Recently . . .

The Network Team and Partners
The other night Geoffrey, Richard and Sam came round to our place for supper and they honoured us by bringing their partners along as well. We had a really great time together. Here are Geoffrey with Enid, Sam with Maria and Richard with Prossie.

Hugh O'Donnell MSP
VSO runs a scheme that enables Parliamentarians to 'sample' the volunteer experience. For the past 10 days Hugh O'Donnell has been staying with us. Hugh is a Lib Dem member of the Scottish Parliament. During his brief stay in Kampala Hugh was placed with the National Union of Disabled People - facilitating discussion around the development of an advocacy strategy. He also had a chance to visit the British High Commission and the Uganda Electoral Commission. Our task as hosts was to enable Hugh to meet with other volunteers so as to develop an understanding of the range of stuff that volunteers do and the diverse range of people who are volunteers. Ian managed to avoid discussing UK politics for the first week but during the second week failed to resist the temptation to tell Hugh that he thought his chances of re-election next May (as a Lib Dem) were slim to say the least!
Here's Hugh relaxing by the Nile in Jinja - a typical day off for volunteers in Kampala!Four images from our trip with Hugh to Jinja
A wild grass going to seedWe saw this monitor lizard as we travelled by boat to the source of the NileDawn on the NileA guy fishing at Dawn on the Nile
Boda boys
These guys saw me taking the photograph of the poster at the Rugby Club and were over in a flash to pose! Boda boys are totally fearless (crazy!) motor bike riders who transport equally crazy passengers
Two of our local Boda boys
These guys greet us every day as we pass on our way out or on our returnAnd finally . . .A hotel sign that makes us grin every time we see it

11 July Bombings

Here's a poster that Renate and Ian saw outside the Rugby Club where over 60 people lost their lives on 11 July while watching the World Cup Final. We like this poster very much.You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

Catch Up since last post

Cluster Chair
Ian was a bit slow to leave the room at one of the first Kampala volunteers 'cluster' meetings he attended and found himself elected chair of the 'Cluster' - not too onerous except for the responsibility of ensuring volunteers are involved is discussing security issues and acting as a link with the VSO Uganda office.

Shortly after taking the chair, Ian was contacted by one of the VSO volunteers in the Kampala Cluster who actually lives and works in Masaka - 135km to the southwest of Kampala. Rajgopal Swaminathan - from VSO India - is managing the Masaka Vocational Rehabilitation Centre. He invited us to travel to Masaka for a weekend away a few weeks back so that we could see the Centre and get to know something of his role - he's day-to-day manger as well as being responsible for marketing and development. Six of us went in our Toyota "Noah" micro bus and had a great time - we were all very impressed with the progress the Centre's making under his stewardship. Here's a photograph of some of the kids at the Centre who had made toy trucks from plastic bottles.
Fund raising challenge update
In an earlier post I mentioned exploring the setting up of a UK-based Trust to support the MARPs Network secure the funding it needs to carry out it's work. Following further discussions and a couple of very helpful replies from blog readers this idea is 'on hold' until core funding has been secured from a Ugandan source. Getting core funding is key to building strong foundations for the Network's work. The team are working hard now to complete our first annual report and our first business plan. These two documents draw significantly on the findings from the Network's public dialogue project - a consultation carried out with over 100 civil society organisations (mostly small community-based organisations) who are working with Most At-Risk Populations in terms of HIV / AIDS. The team are developing a funding strategy and hope to secure success in gaining core funding within the next few months - this strategy will be under-pinned by the business plan but also by the outcomes from the World AIDS conference held in Vienna in July - a key message from this conference was that greater focus should be given to working with Most At-Risk Populations.

Visit from VSO and placement extension
A few weeks back the MARPs Network received a visit from the Programme Manager at VSO Uganda - Abigail Akirapa - to discuss progress with Ian's placement. Everyone felt that it was progressing positively and agreement was reached to extend the placement from 6 months to a year! Yippee - we are not going to be homeless - our house in Marlcliffe Road, Sheffield is rented out for a year and if Ian was to finish his placement this month we'd have to go travelling! Here's a photograph of Ian and Geoffrey Mujisha (Ian's boss) with Ruby (a visitor from VSO London) and Abigail from VSO Uganda.