helmets) but you have little choice if you want to get to the other side of town quickly – you just have to get on, close your eyes and hope for the best! I had my first accident last week, though luckily in the more serene surroundings of Bombo. I was riding from Bajjo to Bombo on the back of a ‘boda boda ‘up the steep dirt track through the valley that separates the village from the town. Recently the ‘road’ has become really bad (the rainy season has started) and the driver slipped down a ‘trench’ in the road – to try and get out he jammed the accelerator and the front wheel just shot up in the air and we both came off the back, luckily with just a couple of bruises and scratches to show for it! To be honest I’m incredibly surprised that I have not seen more accidents since I have been over here!

My mum and her partner have been here this week and had (I think) a great time. I was so pleased that she came out – it was her first time outside Europe and to do a bit of ‘adventure’ travel and they are already talking about doing a trip to South America (that’s the thing about travelling, as soon as you do it you realise what you have been missing and get addicted!). They spent their first week in Kenya on safari (which they loved) and the second week experiencing the delights of Kampala and Bajjo…they even got themselves in a ‘taxi mini-bus’ one day to go to Jinjja (a town North of Kampala – famous for being the source of the Nile), I was most impressed! Well done mum and thanks for all the supplies you brought with you – the resource centre is looking much healthier!

Rain – we think we have rain in England – we don’t have rain, Uganda has rain! The rainy season is underway and around 4 pm most days the heavens open and water just falls from the sky for about an hour. The ‘road’ in the village turns into a river, and our backyard become a convenient lake for the grateful ducks that live next door. One benefit of living in such a wet climate is that things just grow here – if you don’t keep an area of ground clear by hoeing it every day then you’ll wake up with a jungle the next morning! Indeed, something that has just sprouted up recently in our backyard is marijuana! Huge plants of it, 10 feet tall. The thought of all the preparation that goes into growing it in the UK (silver foil, lamps, heaters etc) and here it is just growing on its own in our backyard (don’t worry mum, I have no idea how to convert it from the plant into a smokable form!)

A quick word on the work front – things are finally progressing with the cooperative I have been trying to set-up in the village - an income generation project for the women (and men) that make crafts. It has been a slow process (almost 3 months) of sensitisation, trying to convey the benefits of working as a group and selling crafts to muzungu for a higher price (we can afford it after all!). But finally things seem to be moving. We had our first official meeting of 15 members – a chairman was elected, a name chosen (‘Bajjo Craft Makers’), and a motto selected (‘The harder we work – the better we become’). There is still a long way to go, but with the financial crisis hitting most big companies in the West I think this could be an opportunity for ‘Bajjo Craft Makers’ to rise up and become a global powerhouse!!

One final thing I must admit is that whilst I love living in the village and experiencing village life, I do also look forward to going to Kampala every couple of weeks to experience a bit of luxury (by luxury I mean a toilet and a shower – not necessarily a hot shower!) and to have a beer or two in the local bars! One thing that has made this quite amusing is that, when I have a freshly shaven head, I get mistaken for being Michael Schofield (the lead actor in the series prison break). Now, I can already hear some of you laughing and scoffing at your computer screen in disbelief, but this is not the first time – when I was in the States 2 years ago with a shaved head some of the yanks also commented on the similarity! Needless to say, I’m certainly not going to discourage the comparison…and I might, sometimes, even claim to be his brother... (just a small white lie!!), hahaha!

Under Attack!!

2008-10-11T15:58:00.000+03:00

Ok, after the last lengthy serious(!) blog I’m gonna stick to a few tit-bits that I think may amuse you…

First up is the attack of the flesh eaters – Jigger Bugs! These are small little critters that somehow manage to munch their way under your skin without you noticing, before settling down to gorge themselves on your flesh whilst creating a ‘nursery’ for the eggs they begin pumping out! The first thing you notice is an itch…this is soon complemented by a small, indiscriminate black dot on your skin and, if you leave it - which I have the habit of doing (I have a lot of itches out here - see ‘skin-eaters’ below) – the area starts to ache and the black dot gets bigger!! Luckily we have the community clinic next door and Justine has kindly dug these critters (3 and counting) out for me (think razor blade, large safety pin and a lot of pain!)

Next up on the ailment front is the attack of the skin eaters! Both Karl and I have been suffering recently from some invisible beast that attacks us throughout the day leaving us covered in small red bites which are incredibly itchy! From doing some reading we think they are small flea/lice like creatures which, thankfully, live in our clothes and not our skin (you have to look for the sliver lining in these situations!). So we have finally done what my mum advised me to do before I left the UK – we have invested in an iron and ironing board and are vigorously ironing all our clothes before we put them on (this, we are advised, is the way to get rid of the little b*stards). It is weird when people that live in mud huts are shocked to find out that we haven’t been ironing our clothes the whole time! Actually it’s interesting what you find once you enter the mud huts in the village – clocks (with grandfather style pendulums) on the wall, chairs, tables, beds, radios…I was expecting to just see a mud floor and straw for a mattress!

Something that has always fascinated me is the fact that whenever you see Africans living in a rural village on tv they always have shaved heads – but how? Do they burn their hair off? Do they use a sharp knife? Do they get some small exotic animal with razor sharp teeth to graze on top of their head?! …For the case of Bajjo the answer to the mystery is a disappointing one - one of the neighbours has standard electric clippers and, when there is power, he simply shaves the hair of the locals for a small charge (about 10p)!! In addition, African hair grows at an incredibly slow rate so they only need to shave it 3 or 4 times a year (versus my hair which needs doing every 3 or 4 weeks!). However, it is really my hair that is the fascination here – not the hair on my head – but the hair on my legs!! The locals simply don’t have any and they are amazed by the fact that I do! I’ll be standing talking to someone or looking at the view and suddenly feel something on my leg, I’ll look down and one of the kids in the village will be sat by my feet stroking my legs!! Even the adults get involved, stroking away, its quite bizarre!!! Anyway, the really funny thing is, I’m not even that hairy…whereas Jez, who is coming out in November, is like a gorilla and has a good rug of hair on his chest – you are gonna get mauled Jez, hahaha!!!

Another thing for you (Jez) and mum (who is coming out next week) to be wary of are the local ‘head choppers’! As recently as 2001 there was a group (loosely associated with the Lords Resistance Army in the North of Uganda) who were capturing people (mainly kids) on the road from Bajjo to Bombo (the local town where we buy our food) and chopping their heads off! Apparently as many as 2 or 3 heads were chopped a week!! The children had to use the road (which descends down into a valley from Bajjo before reaching Bombo on the other side of the valley) as all the secondary schools are in Bombo and this was the only access route! This is no joke – I have met one of the kids who was captured, but fortunately released by the group! Just as disturbing is the fact that a famous witchdoctor lives in our village of Bajjo and, I have been reliably informed, he sometimes requests the head of a human when performing some of his rituals. People requiring the doctors services then pay someone to get a head for them – the going rate to chop off a head is in the region £350 – a tidy sum when the average pay for someone here is less than £1 a day!! But don’t worry Jez/Mum, we are on good terms with the witchdoctor – he likes the programmes we are running in the village so we are safe for now!!

Keeping with the ‘attack’ theme – this time from cyber-space (potentially the geekiest line I have ever written!) - my hotmail account was recently hacked and a number of emails sent to friends claiming I had been robbed and asking for money! Apologies to all those who received the fraudulent emails…I just hope no-one fell for it and sent money!

Finally, just a quick note on our latest success out here (you’re not getting away without a quick bit of self-praise!), we have just hosted our first Village Party! It was an all day event involving sports tournaments for different age-groups (5-a-side football, netball and volleyball), drumming and dancing performances and food stalls…All this was really just a way to get the community together for the real purpose of the day – a health talk delivered by Justine (the local clinician). We intend to make this a monthly event and focus on a different health issue each month. It was a great day (although bloody knackering) with almost 300 people attending...My team got to the final of the 5-a-side football tournament but, unfortunately, lost 2-1…probably a good thing otherwise we might have had our heads chopped!! ;)

Reaching The Half Way Stage

2008-09-14T15:46:00.001+03:00

It’s the half way point of my time in Africa and I can’t quite believe it – time is flying by! It’s been two weeks since I finished my trip and went back to Bajjo and I’m back in the groove of washing out of a bucket, cooking on a coal stove and of course using the long-drop (which now has a resident GIANT rat living in it…honestly how do rats and cockroaches live off the rubbish that our bodies throw out?? – it amazes me!).

It was a great feeling to walk back into the village after 4 weeks of being away – kids screaming, running up to me, carrying my bag and welcoming me home. Karl and Anna had been busy whilst I was away with the help of two of their friends, who had been to visit for a couple of weeks, and Vincent (our local employee). The netball court is now fully operational and is proving a great success with the women playing every night. I even had a game last Sunday – my first ever game of netball – and it definitely changed my opinion that it’s just a girly game of throw and catch…it also confirmed how tough the local women are – I left the field at the end of the game with blood dripping down my leg!! A 5-a-side football pitch (complete with wooden goal frames) had also been marked out in my absence and is proving as popular as the netball…and volleyball is now a regular community event on Sunday afternoons.

The library opened just before I left for my trip and is turning into quite a focal point of the village. We are renaming it a ‘resource centre’ as we seek to provide more facilities (the sports equipment is hired from the library and arts equipment is available for anyone who wishes to draw at the weekends). We have a new employee, a 16 year-old boy called Innocent, to work in the resource centre. Unfortunately his family cannot afford to put him through secondary school (a common problem here - primary school is mostly free in Uganda but you have to pay to attend secondary school) so he earns small amounts of money doing manual labour whenever he can. He has been really helpful since we have been in Bajjo so he was first choice when we started looking for someone to manage the resource centre.

In the first week that I was back one of Karls friends, a girl called Mandy, came to stay and we spent a number of days painting African animals on the school. It’s really brightened the school up and everyone in the village seems to love it! During the school holidays (school starts again next week) Karl and Vincent have been running the Whizzkids HIV prevention programme in Bombo (involves teaching about HIV prevention and life skills using football skills training as a communicator). Karl helped to write the original programme in South Africa 3 years ago and is still heavily involved with the Whizzkids organisation. It’s a great programme and, following the pilot in the school holidays, we are hoping to integrate it into the schools sex education syllabus across the schools in Bombo town (a small town 3km away).
We have also been busy writing a proposal for our next big venture - establishing a free weekly outreach health clinic in the village. Currently the only health service available to residents is from the mid-wife who lives next door to us – but she operates a private service so drugs for Malaria (which is prevalent in the village), HIV/AIDS and TB are only available at a cost to the villagers (many of whom can’t afford them…and yet first line treatment for these diseases is supposed to be provided free by the government). In the time we have been in Bajjo at least 5 people have died of malaria and 3 of HIV – so it’s a big problem. There is supposedly a free government-run health clinic in Bombo, but it is in the grounds of a large army barracks and locals report that they are routinely turned away from the facility having been informed that the hospital is for army personnel only (which is not the purpose of the clinic, it is supposed to be for the community – but you just don’t argue with the army here!!). We met with village leaders and Justine (the midwife who is keen to get involved and offer her services for free one day a week) and have had a number of meetings with a project manager from AMREF about the support the organisation might be able to provide. AMREF are a Kenyan based organisation that work throughout East Africa on projects focusing on health issues. I did some work for them in their London office before I left for Uganda – and this link is proving invaluable as it would be a big challenge (although it’s still bloody big!) to set-up a health clinic without the support of a large organisation like AMREF.

I also continue to garner interest in setting up an income generation project with the women in the village to produce crafts and sell them to muzungu in Kampala. I visited a group of women in a neighbouring district who have set up such a group to find out how they operated and ran their cooperative. We have interest from one of the backpacker hostels in Kampala to set up a stall and sell the goods from within the hostel, which would be fantastic (we can get 3 or 4 times the price from a muzungu for the goods, than we can selling to locals in the local market!!).

I had two great bits of news this week – the first is that a good mate of mine – Mr Jeremy Katz – booked his flights to come out here in November and live the African life for a couple of weeks…and the second is that my Mum came true on her wish and is also flying out to visit the village of Bajjo with her partner in October! It’s going to be quite a shock for her as she has not been outside Europe before - the locals are already already getting excited at the prospect of meeting my mum!! Don’t be scared mum, you’ll be fine!

One, not so good point, is the discovery that Bird Flu seems to have reached Bajjo!! All 5 of the neighbours chickens caught some kind of disease recently and had to be killed…this being Africa the birds were cooked up and eaten straight away…”isn’t there a danger that whatever disease your birds had may be passed to you when you eat them” I asked innocently – laughter and a “don’t be silly” was the response I received…6 new chicks were born last week – and all already look ill…this evidence in conjunction with the comments from a manager at a backpackers hostel in Kampala about the severe lack of chickens from her suppliers and the sudden increase in the price of both chicken meat and eggs suggests there is something happening to all the chickens in this country…hmmmmm...!!

So, at my half way point, it’s a good chance to reflect on what we have already achieved in Bajjo; a netball court, a volley ball pitch, 2 football pitches, a drumming and dance night, a resource centre, a painted school, regular football and netball training, adult English classes…and not forgetting the writing and running of our recreational and HIV prevention programmes…not bad for 3 people! It’s also a good time to share the discovery I have made - the key to increasing the speed of development in Africa…and it’s not the traditional view of NGO’s and charities – I’m thinking outside the box – some may call it radical – but it’s a simple 3 step plan and involves distributing the following to every household in Africa:
1) A washing machine(!)
2) An oven(!)
3) A refrigerator(!)
Soooooo much time is spent by the women and children in rural Africa performing the household chores of hand-washing the clothes, cooking on charcoal stoves and gathering food every day that there is almost no time for anything else (no time for the kids to go to school, no time for the women to work and earn money). Having the 3 utilities would immediately free up huge chunks of the week and would give a massive boost to the economic development of the continent...of course you also need a regular power supply and running water for this to work…and need to ignore the environmental impact that millions of additional refrigerators, ovens and washing machines humming away on the African continent would have…so I’m not saying I have all the answers, but it’s just a suggestion that I thought I would throw out there!! Incidentally if anyone from Whirlpool, Hotpoint or SMEG are reading this then perhaps you could suggest it in your next corporate citizenship meeting!!

Amazing, Amazing Affffrrrriiccaaaaaa

2008-08-30T12:24:00.004+03:00

First of all, apologies for the delay in the update – I know most of you are just sitting around waiting for these insightful ramblings and cant possibly continue your lives without them – so I’m sorry for the delay you have had to endure!

The reason for the lack of communication is down to the number of incredible things I have packed into the last 4 weeks of travel around East Africa and, therefore, the lack of time I have had to hang out in internet cafes writing updates! So, to make up for it, I have written an epic, brace yourself!

Sitting here now I am struggling to know where to start…but the beginning of the trip seems like a logical place!..

I met up with the tour group in Entebbe (a city South of the capital Kampala). It was a large mixed group of 28 people – mostly Aussies and Kiwis – a range of personalities, but on the whole people were cool. Being in such a large group on a big truck (think a four-wheel drive bus) was a such a change from the village – as we drove along it felt like we were in a big fish tank as we peered out and the locals peered in! I always prefer to take local transport when traveling rather than go on tours as the experience is much more ‘real’, but this part of Africa doesn’t have the same public transport network as, say, South America, and it would take a lot longer to get around (and ultimately work out more expensive). So, although I said I would never do a big tour after Peru in 2003, it was the only way I could really pack in as much as I did…plus it meant I had a ready-made group of friends to share the experience with.

The first big experience was to come face to face with the endangered Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda…and what an experience. I remember watching a film (Gorillas in the Mist) as a young boy and being fascinated by it…but the real-life experience was just magical. Words cannot really describe the feeling I had after trekking for 2 hours in dense jungle to suddenly turn a corner into a clearing and catch a glimpse of the silverback for the first time – just his left shoulder and the back of his head – he was huge! I was breathless and my heart was pounding. As we approached closer more adults (females) and a number of babies came into view…just incredible. It’s hard to write down how I felt as I stood, sometimes less than 2 metres away, from these gentle, and yet incredibly powerful, human-like giants – simply awe-inspiring.

After the gorilla encounter we spent a few days traveling back across Uganda to Entebbe, passing the equator point and the classic demonstration of water flowing clockwise down the drain in the Northern hemisphere, anti-clockwise in the Southern, and straight down the plughole on the equator line – it really does work!! We are also visited a chimp sanctuary and got to watch the chimps feeding (and having sex!) – pretty cool as they are soo human-like (98.6% the same as us!).

Next stop was Jinja – a town North West of Kampala and the adrenalin capital of East Africa. It’s famous for being the source of the Nile river and it was here that I spent an awesome day white-water rafting on the Nile – on the bloody Nile(!) – honestly, sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I am really in these places! The white-water rafting was quality – it’s always great fun, but this was definitely bigger than the rivers I have rafted previously in New Zealand and Ecuador…the last rapid being crazy – the raft flipped and I was under water for what seemed like an eternity (don’t worry mum, I’m here safe and sound!).

After drying off from the water (and a large night out in Jinja!) we crossed the border into Kenya, stopping at a very, very cool campsite (did I mention that pretty much the whole trip is spent camping) – it had a fantastic swimming pool, with a waterfall (think the famous swimming pool scene in Show Girls!) and an amazing bar with pool table, dart board and poker table (all of which we took advantage of!).

A couple of days driving took us to Naivasha and our first game drive. It was incredible to finally see some of the famous African animals up close and in the wild – including rhino, hippo, warthogs, giraffe, empala, flamingos and leapords to name just a few. That night we camped in the park with nothing separating us and the wild animals except a thin piece of canvass – surprisingly I had a very good nights sleep, only getting disturbed by the snoring coming from a neighbouring tent…at least I think it was snoring!

Naivasha was good, don’t get me wrong, but the next couple of days blew me away – we drove and camped in the Masai Mara – the Masai bloody Mara!! Another of those ‘pinch me’ moments in my traveling life! On the way to the park we stopped in a traditional Masai village to learn more about there way of life and watch some dancing (i.e. the jumping - think the trailor on the BBC before the news). It’s obviously quite a commercial enterprise now for this particular group of Masai, and these Masai were not short of some cash (most had mobile phones!!) but it seems they still do follow their traditional way of life, living in mud-huts fenced off from wild animals by a fence of thorny branches. So, even though it was slightly put on for tourists and taking videos/photos felt a bit strange, it was still really cool!

From the Masai village it was a bumpy ride (no change there) into the Masai Mara park itself..and what followed were two incredible days of gazing at animals that previously I had only seen in zoos or on TV… the annual migration of wilderbeast and zebras was in full swing – lines upon lines of animals, they looked like ants - magical – I don’t think words can describe it...we even saw two lions having sex (it only lasted a few seconds though so, boys, next time you are having problems in that department just say you are a lion in bed!!)

From the ‘Mara’ we drove to Nairobi (long, long drive!) and spent a couple of nights recuperating in a campsite and stocking up on meat in an incredible restaurant called ‘carnivore’! We also visited Elephant and Giraffe sanctuaries – both of which were cool in their own right – I even got to kiss a giraffe..!!

Next on the agenda was to cross into Tanzania and head for the game parks of the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater – both, again, surpassing my expectations – animal after animal – lions, elephants, giraffes, hippos, leapords, cheetahs – you name it we saw it. I can’t describe the feeling of sitting quietly in our small land rover type truck watching a female lion stalk a zebra – just breathless. Camping in both parks again added to the adventure – waking up one morning to see an elephant just 10 metres from the tents in the Ngorongoro crater was a great experience!

And then, after all the long driving, roughing it tents and going without showers for days on end, I arrived in paradise – its called Zanzibar. What a way to finish my trip – I spent 5 nights on this incredible island a few kilometers off the coast of Tanzania. It’s such a contrast to the mainland with a great mix of Arabic, Indian and Swahili culture – the white-washed buildings and winding streets of Stone Town remind me of some Mediterranean countries…but the real selling point are the beaches. We stayed in the North of the island and it was simply beautiful – walking down to the beach to watch the sunset for the first time was yet again a ‘pinch me’ / ‘take my breath away’ moment. It’s the type of place that you really should be sharing with someone special, someone you love, yep this is me talking about love. I learnt about it last year – and there are certain places, certain experiences that, although they are incredible in their own right, can really be enhanced when you share them. A Zanzibar sunset is definitely one of those... Bloody ‘ell, sorry boys, don’t know what came over me there – let me rectify it by saying that the island was full of beautiful women – Italian, Spanish and locals alike – definitely a place for mirrored sunglasses on the beach!!

Today I head back to Bajjo, back home. I can’t wait to get back, I’ve really missed the people and can’t wait to get stuck in with the project. The trip gave me a lot of time to reflect and think about what we are doing as well as providing a greater perspective of what Africa is all about (even if it was through the gold fish bowl of the truck!). I’m so glad I have this experience – to actually develop genuine relationships with local people and try, in our own small way, to make their lives a little bit better. I am a lucky, lucky boy.

P.S. Unable to load photos here but will endeavour to sort through and pick out the best from a huge batch I have taken over the last 4 weeks as soon as I can.

The Story Continues...

2008-07-26T16:59:00.002+03:00

Another 2 weeks have flown by and I’m really getting into the lifestyle now!...

On arrival in Uganda I got in contact with a friend of a friend – Xi – who happens to be in Uganda for a few weeks on an ADP project with Accenture. She is working on a micro-finance project with Eva, a girl from San Francisco. I stayed with them on my first night in Uganda and subsequently on the two visits to Kampala. It was great meeting up with them at weekends as we don’t see any fellow Muzungu (it’s what white folk are called in Africa!) in Bajjo so it was nice just to chill out with them and add some new angles to the three-way conversations Anna, Karl and I have in the village!…staying in their luxery apartment with HOT showers AND a flushing toilet, was also extremely welcommed!! Xi and Eva even came out to Bajjo for the weekend - I think it was quite a shock for the villagers as not only did they have an extra 2 Muzungu to stare at but Xi and Eva are both of Chinese descent - it was the first time some of the kids had ever seen Asian people in real life! Xi and Eva have now left Kampala, but the contact with them did also make me think how different these 6 months would have been had I gone down the route of an ADP or VSO project...I've got to say, after 4 and a half weeks I am so glad I chose to come out to Uganda with 'wannabeamazin'. Living as the locals live and developing strong relationships with them is ultimately enhancing the experience I am having...and actually setting up a charity from scratch, off our own backs, is an incredible feeling...Anyway, enough of that, lets fet on to some stories!...

Our next door neighbour, Justine, keeps a small number of chickens and, most of the time, they are bloody annoying – waking me up by crowing at 5am in the morning as the sun breaks over the horizon, pooing on our steps (and in our house!) and trying everything they can to steal our food…so on Saturday I got my revenge..! It was a special occasion as two of Justines sisters had come to visit – and I was given the honour of killing the chicken for the ‘feast’! Yep, I killed one of the chickens by slitting its throat, before plucking, cooking and then eating it! It was a weird experience to actually cut the throat – I could feel its heart beat as I held its neck..and obviously it moved around quite a lot as I cut through the neck…but, contrary to what I thought beforehand, I did not feel any guilt afterwards…at the end of the day anyone that eats meat is a hypocrite if they say they can’t do it...or indeed if they deride me for doing it. This, after all, is what it’s all about when you purchase a nice clean chicken breast in those packets in the supermarket…

There are a number of kids living in a mud-hut next to our house and they are all incredibly musical - even the 1year old claps along in time to a tune! Utlising their skills we are now hosting a drumming/dancing/singing/limbo night every Wednesday in our backyard…it really is surreal sometimes as I stand there dancing away, shaking my booty beyonce style to the tribal beats of the drum (a.k.a jerry can/paint tin)…and yep, for those in the know, I am slowly introducing minimislistic dancing into Uganda (albeit to shreaks of laughter from the locals)…I have already got one of the kids pointing away as he shakes his ass!!

So, we have started to become friendly with a man-eating spider that we have named Simon…Twice now we have woken to Simon sitting on the wall, watching us in our beds – its as big as my bloody hand! Each time Karl and I have stood cowering in the corner like real men as we ask Justine (our next-door neighbour) to help us deal with it and get it out the house! Justine insits that it won’t kill you if it bites you, it will just “swell up massively and be very painful”. Now, from my observations so far, Ugandans are indestructible and dont really feel pain (they can pick up burning pieces of coal in their bear hands for crying out loud), so when they say “it will be very painful” I sure as hell don’t want to find out what that feels like!

Progress on the netball pitch is going well – the posts are now up and we just need to add the lines – the transformation from a jungle into a flat level court is quite amazing – but it’s been bloody hard work. I’m sure my biceps are twice the size they were (not hard I know) after all the digging and hoeing in the field! The volley ball court is now finished and we had the grand opening on Sunday afternoon with a mini-tournament (my team won of course!) Next we are turning our attention to football goals and a table-tennis table!

Our programmes are running 6 days a week at the moment, in the evenings Mon-Fri and all day on Saturday. During week days we are working on the sports fields, preparing for the programmes and visiting local organisations to see how we can work with them. All of which is very rewarding, but it also means we don’t really get a break, especially when we stay in the village over the weekend. Our main programmes are designed to run during the school term and, as the school term is coming to an end in a couple of weeks, I have decided to take a well-deserved break and see a bit of the country and surrounding area in East Africa. This is the only real window of opportunity to do some extended travelling here and, if I don’t do it now, I know I will regret it. So, to try and pack as much in as possible, I am joining a truck tour on Friday for a 27 day trip taking in the main sites of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania (including the Massai Mara, Serengetti, Zanzibar island and, of course, the mountain gorillas)…it’s also a bit of a scouting mission for the football safari tour we are running next summer with the charity (check out the website if you are interested!). I must admit I am already a bit sad at the thought of being away from the village for so long, especially as Anna and Karl are only going to be away from the village for 10 days during this period. I’ve only been here for a little over 4 weeks, but already I have fully adapted to the way of life (long-drop apart!) and feel completely at home here. Having said that, my lust for travelling is as strong as ever and I am incredibly excited about it. It will also be a good chance to refresh myself and get ready for the long school term that will lead up to December.

And, lastly, for those of you that are interested – my beard it progressing quite nicely…such a contrast to the days when I was a 17 year-old whipper snapper desperately trying to grow side-burns so as I could try and sneak into the pubs and clubs of Camberley! I have added a few snaps in the photos folder…although I must admit I am tempted to shave it this weekend whilst in Kampala…

Welcome to Bajjo!

2008-07-13T16:44:00.003+03:00

Wow, ok, 2.5 weeks have flown by, where do I start…

Let me set the scene by describing my home for the next 6 months... Our 'house' is part of a building, separated into 3 living blocks – each with two rooms. The first ‘block’ is a ‘clinic’ used by Justine, the local mid-wife (and only medically trained person in the village we are in), the second is her living quarters, and we have the third. We have rented the two rooms (each about 10ft by 10ft) for a total of 50,000 UG Shillings a month – about £17! We use a small store room (4ft by 3ft) out the back of the ‘house’ as a ‘shower room’ (i.e. a room where we strip and pour water over ourselves from a bucket!). We currently share a ‘toilet’ with Justine and her children - Benja (3yrs) and Martha (2yrs) – who are incredibly cute and cheeky in equal measure…to clarify, when I say toilet I mean ‘hole in the ground’ – it’s a long-drop, and pretty disgusting! I am still trying to get to terms with squatting over a small hole while the flies buzz overhead, the spiders sit in the corner, the gekos wait patiently on the wall and the cockroaches move over each other in ‘the hole’! Going to the toilet is definitely no longer a time to relax and reflect – it’s about getting in and getting out as fast I can!!

Bajjo, the village we are staying in, is near a town called Bombo in the Luwero district of Uganda (between 1-3 hours from the capital – depending on the traffic, how brave the driver is, and the number of pot holes on the road..) Bajjo has one main ‘road’ running through it (one of those classic single-track orange dirt roads you see in the films) and several tracks running off this main road…apparently there are close to 2000 people living in the village, but it feels more like 200! It really is a classic African village, with single room mud-huts being the norm. The contrast between rich and poor, however, even in the small village of Bajjo, is very apparent. Houses range from small one roomed mud huts – to quite substantial brick/concrete buildings (like ours) – some with intermittent electricity…and some with none at all…none of the houses have running water – this we have to collect from a well about 1km from our house…its uphill on the way back and is an absolute killer…we have already got into the habit of paying a local boy to fetch it for us (it’s not child labour – its spreading the wealth – they are grateful for the work!) The clothes that the villages wear range from what can only be described as rags – right through to pristine white shirts, trousers and shining black shoes!...how on earth people get their clothes clean here I will never know – I constantly feel dirty and have already rubbed the skin off my knuckles as I unsuccessfully try to scrub my clothes clean in a bucket!

And so, on to the people…wow, what can I say – incredible warmth – we have been welcomed into the village with open arms. We have held/attended several community meetings to talk about what we are here to do – and to ask what they would like/want. Every time I am humbled by the appreciation they show to us just for being here. The kids are incredible – full of life and happiness, finding joy in the simplest of things; a bottle top..an empty plastic bottle..a bike tyre (the kids run along keeping the tyre moving with a stick – just as you as have seen kids doing in pictures from the Victorian times in England!)… And what the kids may lack in academic education they certainly make up for in their creativity, resourcefulness and ‘practical living skills’. The average 3 year old in the village can survive on their own all day quite happily without adult supervision and even walk to the local market (1km away) and buy some eggs…the average 5 year old can beat a tune on a drum and walk to the well to fill up a jerry-can with water (1km away)…the average 7 year old can look after their younger siblings, feed them and care for them…the average 10 year old can start a fire, cook dinner and chop down a tree…Amazing!

The people have nothing and yet they still give and share food with us – the sense of community and togetherness is very strong. This was highlighted when we attended a funeral of an elderly gentleman who passed away last week. He was quite an important man in the village and the whole community turned out – people came from neighbouring villages and towns at very short notice (it is the custom to bury the dead within 24 hours) – there must have been over 3000 people at the funeral - an impressive feat in logistics and organisation in itself! But the thing that really impressed me was how people from different religions mixed. The guy that died was Muslim – but the Christians and Muslims (the two dominant religions in this region) mingled as one at the funeral, sitting next to each other – the Christians waiting patiently as their Muslim kin prayed next to them – it was quite moving (we could really learn from this in the UK).

So, I’ve covered the accommodation, the village and the people…now a quick word on what I have been doing! The wannabeamazin team - me, Anna, Karl and Vincent (our newest recruit – a local we have employed to help with translation) have been working hard kicking off the programmes we came hear to run – 2 weeks in and everything seems to be going well. We have registered close to 150 kids and are running programmes Mon-Sat, including football, netball and English lessons for the adults (the level of English varies considerably, from relatively fluent to non-existent..the latter being the norm!). I’m really enjoying teaching the Arts programme. I have barely picked up a pencil or paint brush since starting work so its really nice to have time to do it again and to try and pass on some of the knowledge from my Art A-Level. As well as running the programmes we have been working hard with the community constructing a volleyball pitch and clearing (and levelling) some ground to make a netball pitch (almost there!). Next step is to build some football goals for the boys and dig drainaige channels in the field we want to play football on (half the pitch is a boggy marsh at the moment)!

Ok, I think I’ll end it there – lots more to write but you have 6 months of this to wade through and this has already turned into an essay! In summary; I’m living in a classic African village in a basic 2-roomed house with no water, a shared long-drop, a (very) small charcoal ‘stove’, and intermittent electricity…and I’m loving it!

So, what am I doing?!

2008-06-24T14:25:00.000+03:00

Some of you are bored of hearing me talk about taking a year off, going travelling, doing voluntary work...and to be honest I had started to bore myself with the chat – I’d been thinking and talking about it for so long - pretty much since I got back from my last trip...and definitely since I started work!! Well, finally, I’ve ‘bitten the bullet’, I’ve got the ‘bulls horns in my hands’ – I have taken a year off work (unpaid)!

Over the course of the next year I hope to fulfil a few personal objectives:
1) To do something worthwhile, to give something back to society and to help those less fortunate than myself
2) To (finally) learn Spanish!
3) To have a real adventure...

Numbers 1 and 3 should be covered by the first part of my year out – I’m heading to Uganda (aka ‘The Last King of Scotland’) for 6 months to work on the charity I have helped to set-up (wannabeamazin). We are basically providing structured recreational programmes for kids – giving them an opportunity to do something they wouldn’t normally get to do and, at the same time, incorporating HIV/AIDS awareness messages in the programmes and encouraging the kids to look to the future and set goals for themselves (more information can be found on our website: http://www.wannabeamazin.co.uk/)

For the 6 months in Uganda I will be living with the 2 co-founders of the charity (and good friends – Anna and Karl) in a basic hut in a small village called Bajjo in the Luwero district of Uganda (it’s near a small town called Bombo which can be found on Google Earth..although there are several Bombos in Uganda!). As well as the recreational programmes with wannabeamazin we will also assess how else we can help the wider-community. One area I have already been asked to help with is to work with one of the charities we are partnering with in Uganda (SPAU) to help improve their business processes and efficiency (yep am keeping my hands dirty with some consultancy work!)

Number 2 on my list will (hopefully!) be fulfilled in the second part of my year out, when i will spend at least 4 out of the 6 months in my favourite continent – South America – travelling, visiting friends and taking Spanish lessons.

So, I start Part 1 of my year out – the African Adventure – in less than 5 hours when I board a plane to Uganda... Some of you may be asking yourselves – Am I crazy? - Maybe I am.....Am I scared? – Most definitely.....Am I excited? – Abso-bloody-lutely!!