Building. A simple necessary basic fact of life. An event which is part of the rhythm of life here. And a trade that I previously had no interest in whatsoever. However, the mud splattered faces and the continually appearing piles of bricks appealed to me. How do you create a solid classroom from the mud beneath your feet and with no machines other than our fingers? Interested, I joined in each step of brick making and theoretically learnt how to build a house....

Uganda Lodge is set on the main road between the capitals of Uganda and Rwanda, so naturally, it is a small dirt road covered in potholes. Cars go by, but not continuously, so it's easy to forget this is Uganda's equivilent of the M1. Apart from this long bumpy ribbon of reddy brown cutting it's way across the land, the countryside is varying shades of lush green. Banana plantations in the valleys, extending to trees (firewood) and then smooth hills which surely ...

The people of South Western Uganda do not have money. In many cases, literally. And those who spend 5 hours a day throwing bricks (from one to another in a chain to move dry bricks to a big pile for the next stage of brick making) earn 5,000 Ush a day, roughly £1.25. Because of this, the majority of Ruhangan people have never set foot in the capital of their country and sit in a vehicle only a few times a year. Few houses have the opportunity of electricity, so ...

At some point (time begins to warp), I arrived back at Uganda Lodge Community Project, aka The Lodge. After spending quite a lot of time moving houses, cities, countries and continents, it felt a bit like coming home, largely due to Tom and Jordan being there to greet me with hugs and smiles. Two very lovely guys who were here when we were here before, and also a big reason for me to return. Unfortunately, their time here was coming to an end, and so, to make th...

People make all the difference in life. You can be in the most beautiful place in the world, living a dream, but you are lonely. You can be in the grubbiest s*** hole, but you have friends painting smiles on your face. Sometimes you have that wonderful collaboration of situations when friends and places come together, and then everything sparkles and you experience waves of overwhelming happiness. Does life get any better than this? you wonder, but the answer is ...