If you love Africa - STAND UP!

So!

I found this charity online. I wasn't looking for a charity at all. This trip has always been my dream and all about me... But I felt compelled to call. I spoke to Elsie who just blew me away with her bright voice and JUST DO IT attitude. Before I knew it, I agreed to support them by raising money for a youth centre in Uganda. I've won Paul over and he is fired up too. We've also agreed to go there and get stuck in; in the hands on kind of way.

We don't have loads of time to get LOADS sorted so I'll keep it short and let these very pro-active and enthusiastic people tell their story. Here is a small clip from Neil who is the project manager on the Uganda thing we are doing:

FROM NEIL: Ok, so our partner organisation in Uganda is called the Safe Alternatives For Youth Association. They work with young people in one of the poorest slums in Kampala and try to offer a framework for healthy living. With an overall goal of contributing to Uganda's national fight against HIV/AIDS, they aim to reduce youth vulnerability through education, information and recreation. They provide youth friendly services, raise awareness about key sexual and reproductive health issues and offer counselling, training and healthy activities for kids to partake in during their free time.

SAFY has been up and running for over three years now and has made a very tangible positive difference to its small target community. It is based in Kitmanyangamba village (an area of Kampala) and is slowly expanding to the surrounding areas. We recently established a youth network with five local schools and this has seen a dramatic increase in the organisation's reach.

Currently, operations are directed from a very small, one-room office/ drop-in centre in the heart of the community. This is a key resource and is permanently full of young people but is unfortunately far too small to cater for SAFY's ever-expanding activities and membership.

At SUFA we are trying to raise the necessary funds to build a larger, more comprehensive Centre on an adjacent plot of land, already owned by the organisation. We have plans for its development, equipment to fill it, staff to man it and young people to benefit from it. The only thing we are lacking is of course the financial resource necessary for its construction but, hopefully by the time you arrive, this will have been secured and the next phase of the organisation's development will begin.

To read more about Stand up for Africa go to their website on http://www.standupforafrica.org.uk/

Three Ways

These are wise words from Steve Langton, my father. I've heard them many time before but always try to "keep it real" when I make great plans and have big dreams...

Three Ways.

The pessimist said:
Too difficult, rewards are too few.
And stayed in bed.
The optimist expected
Wishes come true;
Dreams go ahead.
The realist said -
Problems will be circumvented,
Planning will be rewarded.
The pessimist said
It cannot be done;
The obstacles can't be overcome.
The optimist planned
To enjoy the reward
Planned on the fact that success was ensured.
The realist weighed the chances
Set course for success,
Anticipating corrections.
The pessimist did not fail
For nothing was attempted -
Received, was that expected.
The optimist blamed failure
On people and chance
That failed expectations.
The realist evaluated
Goals missed and achieved
And lessons learned in the doing.
The pessimist confirmed
The worst expectation -
And pessimism persisted.
The optimist, disillusioned
Turned away disappointed -
And became embittered.
The realist, learning
From success and failure;
Campaigned the next future.

4 weeks to go – another week passes and paperwork piles up

The theme of this week is paperwork. Specifically, South African bureaucratic paperwork and the extraordinary lengths they go to, to complicate things.

Considering there is a big “Home Coming Revolution” government-endorsed campaign on the go, encouraging South Africans and their hard earned foreign cash to return home, it doesn’t make sense why its SO hard to fill in the relevant forms.

I am still not entirely sure which form to fill in as each time I ask for information it is slightly different. There are 2 forms to fill in before leaving: a form to get a letter from SARS and a form to go to ITAC that will also produce a letter. Each of these forms requires certified copies of all kinds of things and letters from suppliers and so on – I should have started these months ago. I MUST have both these very important letters prior to arriving in South Africa. I cannot even drive my bike over the border without these letters. In fact, I have to arrange for my father to meet me at the border with letters and money to pay Customs and Excise tax on arrival. I will not know the value of the bike to pay the tax at the border but have been advised to get resale values before I leave the UK; so that on arrival, twenty thousand miles later, I won’t pay more than it was worth here.

Here’s the other thing. Returning South Africans can return with certain of their worldly possessions tax-free. However, to apply for this returning status requires providing proof you lived abroad permanently. In order to do this you have to provide a list of proofs that make no sense at all and fill in yet another form. Quite frankly, I’ll give that a skip and just pay the import tax. I mean, I’ve been living and paying tax abroad for 8 years and that is not considered proof. Not even if you produce every pay slip you’ve received over the years.

A whole week has passed and I’ve not managed to fill in all the dreaded forms.

On the upside: passports are at the Ethiopian Embassy and all going well we will collect them on Monday with nice freshly stamped visas. I might never get into SA with my bike but at least I will get to enjoy Ethiopia.

5 weeks to go and the leaving parties have started