A holiday with two Petes who Ian met at Goldsmiths' College 40 years ago

Pete Sacker and Pete Wilde and Ian met in September 1971 when they enrolled on the Community Work Certificate course at Goldsmiths' College in New Cross, south east London. Pete Sacker and Ian moved to Sunderland when they graduated in 1973. In 1979 Pete Sacker moved to Sheffield, where Pete Wilde was also working at the time. In 1983 Ian moved to Sheffield after encouragement from Pete that he was no longer part of the solution in Sunderland - instead becoming part of the problem!
It's great to have remained in contact for 40 years and the decision by the 2 Petes to come and spend two weeks with Renate and Ian was warmly welcomed. The pictures below summarise a very enjoyable two weeks together.
Renate and the 2 Petes embarking on the boat trip to the Source of the Nile
The three wise men ruminating - still putting the world to right after 40 years!
A visit to Kilombera weaving factory near Jinja is great for pictures! Also a good place for buying presents to take home.
Pete Wilde showing the results of his photo skills to the guys who had just been his models
Morning mist and cloud on the floor of the rift valley - a sight to behold.
Our cottage with the view of the rift valley and the distant mountains of the Congo.
In our cottage there was an extra bed. If we wanted to sleep under the stars all we had to do was wheel this second bed out onto the verandah - unfortunately it was cold and damp, so we didn't.
A common sight - Pete Sacker with his binoculars and Pete Wilde with his camera - focusing on the feast of birds that Uganda has to offer.
In this part of western Uganda there are many 'crater lakes' - not quite sure how they were formed but they are stunning to see and the surrounding countryside is amazingly lush.
The wonderful backdrop of Kibale Forest where we stayed for two days - the two Petes sharing a tree house!

Completing the Regional framework for the Network

The past month has been very busy. Following the setting up of the regional technical working group in Kasese in the middle of October, three more regional groups have been established. The second was in Lira, covering four districts of Northern Uganda - see below:After Lira, we moved to Eastern Uganda, right next to the Kenyan border at Tororo. Shown below are the participants who attended the Tororo launch meeting.

The four districts covered by the Eastern region technical working group.
Finally, last Thursday, we launched the Central regional technical working groups which covers the five Divisions of the Kampala Capital City Authority. We had collective anxiety on Thursday morning as it was pouring with rain - and had been all night - so we wondered whether anyone would turn up. At start time - 9.30 am - 10 had arrived, out of nearly 40 invited. However by 11.30 am we had a full house and a very successful launch.
To sum up, the four launch meetings were attended by 101 community-based organisations and 17 District / Divisional local government organisations. We are all very pleased with this outcome, it is confirmation that the Network is wanted and is timely. The next job, which we are working on this coming week is appointing locally-based organisations to work on our behalf to support these regional groups. Hopefully that will all be completed by Christmas and everyone in the team at the MARPs Network can enjoy a well earned two week's rest!