Back on a green island and a holiday to a hot and sunny one!

Alfie in the park

Well we've been back in Europe for near on a month now, spending time with family and friends as well as a trip to the beautiful island of Malta where we spent a chilled out couple of weeks but more of that later. It was great to get back to England in time for Easter, we actually spend Easter Sunday with two of our boys, plus their wives and children, which was lovely, if not a little cold and chilly.

After arriving at Heathrow on a cold March morning we took the train back to Bristol, it was wonderful to see the fields full of spring lambs on the rolling hills of England which seemed very green compared to the stark landscape of the Western Cape which is suffering from a server drought. We were welcomed home by Chris and Claire and the grandchildren, who had once again grown during the three months we were away (the grandchildren that is!). 

Our first night back in the caravan, remember our simple abode parked on the drive, was a bit of a shock to the system, especially after spending the last three months in the hot South African sun but we've now become accustomed to the weather and are feeling at home again!

Come on U R's

It was great to catch up with the little ones who were in the middle of their Easter holidays, and after a quick trip to Aylesbury to see Maz' Dad and my parents we joined Chris and Claire, and the children at Josh (or middle son) and Haddy's for Easter Sunday where we enjoyed a day of playing in the park and chillaxing in front of the TV.

Happy times as QPR win 4-1

On Easter Monday all the boys ventured to Loftus Road, the home of the mighty Queens Park Rangers (QPR), who were playing Norwich City in a Championship game that afternoon. I've supported QPR since the early 1980's and our boys have followed suit, however this was to be both Alfie and Eli's first taste of a professional football match and what a game it was too, with QPR ending up 4-1 victors in what was a 'total football' performance!

During the following week we purchased a new (new to us) car, actually it's over 15 years old but is in good condition, seems to drive OK and will be perfect for us as we are also purchasing a new (new to us) caravan which will not only be a more permanent base for us but one in which we hope to tow around this very green island and perhaps further into Europe as time and funds allow.

After spending some time catching up with parents, friends (Pete and Karen and also Trefor and Mandy) as well as family where Chris and Vik plus Faith joined us at my parents for a meal and the following morning a run/walk around Wendover, we returned to Bristol to fly to Malta for a two week break. 

Actually myself and Chris ran near on 20K along the ancient Ridgeway which was a joy, especially as I had been bought some new trail running shoes (thanks you know who you are!) which were a Godsend in the chalky mud of the Chiltern Hills. I will put these to better use when we return to South Africa for six weeks where we have both entered into a couple of trail runs in what will be the South African winter.

Birthday parties in Malta

We had been to Malta before in 2015, see this post from 2015, where we had spent time with Matt and Kat who we got to know during our time at the Village of Hope. This time we returned and although we were being hosted again by Matt and Kat they offered us their home in Buggiba as a base which gave us some private space. It was great to see them again and their beautiful children who certainly seem to love us.

Spent a day here, not too busy

Other than having the opportunity to run along the coastal paths in the morning much of our time was spent reading books, listening to podcasts and generally relaxing on the beaches or 'rocks' overlooking the stunning Mediterranean sea. We did venture around on the local buses with trips to Valletta and also to Mosta to visit the church there which has a dome to rival any that we have seen on our journey's around the world.

Enjoying a meal with Arry

Amazingly Arron was also in Malta visiting a 'friend' who is Malteses. We enjoyed a couple of lovely meals together, one in the gardens of the Palazzo Parisio at a restaurant called Luna which was delightful. It was great to see Arron again, trying to keep up with him as he travels around the world is always tough but he seemed in good spirits and kept us amused as normal with his stories and jokes.

Bocci league game

We did enjoy some time with Matt, Kat and their children, including a morning playing Bocci, a local game, similar to bowls or the French Petanque but with small balls and large cylinder shapes, two teams of three playing against each other. It's a very tactical and skillful game which is why Maz and Kat were much better at it than myself and Matt. On one evening we past the local Bocci club as we strolled along the seafront who were playing a league game which was very entertaining and great fun to watch.

the start of the Mdina 10K

During our last weekend we had entered into the 10K road race from Mdina, commonly known as 'the silent city', after collecting our tickets from Sliema and enjoying an afternoon there overlooking the capital Valletta we made our way to Rabat, a town that sits outside of Mdina's ancient walls, where we had booked an Airbnb for the night. The place was a traditional old Maltese home tastefully restored and after an evening meal and night wandering in Mdina we settled down with the race to look forward to in the morning.

All smiles to start to race

Unfortunately I had suffered from a pulled hamstring after a long run along the coast during the week leading up the the race so wanted to finish rather than race for a good time and position, of which I achieved, starting gently as we left the old city behind and ran out to the cliffs at Dingi. Maz however had a more challenging time and around half way into the race tripped on a raised manhole cover and fell onto the road which resulted in the medical team being called and the ambulance following the race stopping to make sure she was OK. This was a sad end to our short break and Maz is now recovering with both knees, left elbow and both hands badly bruised or scabbed.

Sunrise over Mdina before our 10K

We are now back in Bristol, preparing for our return to South Africa in early May where we will be spending a further six weeks extending the Emerging Leaders work into that nation. Before we leave we will be catching up with the Emerging Leaders team here in England as well as meeting up with Martin and Jackie, old friends from Whitchurch, who we will be joining in Zimbabwe in July and August.

That's the news for now, thanks for taking the time to read our ramblings and we hope to update you further once we are back in South Africa.

Another month in sunny South Africa

our favorite private bay.....

Once again sorry for the amount of time that has elapsed since we last posted on this blog, we are sure that some of you will have been keeping up to date with what we've been doing over the last few weeks via our other social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and now even Strava but for those of you who haven't then we hope that this latest post will provide you will a brief overview of both our work and also down times here in South Africa.

Our work with Emerging Leaders has certainly kept us busy, not only running the Leadership for Life training sessions but also setting up future opportunities for the Emerging Leaders team. It is always a joy to behold the very countenance of those attending the programme come to life as we lead them through the principles that have been so cleverly designed to build upon each other leading people from hopelessness to hope, realising that they all have amazing amazing potential and that if they 'can change their thinking, they can change their lives'. The transformation that takes place over the four modules is quite incredible and we are honored to be able to share this with some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

Maz in the pool overlooking citrusdal
there are some perks to the job...!

We have spent time in a new town, Citrusdal, which sits amongst some beautiful mountains about two hours drive north of Cape Town and is surprisingly well known for the production of citrus fruits. This engagement is with a new exporter who have sent around 50 people from four different farms to attend the programme, each made up of managers, supervisors and also some of the lower skilled staff. It has been great to see the team learning together, putting into practice some of the leadership mindsets and giving feedback stories of how they have applied their new mindsets during their own lives and the lives of those around them.

the wonderful houses in their new house

Our good friends Rob and Emily, along with their two delightful children, Rosie and Issac, have been hosting us at their home in Sir Lowrys Pass, we have known Rob and Em for quite sometime, having attended the same church with them in Aylesbury before they came out to join us as volunteers at the Village of Hope. Emily enjoys running so I (Tim) have been out with her a couple of times and the estate they live on has enabled both of us to run under the watchful gaze of the gigantic hottentots mountains which surround the area.

From that base we have been able to run more leadership sessions in Grabouw with the management team at Dennegeur farm and also the Grade 11 and 12 students at the High School in Villiersdorp, these 16-18 year olds were hand picked to attend the programme and we have had good fun with them as they came to the conclusion that they wanted to lead a project for the benefit of their school. It seems that absenteeism is a huge issue however a root cause was around smoking on the school premise, these young people identified this and are now looking to run an awareness campaign to help their fellow students know not only the dangers of smoking but also the negative affect it has on their learning and attendance in class.   

us before the Lighthouse 10k

We have also had the opportunity to work with three further different groups from the huge township known locally as Khayelitsha which is made up of many smaller areas with their own names and issues. The groups included a weekend event for community leaders, another weekend event for 25 school children and their two teachers, both hosted by our good friends at African Leadership near Gordon's Bay plus a morning session in Khayelitsha again with young community leaders. It has been great to be able to offer our awesome programme to these people and we are certain that new stories of hope will arise as they put their leadership mindsets into action, understanding that a leader exists for the benefit of others!

Being in Cape Town in the summer has enabled us to venture out to enjoy the countryside, we have made trips to various new vineyards to taste their delicious wines and also take part in quite a number of races, both on the road and up into the mountains on trail runs. We both completed the Lighthouse 10k which took place on a Wednesday evening, starting at 7pm just as the sun was going down with Table Mountain providing a stunning backdrop to the run along the promenaded. The trail runs we completed were exciting too, one in the grounds of the Oak Valley wine estate, and another in the picturesque town of Greyton which lays around one hour east of Grabouw. We have both enjoyed these opportunities and are getting quite fit and what with our mainly vegan/veggie diet are losing some much needed weight.

During the last month we were asked to return to South Africa for a further six weeks, which we will do from the beginning of May until the middle of June, returning to England for Easter where we will be catching up with family and friends and also taking a short two week break to Malta to see our friends Matt and Kat. We are excited about our return to South Africa and will be building upon the work we have already undertaken both within the M&S supply chain but with newer opportunities with Tesco as well as a number of NGO's who were are keen to work with. One such organisation is the Connect Network where our friend and ex-Village of Hoper, Mel, has been working, we have run two modules with them and their staff and networkers which has gone very well so far.

Speaking of Mel we spent a wonderful night with her, Babs, who is still working at the Village of Hope, and Mel's friend Laura, we all took part in the Beaumont Wines 'Port Foot Stomp' where we not only got to tread the 2018 vintage grapes but also had a stunning meal and couple of glasses of their 2002 Pinotage which went down a little too well.

training with the young people from Khayelitsha

So just before we sign off from this short update we would also confirm the news that we will be travelling to Zimbabwe and with the opportunity to venture into Zambia too in July and August, this is exciting news but will mean that we will miss much, if not all, of the English summer holidays, however we are certain that our wonderful family and especially our grandchildren will understand but want them to know that we really do appreciate the backing and encouragement they provide us to undertake what we know is a calling to uplift some of the poorest people on the planet.

Blazing new trails in South Africa

It's been over a month since we last posted and since then we've all moved from 2017 into 2018 and we've literally moved from our cold little caravan in Bristol to a warm and sunny Cape Town where once again we've been sharing the Emerging Leaders programmes with farms and communities here in South Africa.

Life has been good to us since arriving back, we have been hosted by some very good friends, Ann and Jannie up in Grabouw, Ant and Phillipa, along with their two dear children in Somerset West and then Sandy and Ali back up in Grabouw where we must say that the current water crisis which is hitting the rest of the Western Cape seems a long way from the mountain top region of Elgin.

As you will see from the title of this post we are also blazing a new trail, not only in securing some further work for the Emerging Leaders South Africa team, but also as we both have been enjoying some real trail running events which are taking place around us.
Tim entered the Cape Trail Summer Series and ran his first event in the stunning mountains of the Lebanon Forrest near Grabouw, in which he did amazingly well finishing a respectable fourth, yes fourth and just off the podium, in the 'Masters' (over 50's age group).

The second event was held at the amazing Kirstenbosch botanical gardens and the route ventured up the slopes of the majestic Table Mountain. This time Tim was joined by Maz, who had entered the shorter of the two runs. It was wonderful to be able to share in the atmosphere of an evening/night run. I (Tim) must say that I was extremely worried that Maz wouldn't make it back down the mountain in the dark but she did so well and in fact came 13th in her age group (also classed as 'Masters'). Tim finished slightly lower than his top five finish from the first run but was pleased with 8th in his class and within the top 25% of all those who entered.

Our work life balance has been a bit hit and miss, however we are making the most of being in South Africa during their summer months with trips to the beach or to a nice vineyard for a spot of wine tasting after a days work.

It has been great to return to some of the farms where we shared the Emerging Leaders training with last year, to hear the stories of how the people have put the leadership principles into action in their own lives which has then had the added bonus of impacting the lives of the finances, their families lives and the lives of those around them.

Unfortunately the internet connection here isn't quick enough to allow us to add photos but we will post a short update with those on once we get to some better access.

One of our highlights has to have been the running of a weekend 'camp' for young people and those working with youth, mainly from the huge township called Khayelitsha which sits next to the N2 freeway and serves Cape Town and the surrounding area.

The township is home to around two million people and the 30 people whom we worked with, training them to deliver the core principles of the Leadership for Life programme, work in some of the most vulnerable communities in South Africa. All of those who attended the weekend camp were so open and responsive to the Leadership for Life programme and we are certain that they will do an amazing job in encouraging the youth of this very needy township to see and reach the full potential of their own lives.

Another work highlight was when we revisited a blueberry farm we had shared the training with when we were over this time last year. Not only did the staff tell us of the life changes that they had made to their own lives, such as giving up drinking and saving for their families but also the life of the farm where they worked. All of them said it was a better place to work, where everyone knew the part they played in the overall day to day jobs that need to be done and the management attributed the 30% increase in last years harvest to the training that we had carried out.

It is a true blessing to be able to share this life transforming programme with some of the most vulnerable people here in South Africa and we can't wait to share more stories with you as we undertake further work until we return to the UK at Easter.

We have also had the chance to catch up with both Tim and Thandi, the project managers of the ThembaCare and Village of Hope projects that we were so involved with during our six years here in South Africa between 2008 and 2014. It was great to see these amazing people but also a challenge to hear about the lack of funds which are really hampering their community programmes.

Later this week we will move down to spend some time with Rob and Emily, the guys who helped us run the Thembalitsha projects in Grabouw, which we are really looking forward to and it has also been great to catch up with Mel and Barbara whom we have seen socially, even joining them for an evening at the cinema to watch the powerful 'Darkest Hour'.

We hope to update with some photo soon and will also update our reading list which might also need to now include a 'what podcasts are we listening to' section as we make the most of the long journey's to visit the farms we are working on by engaging with some great thinkers who are challenging us on some of our values and behaviours!

Adventures in East Africa (Part Three) Kigali to Bujumbura and back again.....

border crossing between Rwanda
and Burundi

After finishing off our work with Every Life in Kampala we said goodbyes to Emma, Anna, Tim and Jonathan, as well as Drea and Teagan who'd all hosted us so well and also John and the wider Every Life team, we met up with our friend Richard, a local Ugandan who had been our guide when we visited the mountain gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable forest in April, who was now going to drive us the near on 500 miles from Kampala to the Burundi capital, Bujumbura.

This was only our third visit to Uganda but we had already learnt that leaving the crazy Kampala traffic is always a good feeling and as we headed south west the road opened up, big skies welcoming us as we ventured over the equator and on towards the Rwandan border.

The border crossing between Uganda and Rwanda was relatively easy and we were soon motoring on the right hand side of the road through vast tea plantations that fill the wide and luscious valleys set between the rolling hills that had witnessed so much tribulation in this tiny african nation just over 20 years before, read more on Tim's thoughts around that by clicking here.

Travelling in Africa is always a hair
raising experience, especially in a Tuk Tuk

We spent a cool night in the Rwandan capital Kigali, over 500 meters higher than Kampala, it would seem that there has been loads of international investment made into what was one of the poorest nations in the world and our first impressions was of a european city set in the middle of Africa, wide boulevards, working street lights and even traffic lights which were obeyed by drivers who respected the laws of the road. 

Tim training in Bujumbura

The following morning we continued south through some stunning countryside, again rolling hills with tiny hilltop communities, everyone busy with their daily chores. Although the roads in Rwanda are fantastic compared to those we have experienced in Madagascar they wind up and down the hillsides, where convoys of lorries can hamper the speed of the journey, however we never saw any litter and were overwhelmed with the beauty with valleys of rice and hills covered with tea, coffee and banana. 

Sights along the road

We crossed the border near Butare and then travelled onward into Burundi however had a bit of an issue at the border as our driver's girlfriend had forgotten her passport, not quite as dumb as it sounds as there is an east African agreement between Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda where one can move freely with a credit card style ID card, Burundi isn't part of that agreement which meant we had to leave her at the border on the Rwandan side as we continued onwards towards Bujumbura.

Leaving her wasn't ideal and before we had gone too far we had agreed for our driver, who had been paid to take us on the whole journey, to drop us in the next town for us to catch a taxi and for him to return to the crossing to ensure the safety of his girlfriend, which was the right thing to do given the issues she reported to have had with the money changers and other hangers on who frequent those border towns!

Maz training in Ngozi

Our transition between leaving our Richard, our driver, and percuring a taxi wasn't without incident but at least we were heading down, on less impressive but still passable roads, from the high mountains and down to the capital which sits on the northern banks of lake Tanganyika. Once again finding Simon and our agreed site for our rendezvou wasn't without its problems as the taxi driver had never been to Bujumbura and had no idea where he 
was going. 

All that said (and not said!) we were glad to arrive just after the sun went down and with further reflection on our time in Burundi we wouldn't have been in too much trouble as we found out that people were so helpful and friendly and the city certainly didn't have the edginess of South Africa! People roam the streets and line the roads in their colourful african dress and always have a smile or a friendly wave.

Tim training this time in Ngozi

Once we'd hooked up with Simon and Lizzie they took us to their home where we were going to be spending the next couple of weeks. They are amazing hosts, we enjoyed great food, very healthy, and time with their wonderful children. 

Simon is a great networker, having lived and worked in Burundi for over 20 years and with his young family too, he connected us with some of his contacts within the Great Lakes Outreach charity, including Acher, a trained pastor and university lecturer, who would be our translator as we shared the Emerging Leaders Leadership for Life programme to two sets of pastors and local leaders in both Bujumbura and the northern city of Ngozi.

leaders we trained in Bujumbura

Our two sets of training would be spread over a total of eight days with two days travelling between the two sites in between, it was full on with each of our planned three hour modules taking around five to six hours to deliver. The main reason for the extra time was to ensure that those who were receiving the leadership principles had full understood the concepts and also had time to feedback on how they had applied them to their own lives. 

It's always a highlight to hear how, after a few hours, people start to apply new mindsets to real life situations that they find themselves in, be that within their own lives, such as 'time keeping' or in how they treat their family, understanding that leadership starts with ourselves and that a leader, and we are all leaders in some form or another, exists for the benefit of others.

Walking home in Ngozi

Simon and or Acher made sure we were at our venues on time in the mornings but it was great to feel free enough to catch our common Malagasy transport home each day whilst in Bujumbura, that being our beloved Tuk Tuk which speed around the streets, allowing us to experience the daily sights, sounds and smells that make up life for some of the more fortunate Burundians who live in the city.

Leaders we trained in Ngozi

On the rare moments where we weren't training we enjoyed some time at a local hotel, with good wifi and a small pool, and we also met up and celebrated 'Thanksgiving' with some other expats who made us feel very welcome in their home up in the foothills of the mountains above Bujumbura, with stunning views across the lake to the DR Congo and a lovely and much needed cooling breeze!

Kigali skyline from the genocide memorial

Both of us were able to venture out to run around the sand roads near Simon's home, where we felt very comfortable and safe, even with the high presence of police and army who patrol the streets.

The training was very well received and we are already speaking with Acher about the opportunity to return to complete some follow up work and training of those we shared the programme with to become trainers themselves in 2018 and we are confident that the 140 people, both men and women, young people and elders too, will be using the Leadership for Life training to see transformation come to their communities, starting with themselves.

Sunrise over Lake Bunyonyi 

All too soon it was time to leave and seeing as though we'd finished our training in the northern town of Ngozi we decided spend some extra time in Rwanda visiting the genocide memorial in Kigali, once again click here for post around that, and a few nights in the mountains near Lake Bunyonyi and then Lake Victoria in Uganda, these few days gave us time to reflect on all that we'd seen and experienced over those crazy weeks before returning to England to enjoy Christmas at home with our family.

Sunrise over lake Victoria

It's been an exciting 2017 but for now we'll signing off and wish you a very happy New Year, we promise to provide further updates in 2018 from our next adventure back to South Africa which begins in early January!

Adventures in East Africa (Part Two) - Friendly Uganada

We've been home for a few days since touching down to some colder English winter weather, spending the first few days in Bristol in our caravan, which was a tad cold but the warm welcome we received from Chris and Claire and our wonderful Grandchildren made it worth bearing the chilly nights. We are now in Aylesbury catching up with some friends and family prior to our Christmas celebrations with Tim's parents, Sister, Brother-in-Law and niece in Northampton which we are really looking forward to.

As promised on our last blog post we are pleased to provide a further update on our recent travels to Eastern/Central Africa and this second post picks up on the work we were doing in Uganda with the charity 'Every Life' (EL).

Life up your head!

This was our third visit to Uganda and other than the challenges around entering and exiting any African nation via an overnight flight we had a great time, the people are so friendly, other than when they get behind the wheel or handlebars of a motorised vehicle, and it was with excitement that we looked forward to teaching the Emerging Leaders 'Leadership for Life' (LfL) programme to the staff of EL who we'd shared the programme with earlier on in April this year.

Our good friend and ex-Village of Hope volunteer, Emma Podmore, welcomed us from Entebbe airport, and after a near on two hour journey across Kampala we arrived in Bweyogerere and our hosts, Tim and Anna's, home, who are in fact next-door neighbours to Emma and Drea, and have a beautiful son called Jonathan, who happens to be bestfriends with Drea's daughter Teagan.

Andrew and Olivia running the refresher
at the Hope Center

After a weekend settling in and planning for the next few days, we awoke to sunshine on the Monday morning and joined the 25 staff from the EL team who we would be training to become trainers of the LfL programme. These amazing people were to be taking the whole week off of their daily duties and came from every department, from finance, HR and other office staff, to those working on the ground in the slums where they run social and health related outreach day in day out.


These days were full on, and unfortunately the weather didn't hold and were interrupted by the seasonal rain, which lashed down so hard at time we had to abandon the tent which had been installed on the project managers site, and by our food and drink breaks. 

training inside a container

These times were a highlight of the day as we shared wonderful meals together, local Ugandan food including Matoke, Groundnut (G-nut) sauce, Mandazi, Chapati, and or Pork or fish.


We worked through the four modules of the programme, Lead Yourself, Lead Your Team, Lead Your Finances and Lead a Project, with us demonstrating the activities, stories or actions and then giving time for each group or couple to read through the manuals and then deliver the sections back to us all for feedback and critiquing. 


The staff worked so hard and by the end of the week we were truly confident that each and everyone of them was in a position to lead a LfL programme themselves, working in couples, as we do, to share this with those that they work with in the slums around Kampala as well as within their own lives, teams and daily life of the EL organisation.

Tim's running partner 

Tim managed to get out for a run on a couple of occasions, joined by the onsite security guard who guided him around the tightly packed homes on the red soiled side roads that surrounded Anna and Tim's home. This proved to be a challenge as his times weren't as quick as when in England, however after looking at the data it was hardly surprising as Kampala sits at over 4,300ft above sea level, but to be able to run at ease through some very poor and needy areas was an eye opener into the daily struggles that people have to go through to get clean water or keep their belongings clean.

African drummers

We were able to attend an amazing evening of local East African drumming and dancing, with incredibly supple young people performed dances from Kenya, various regions of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. The biggest drums were saved till last and other than the pogo dancing men from Kenya those drums from Burundi were to be the highlight of the evening.

Team building day at the Family Center

During our second full week we helped Emma run a 'team building' day at the EL 'Family Center' which is situated above the stunning tea plantations on the Jinga Road to the east of Kampala. The day was very successful and we encouraged the staff to use their leadership skills to work together at the various activities, including a 'capture the flag' wide game, plank walking and egg and spoon obstacle race where teams won points for good teamwork as well as winning the events!

murchison falls 

We also ran a 'refresher' day, inviting around 30 of the Every Life 'Community Champions' who had attending our LfL earlier on in the year. This was an opportunity for a couple of the EL team to share what they had learnt on the Train the Trainer week with these people, for us to see them in action and for us to hear the stories of the people who had put the leadership principles into their own lives since we were with them earlier on in the year.

These stories always encourage us, be they large or small, and they give us confidence that what we are sharing is making a real difference in peoples lives and we will share some of these on a later blog post to encourage you all too.

It wasn't all work work work, we did have weekends off and we took the opportunity of being in one of the leading nations for wildlife viewing as we made our way north to Murchison Falls National Park where we not only spent an evening at the falls, which are some of the most powerful in the world, but took a trip up the river Nile to see the falls from below, however the highlight of the trip was our self drive safari in Emma's little Toyota Rav4.

lone girrafe trying to get some time
on it's own

We took the small car ferry, big enough for eight lightweight vehicles, (or two cars, a huge lorry and a JCB digger which made the short trip across the Nile with us)! There were also many many footpassageners who joined us to the northern banks where we enjoyed a day driving along some very sandy tracks, through vast savannah where we spotted huge groups of giraffe (we think around 200), down to the banks of lake Albert where we saw a number of Hippo wandering around out of the water during the day, which is quite unusual, and herds of elephants which ambled across the tight tracks in front of our vehicle.


All in all we had a wonderful time and feel that our investment into the Every Life team will pay off as they then share the LfL programme into the communities that they work with in 2018 and we hope to be back one day to hear of the stories that will come out of their interventions.

our overloaded car ferry!

Thats it from Uganda for now, our next post will include our overland trip from Kampala through Rwanda to Bujumbura in Burundi and the work we did there with Simon and his connections via the Great Lakes Outreach (GLO).

Maz, Emma and Tim at the falls

We wish you all a very merry Christmas, wherever you are in the world and will hopefully update this blog with a further post before the New Year and before we fly to South Africa on the 7th January!

Adventures in East Africa (Part One) - Thoughts from a visit to a memorial site.

Firstly we are so sorry that we haven't updated our blog since the end of October, once again life has been extremely busy and we have been on some amazing adventures through East Africa visiting and sharing the Emerging Leaders leadership training with Emma Podmore and the team of Everylife in Kampala, as well as with our great friend Simon Guillebaud in Burundi and his connections via Great Lakes Outreach, but we will save stories of those exciting times for a later post!

Before then there is something that I need to get down on paper/in electronic form, if not just for myself and my well being, so we'll start from the end of what has been an incredible six week trip and then work backwards in later posts OK?.

This post was birthed out of some of the experiences I've have had and I will be writing for myself rather than the royal 'we' of 'Tim and Maz' fame, as I am seeking to put into words the thoughts and feelings I'm having after visiting the Genocide Memorial site in Kigali which has been created to help remind us of the awful atrocious that were conducted in Rwanda in just 100 days in the spring and early summer of 1994.

I had never really had an urge to visit any of the genocide memorial sites, but seeing as though we were travelling overland through Rwanda from Uganda to Burundi one can't really drive through any larger town without seeing them along the side of the road, so when we returned to Kampala via Kigali from Bujumbura I felt it would it would be remiss of me to pass by without paying some respect. 

It seems kind of strange that during the 1980s and 1990s we had so many occurrences of man killing man because of his race or religion, Cambodia and its 'killing fields', the ethnic cleansing that took place in the former Yugoslavia and the around 800,000 to one million Tutsis who were killed by their Hutu neighbours in Rwanda. 

I'm no great historian but I have read enough to firstly understand that no one is ever fully to blame and or either blameless in any disagreement between men. However as I am from Northern Europe it would be unwise of me to ignore the part in which my recent ancestors, be they German or Belgium in the case of Rwanda or my fellow Englishmen as the British in the nations that made up a vast Commonwealth from Canada to New Zealand and many nations in between, had in many of the problems in the world, especially in Africa, which were brought on by those European powers when they carved up Africa into newly formed nations with little or no regard to the complex makeup of tribe, culture or tongue which existed way before any white man set foot upon darkest continent of Africa. 

That said I have read three most helpful books around the genocide in Rwanda, the powerful report style of the BBC correspondent Fergal Keane in his book 'Season of Blood', the more journeying thoughts of our good friend Trevor Waldock in 'A Rwandan Journey' or the thought provoking book titled 'An Ordinary Man' which was written by the man who's story was told in the film 'Hotel Rwanda', Paul Rusesabagina, a story of the real life events behind the manager of the Hotel Milles Collines in Kigali where he helped to save near on 2,000 people's lives by hiding them in his hotel for 76 days when outside people were being killed for their ethnic background.

In my mind the underlying issues of any of the genocides, which have and or will take place, are based on the differences that divide men, rather than the commonalities that must and can be celebrated between men, creating a faceless 'other' to become the scapegoat of our own insecurities. 

In the case of Rwanda there had been issues between the ruling Tutsis, placed in power by the Germans and Belgians prior to Rwanda's independence in 1962, and their fellow countrymen the majority Hutus, however what took place in 1994 was unprecedented and saw neighbours turn upon neighbour, literally cutting ties of friendship with the blade of a machete and finished off with a bullet of a gun. 

For 100 days this violence continued until the current president Paul Kagame returned with his revolutionary army, established in exile in Uganda, to claim power back for the minority Tutsis. The stories that were so graphical portrayed at the genocide memorial included some harrowing stories where churches which were perceived to be places of peace and a haven for those escaping the carnage outside were turned into buildings where huge numbers of people were butchered by those who had once shared the good news of Jesus, to love one another, even your enemies and those who persecute you.

What followed in the later summer of 1994 is still ongoing as refugees, mainly Hutus escaping the retribution of those they had killed, seek shelter in UN supported camps in Tanzania and the DRC. Today as we sit in a somewhat peaceful Uganda we are hearing news of continued violence in those camps, mainly between differing people groups which is largely unreported by the western press. 

The same issues and high numbers of people were killed over a ten year period at about the same time in neighbouring Burundi, where we have just returned from, and little if nothing was really reported around that either.

So it was with all this in mind that last Sunday morning I made my way into the memorial site in Kigali and from that experience, of seeing the mass graves of over 250,000 innocent people, wandering around the respectfully created gardens which highlight the differences and celebrate the uniqueness of each and every person both living and dead, I am now grappling with my many new thoughts. 

My mind is now haunted by the faces and stories of real people, men, women and especially children who suffered for the very fact that they were different to those who felt that they needed to be removed from the society which they once shared and one that still continues to share one language. Husbands turned on wives, even mothers stood by as their own children were taken and the world also turned its back. 

The news stories from Africa during the initial weeks of this genocide, where something could surely have been done, were focused on the momentous events that were taking place a little further south as the first free and fair elections were taking place in South Africa and where the much celebrated Nelson Mandela was sworn in as president of another divided nation, and what has really changed there? Will we see tribe come against tribe in that nation as the balance of power still shifts even 20 years on? but I digress.

The United Nations stood by watching, refusing to help when it was within their power to do so, but even in to that end they would have surely have had to 'take sides', and who's to take? Which leads me to my thoughts and how I must surely start with myself and my own choices of whom to love and whom to hate? Is it as hard and harsh as that I hear you cry! 

I'm aware that the winners often get to tell the story with the losers silent on how they saw the events. Our news broadcasters are the same, favouring one side without fully reporting the whole story. I'm a fan of John Pilger who from my view is an example of providing balanced journalism, I only wish he was a little more read. 

Maz actually caught my feelings so well as I read this back to her around the fact that we are feed a way to think without fully understanding the politics and bigger world system behind it all, surely real journalism is to report the facts as seen without putting a political bent on them but there again I digress. 

It is said that 'if you aren't part of the solution then you are part of the problem'. We make daily choices which end up meaning that some will win and some will lose? Experiments have been carried out to see how far your every day man will go once pushed or encouraged to inflict the electric shock treatment on his fellow man. We all sort of follow the crowd and maybe that's what I believe happened in Germany around the concentration camps, the killing fields of Cambodia or the genocide that took place in the neighboring nation to where I currently sit?

But I suppose my question is to myself, what shall/what will I do? love those Muslims that seem hell bent on blowing my culture and fellow northern European to bits, or to love Mr. Trump and his crazy decisions and rhetoric which are perhaps creating such extreme thoughts, feelings and actions from those others? What is the real issue behind these actions?

We live in a culture of winners and losers, our capitalistic minds have been shaped since our birth. The winners get the medals, the accolades and the money, the losers are left at the bottom of the pile to fend for themselves. At school we were graded both within academia, the arts and sports, who ever thought it was a good idea to award every child with the same prize even if they finished first or last? I must say that I didn't, but perhaps that wasn't as crazy an idea as it first looked. 

So as I sit here by the banks of Lake Victoria with the sun shining down on me, a belly full and a bank account which will at least enable me to return home via a plane to England, surely I am called to live in peace with those around me, those who I see as the same, family, gender, ethnic background, language, and even those who are perhaps more challenging to get along with, the 'other'.

I'm reminded of the story of the 'good samaritan' and the challenge that Jesus gave when telling us that the whole of the prophets and the law could be summed up in this easy to read but hard to live phase, 'Love your God with all your heart and love your neighbour as you love yourself'. 

What is the story that I want to be writing in my life, what's the legacy that I want to be remembered for, a man who was able to love those around me or not? 

What if I don't love them, I somewhat reluctantly conclude that maybe a genocide of sorts is already happening in my own heart!