First 2 days....

Arrived in Entebbe yesterday morning after a long (and delayed) flight. we were greeted by wateraid uganda staff and driven to Kampala, where we are based for the first leg of our journey. We had a relaxing day yesterday with a BBQ in the evening where we met the staff here. This morning was an early start and we were driven to the slums in Kampala. These slums have no access to adequate sanitation, and the water supply is unprotected. We met the local water management commitee who showed us around. It was upsetting, and quite frankly shocking. The kids were lovely and running after us shouting, I met one child who was barefoot, and looked really ill which I found incredibly upsetting and frustrating when I know that a few simple changes could make that persons life so much better. We saw children collecting water from an unprotected spring and it really made me think about how much we take for granted. We then went on to see an area which had benefitted from some intervention from wateraid, they had a properly constructed stream taking away all the dirty water and they had proper latrines, which were run by local people and made such a difference to their lives, they were so grateful for them and said that no one has had cholera since the latrines were fitted. We then went to see a water kiosk which Prince Charles visited, the lady who ran that also made bags and jewellry from waste materials which was really cool, I liked the fact that as well as helping distrubute clean water she was doing something resourceful, which the people here seem really keen on. We then went on to meet the local governement who were also incredibly grateful for wateraid's intervention. After that we went along to a Sanitation Centre which was amazing, the guy there showed us all the models of different latrines that can be installed and explained how he works with communities to show them the difference that a simple latrine can make. They also do a lot of work with hygeine education which makes a massive difference. The main problem in the urban areas seems to be a lack of community spirit, people don't stick around long in the slums, they move on quite a bit, so they don't always feel a sense of ownership which I imagine people in rural area's will do. We got back to the hotel this evening very tired after our busy day to find we were on national TV as we had a film crew following us around! Will write more soon, very tired and drained at the moment! Thanks for your support.