Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!
Uganda is a landlocked country in east-Africa, slightly larger than the state of Victoria in Australia, and has a population of 22 million people. Not many people are very familiar with this country but most people have heard of the Major-General Idi Amin Dada who took over the government from the Prime Minister Obote in a coup in 1971. He managed to ruin the country in a reign of terror but the Tanzanian forces overthrew Amin in 1979. Unfortunately chaos and civil war followed until 1986 when Museveni took power and brought back some kind of stability. Adi Amin now lives in Saudi Arabia.
Uganda is also the home of half the world's remaining mountain gorilla population.
Kampala, the capital, suffered a great deal during the civil war but has come back from a looted shell to a shriving modern city of 774,000 people. The traffic though is amazing, there are no traffic lights or any rules so when you arrive to an intersection everyone try to go through, the result is some incredible traffic jams.

Sunday 8 Dec.
They charged an extra fee at the border because it was Sunday. I was able to buy a visa for Uganda for US$30.00 and again they charge me for the road permit US$20.00. They kept on harassing me to buy insurance for the bike but I was in no mood for spending more money, even though I knew if the police stop me I would be charge a fine, I was prepared to take the risk.
I rode all the way to Kampala without any problems. The price of petrol surprised me though, at nearly US$1.00 per litre that makes it as bad as in Europe and that is the highest that I seen so far in Africa.
Dodging the traffic in Kampala was something else especially when I was not too sure which way to go. I finally found the backpackers camp after some heavy sweating, put the tent up and meet some of the other guests.
The next day was spent at organizing my visa for Ethiopia (US$63.00) and visiting the national World Vision office where I was welcomed by James Monge, James is the CRS Manager. He took me for a very nice buffet lunch and explained to me in details the involvement of World Vision in Uganda. He also arranged for me to visit the Kammengo and the Buwama Development Project for the next day.
Tuesday 10 Dec.
Kammengo is located at 55km south from Kampala; it took me just under 45minutes to ride there, the scenery along the road was beautiful, very green and fertile.
I was meet by Francis Eswap (pictured) who told me a little more about the project. It was started in October 1995 and is now helping around 30,000 people with 1,646 sponsored children but the objective is to have 2,500 children sponsored in the coming year. They have already built 2 schools but 4 more are under construction, they have provided children with schools uniforms, desks, books and supplies. There are also schools for adults to teach them how to write, read, business management and other skills. On top of that, health clinics are established and children are immunized against common diseases. Springs are protected to provide clean drinking water to families. Community members are learning to work as AIDS counselors,
birth attendants and health -care workers. Using bicycles which have been provided for this purpose, they make home visits, teaching others about various aspects of health-care including nutrition, disease prevention and nursing those with AIDS. Community members are also learning new skills including tailoring and carpentry.
Some of the villages are only accessible on motorcycles so Francis joined me on his little Honda and together we rode on some of the smallest paths I have ever rode on. First we visited one of the water springs then one of the health clinics where I had the chance to have a chat with the doctor. He sees around 80 patients every day, treating them from minor illnesses to more serious cases. We, then, rode on to a primary school were 500 pupils were playing around as it was the end of the year and only one more school day before their Christmas break, they will be back early February.
We also visited quickly another project at Buwama; there we had lunch with some of the head of the community as there were having their monthly meeting. Later on we visited some of the local families; they were able to show us their crossbreeding goats and new ways of fertilizing the soil.
Those two projects definitely need more sponsored children, some of them are pictured, if you would like to sponsor one of those children just send an e-mail to Jay Robinson at robinsonj@wva.org.au she will be more than happy to help you.
The next couple of days were spent at catching up with the laundry, the e-mail's and visiting the town centre.
Saturday 14 Dec.
Even though I was starting to enjoy Kampala, it was time for me to get moving again. I had the tent folded by 9am but lost 1 hour trying a short cut to get out of Kampala; I was heading to Jinja, 80km away and the home of the Nile source. Jinja is a charming town on the shores of Lake Victoria (third largest lake in the world) but I went straight to the Bujugali falls 8km from the town centre.
I was able to camp right next to the falls in a beautiful setting. This is where the River Nile starts and runs all the way to Egypt to the Mediterranean, 6,500km further away, via Sudan. Obviously the extra water runs down from the Lake Victoria. Apparently, it takes the water 3 months to reach the Mediterranean. . Lots of tourists come here to do some rafting and
kayaking but soon all this region will disappear under water as the government is building a dam not far down the river, pity because the sceneries are just amazing.
The next morning, after an unscheduled but necessary 10km run, I left this most beautiful place and headed toward Kenya as planned. The plan was to visit my last World Vision project in Uganda, at Tororo to be exact, just 10km from the border. I decided that I would give camping a miss for once and found a guesthouse with a very reasonable price. That night I nearly died when I got the worst electrical shock of my life. I was working on my laptop when a violent unexpected thunder storm exploded above us sending a charge of electricity through the computer. Likely there were no damages on the machine or myself but everything was unplugged in record time and put away for the night.
Monday 16 Dec.
I started the day with a 10km run again, (have to stay fit somehow) it's actually a nice way to explore the surroundings first thing in the morning and also to see the locals at the start of a new day. Then I rode to Iyolwa where Peter Walyaula, community development facilitator, was expecting me.
The Iyolwa project is very new, it started in 2001, so I was keen to see what it was actually like at the beginning of a project and Peter was the perfect person to explain it to me.
The community members struggle daily with a number of poverty-related problems. HIV/AIDS has again had a major impact on the area. Outdated farming practices have also affected crop yields. Lower incomes have limited the community's ability to deal with its health issues.
Poverty and its causes are complex and cannot be remedied overnight. The poor often feel powerless to change their situation - yet they have the best understanding of their own community, its unique history, and its problems. World Vision workers encourage the people to identify the causes of their poverty and to plan project activities which meet both their urgent and long term needs.
Community members decide which needs should be met first, and who should benefit. This helps restore a sense of dignity and control over their lives, naturally creating a positive environment for children to grow in.
Obviously health, education, income generation and leadership have priority.
Being such a new project there were not much for me to see but we still meet with a few of the locals HIV/AIDS sufferers and had a chat with them, a good chance for me to see what sort of life those people are facing every day. They did tell me though that the counseling is a great help to them.
We also went to a primary school where the community had organized a Christmas party for the children. Again I was welcome like a king, with singing and dancing.
So far they have 600 children sponsored but are looking at 2000 more to be able to see the project through.
I did not get to see any of the gorillas or to do any rafting on the Nile while in Uganda (too expensive for my budget) but what I have witness lately is worth so much more and if you and me can bring more smiles on those children faces then my trip will be a success.
Tomorrow I will cross the border into Kenya once more and will have to face my first real dangerous road later on in the north of Kenya on my way to Ethiopia. That road is not only in appalling condition but also very unsafe due to attacks from locals bandits who shoot at you, so you have to travel in convoy for two days with an arm soldier at the front and another one at the back. My worry is, will I be able to keep up with them, if not…
I hope to be able to tell the tales in my next update in the meantime have a wonderful Christmas and a great new year! There will not be any turkey or ham for me this year but plenty of dust and stress.
Click here for more photos.

Joyeux Noël et bonne année à tous!
L'Uganda est un peu plus petit que la France avec une population de 22 millions d'habitants. Peu de monde connaît bien ce pays mais tout le monde a entendu parler du Général Idi Amin Dada qui a renversé le gourvernement du premier ministre Oboté en 1971. Il a ruiné le pays sous un règne de terreur mais il a été renversé à son tour par les troupes tanzaniennes en 1979. Malheureusement une guerre civile a suivi jusqu'en 1986 quand Museveni a pris le pouvoir, il a ramené le pays dans une sorte de stabilité. Idi Amin habite maintenant en Arabie Séoudite.
Kampala, la capitale, a beaucoup souffert pendant la guerre civile mais maintenant c'est une ville de 774,000 millions d'habitants presque moderne.

Dimanche 8 Déc.
Comme c'était Dimanche j'ai du payé 5 Euros pour passer la douane. J'ai pu acheter le visa sur place 30 Euros et aussi la taxe de route 20 Euros. Ils m'ont harcelé pour acheter une assurance mais je n'ai pas cédé, j'ai préféré prendre le risque de rouler sans assurance que de payer encore 30 Euros pour une semaine en Uganda. Une autre surprise m'attendait, c'était le prix du litre d'essence, à 0,80 Euro c'est le mème prix qu'en Europe je crois, c'est le plus cher que j'ai vu en Afrique.
Je suis arrivé à Kampala dans l'aprés-midi sans ennuis et je suis allé directement dans un terrain de camping. La circulation en ville est incroyable car il n'y a aucun panneau de circulation, ce qui donne des bouchons partout car tout le monde essaye de passer en même temps aux intersections.
Le lendemain j'ai passé la journée à organiser mon visa pour l'Ethiopie et aussi à contacter le bureau national de World Vision. La visite d'un des projets était prévue pour le lendemain.

Mardi 10 Déc.
Je suis parti de bonne heure en direction de Kammengo, petite communautée à 60 km au Sud de Kampala, la route était superbe, verdoyante et fertile, beaucoup de bananiers et de plantations de thé. C'est Francis Eswap qui m'a accueilli, c'est lui le responsable du project et nous avons passé le reste de la journée à visiter des écoles primaires, des cliniques de soins et aussi des points d'eaux. Il n'y a pas de route pour accéder à ces villages, seulement des chemins mais avec la moto le problème était résolu.
Les jours suivant étaient consacrés à faire la lessive, visiter la ville et à répondre aux E-mails.

Samedi 14 Dec.
Bien que Kampala me plaisait il fallait quand mème continuer la route, donc je quittais le camp à 10 heures en direction de Jinja seulement 80km de Kampala.
C'est à Jinja que le Nile prend sa source en direction du Soudan puis l'Egypte avant de ce jetter dans la Méditerranée 6,500km plus loin. Beaucoup de touristes viennent içi pour descendre les rapides en canoé kayak. Je suis allé directement au bord des chutes de Bujugali ou j'ai pu camper dans un endroit vraiment super. La plus grande partie de l'eau vient du Lac Victoria qui se trouve tout prés. Ce lac est l'un des plus grand lac au monde, en fait c'est le 3ième.
Le lendemain matin, aprés un petit footing de 10km pour garder la forme, je reprenais la route vers le Kenya comme prévu. Ma derniere visite en Uganda était à Tororo, seulement à 10km de la frontière. J'avais organisé avec World Vision de visiter le projet de Iolwa. C'est un projet qui vient juste de commencer et je voulais en savoir plus sur cette communautée et comment WV allaient le développer. Encore une fois le sida est un grand problème dans cette région, j'ai rencontré et parlé avec quelques-uns des souffrants pour connaitre idées sur cette maladie et aussi pour savoir comment W V les conseillaient et les aidaient à se débrouiller avec leur problème de santé.
Nous avons aussi rendu visite à une école primaire qui célébrait Noël. Les parents faisaient cuire un grand repas sous les arbres, à l'aide de feu de bois et de grosses marmites. Ils faisaient cuire du riz et de la viande.
Demain je retourne à Nairobi et de là je continue vers l'Etiopie. Cette route est trés dangereuse et aussi en trés mauvaise état, elle n'est pas goudronnée et s'il a plu elle est presque impassable, en plus il faut rouler en convoi avec une escorte de police armée car il arrive que les convois soyent attaquer par des bandits. Cela prend 2 jours de route. Je vous raconterai tout sur cette aventure dans mon prochain journal. Joyeux Noël à tous et gardez moi des huîtres et un morceau de Bûche car je ne pense pas en manger cette année.
A bientôt, j'espère !

A local cow with a big pair of horns.
La vache sans le prisonnier.
Visiting the school in Kammengo.
Visite d'une école à Kammengo.
Riding around Kammengo.
Les chemins de Kammengo.
Relaxing along the River Nile.
Un moment de repos au bord du Nile.
Those children need you!
Ces enfants ont besoin de votre aide!
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JOURNAL
10
20/12/02. Uganda . Tolal mileage so far 14,200km.
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