Sam and Ian go West!

You can click on this map to enlarge it.

Sam (see earlier blog describing colleagues in the MARPs Network) and I embarked on a trip to the west of Uganda on Sunday 25 April. We focused on the districts of Kasese, Busheyni and Mbarara. The purpose of the trip was to recruit member organisations for the MARPs Network.

The journey from Kampala took us via Fort Portal, then down to Kasese, through the Queen Elizabeth National Park to Busheyni and then on to Mbarara before returning to Kampala via Masaka. Including a detour from Kasese to see a project near the Democratic Republic of Congo border we clocked up 1200 kilometres in 5 days.

What follows is a pictorial record of our adventure.

The car - a Toyota "Noah" - a sort of mini people carrier - goes OK and you can fit a few in!
Dawn in Kasese - our first morning - time to get cracking recruiting member organisations!
Meeting the 'Sisters' at the Kasanga Health Centre - very close to the Congo border - isolated up an unbelievably rough track!
We got an enthusiastic welcome from this group of children in Kasese
Sam discovers he has an army of young fans
North of Busheyni there are several large tea estates - here's an example
I have heard the expression "a pig in muck" - and here is the best example I think you could possibly imagine!
The trip was amazing and the car was good despite my attempts to wreck it - I managed to reverse it out of a compound into a ditch - which I knew was there as I had driven past it on the way in to the compound - senior moment!! Here's a picture of the car's tyre marks at the ditch in question
The gallant metal work guys who gladly came up the lane to 'lift' the car out and send us on our way - me with a sheepish grin and a blushing cheeks! -

Later that day we went to visit Sam's Mum and Dad who live just off our route up in the hills. Sam said that history was made on Tuesday 27 April as I was the first "Muzungu" (white man) to visit his village, let alone his parents! His Mum cooked a delicious and memorable meal of boiled chicken with about eight fresh vegetables from their farm/garden. His Mum and Dad were so warm and welcoming and so we stayed late - I was a bit nervous about driving after dark.

The first picture shows the landscape on the way to Sam's place, the next picture is of Sam's parents and the third picture is of a proud shop owner in Sam's village


All in all the trip was very enjoyable - great scenery - great roads (apart from the very beginning and very end of the journey) - we met and interviewed an array of lovely people doing astonishing work with most at risk populations (in terms of getting HIV & AIDS). We had a target of recruiting 15 organisations into membership of the network - and we managed 17 - helped it has to be said - by members of Sam's extended family in two of the three districts we visited. Here's a guy who Sam was at Makerere University with at the Integrated Community Based Initiatives project in Kabwohe near to Busheyni.

Sam and I got on well and learned a lot from each other. It was good - just the two of us - and Sam got to do a lot of up front interviewing which I am happy to say he is really very good at - and very thorough and patient too!

Here he is in the top picture interviewing Joyce Tibaijuka who chairs the Mbarara branch of the National Community of Women Living with HIV and AIDs (NACWOLA) and - in the second picture - Sedrack Bakulirahi the District Health bio-statistician in Kasese


Finally, when we got back to Kampala on Thursday evening there was very good news for us. The MARPs Network had just received it first grant! So on Friday Sam and the team got paid for the very first time - there were quite big smiles in the office.