When we arrived the first thing that struck me was that Uganda still showed lots of signs of its colonial past. Cars drive on the left, road signs look the same, electricity sockets are the same and most people speak excellent English.
After a few minor transport issues we arrived to our hotel in Kampala at 2:30am local time. The journey time door-to-door was probably around 16 hours.
This morning we met the WaterAid Uganda programme staff and had a security briefing. With formalities out of the way we all boarded the convoy vehicles and headed for Soroti (180miles north-east of Kampala) which is where we will be basing ourselves for the next 4 days.
The journey was long and was not helped by some poor road conditions and one of our vehicles getting a puncture. It did however give me some time to reflect on why I came on this visit.
I think the 'lightbulb' moment for me was seeing this on the way to Soroti...
I am a keen cyclist but I am sure the enjoyment would soon disappear if I
had to cycle to collect water. The sad reality is that this gentleman
could be classed as one of the lucky ones as he has access to safe water
albeit with a need to cycle to a pump.
Tomorrow we will be visiting a village of 500 people earmarked for future WaterAid interventions but who currently have no access to a clean and safe water supply. I am sure it will be an emotional visit but one which will no doubt further reinforce and make 'real' the reasons why I support WaterAid.