Kampala, Uganda

Mar 19, 2010

Cross posted from Border Jumpers, Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack. In 1999, when he purchased his first treadle pump, Robert Mwanza, a farmer in Lusaka, Zambia, was struggling to make ends meet and without reliable access to water. As his country dealt with drought and economic weakness, Robert lacked the necessary resources to irrigate his farm and "couldn't grow enough to eat, let alone sell."Access to water is a luxur...

Kampala, Uganda

Mar 18, 2010

Cross posted from Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet. It's hard to believe, but an estimated 2.6 billion people in the developing world—nearly a third of the global population—still lack access to basic sanitation services. This presents a significant hygiene risk, especially in densely populated urban areas and slums where contaminated drinking water can spread disease rapidly. Every year, some 1.5 million children die from...

Kampala, Uganda

Mar 17, 2010

Cross posted from Border Jumpers, Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack. When we arrived by bus at the HIV/AIDS Resource Center in Katuna, Uganda (the border between Rwanda and Uganda), twenty men were intently watching a match between Manchester United and Chelsea on a small television. Along with the pool table, board games, and additional television downstairs, soccer games provide a much needed distraction for the long-distance truckers...

Kampala, Uganda

Jan 5, 2010

We’ve taken some long bus rides in Africa. We spent 8 bumpy hours on a bus from Nairobi to Arusha; another 8 from Arusha to Dar Es Salaam. The longest so far, though, has been between Kigali, Rwanda and Kampala, Uganda. I am usually looking out the window, admiring the crops growing by the side of the road, desperately trying not to think about how I have to pee, and trying not to panic about how fast our bus driver is maneuvering between ot...

Kampala, Uganda

Dec 22, 2009

Ready for a math nightmare -- every US Dollar is 1,800 Ugandan Shillings! Here's a test for you: if something costs 51,450 shillings -- what is that in US dollars? (No cheating with a calculator...) Aside from mental mathematics, Uganda is much more affordable than the other countries in East Africa. With the exception of taxis (petrol is a fortune for drivers), everything here is a bit less expensive than Uganda's neighbors: Rwanda, Tanzani...