Just checked in at the Jinja Nile Resort, Jinja, Uganda

Where to begin...long great day on the ground.
Did not sleep too well last night due to barking dogs, chriping birds and probably too much on my mind. Alarm went off at 8 and the daylight afforded me the first chance to see the surroundings. Green as the eye can see; this place would give Ireland a run for it's money.
The landscape is lush and the land very fertile. We started the day in the Self Help Africa offices in Kampala with Wiija (country director) giving an overview of SFA Uganda.
Then it was off to the field to Kyunga to meet local SHA staff and visit projects. Interestingly SHA only employs locals, no ex-pats on the ground at all.
Our first project was a coop of farmers who have bought from SHA six beehives and are making honey. The formality of the visit was something else. Under a tree, in a very remote hot part of Uganda the coop had gathered. Women on the ground, men on chairs. Two chairs with cushions which looked like thrones were reserved for Ray and I. The farmers had clearly prepared for the visit and the head man read out his two page overview of what they have accomplished, what else they would like, and a general overview. We were then given a tour of the beehives, not something I was too thrilled about but they gave me the beekeeper hat due to serious big girl blouse behavior. The hives are provided at US $35 each to the famers and with a 10% interest they agree to pay back SHA within six months. Their hives are thriving and the bees seemed very active today. They sell a jar locally for about $4 and so should be able to cover the loan in the period agreed.

The philosophy of SHA is all about having African's fend for themselves with the assistance of credit, grains and access to agricultural needs. We finished our first visit by giving the children some M&Ms for Christmas and watching a bag of Target bouncy balls go further than anyone at Target ever anticipated. I should say that the Ugandans are beautiful, women are truly stuning and the men are elegant. The children are just incredible, and they are everywhere. The average Ugandan woman has 6.7 children. The objective of SHA in this part of the world is to assist locals gain food security, access to clean water, health advocacy and gender equality for women. Many of the micro credit loans are given to women for the purposes of starting up their own businesses and gaining some independence. SHA covers 200,000 households in Uganda and services 1m people.

After the beekeepers we went to rice grain farmer followed by a local coop of women who had loans and who were enjoying the fruit of those loans, some literally with giant banana trees. Huge pride in their work and a real sense of accomplishment, moving them above the poverty line one household at a time. At each visit today we were handed a visitors book to sign, a very nice formality lost almost in the west, one was just a copy book like the ones we used in school, others nicely bound and clearly the family was proud to ask you to sign it.

There is so much more to tell but it is late now, wireless is not available and so some of my great pictures will have to wait till tomorrow as will further details on the other visits of the day.

An incredible day in a truly beautiful country, albeit with roads not for the weak of heart. We are staying tonight at Lake Victoria where the Nile begins and goes all the way to Eygpt. More tomorrow for those of you interested....