The team arrives, and definitely not a poverty tourism day.

We now have an almost full compliment of team members, and an almost full compliment of team bags – long story, but suffice to say we should be complete by Tuesday evening!

Today was definitely a day of two halves. The morning was a slow start for them, as they recovered from a distinct lack of sleep the day before, and the chance for me to go for a run, and then the usual task of money changing for the team.

The afternoon however was very different – we went over to the Acholi Quarters, and got to go on a walk around the community, snaking between shacks that only have open sewers between them, ducking under washing lines, dodging sleeping dogs, and feeling like the Pied Piper as the local children followed us wherever we went.

The Acholi people are displaced from their tribal lands in the north of the country, and have been here for a generation or so, living in slum-like conditions, in an informal settlement that is bordered on both sides by steep rock quarries. This is where many of them work, breaking up rocks with a hammer for pitiful amounts (200 Ug Sh / tonne of rocks, about 5p).

Not surprisingly the poverty is immense, and for our team, the reality of it all was very hard-hitting. Its not easy walking along surrounded by little children beaming up at you whilst wearing absolute rags as clothes, and knowing that there is so little we can do to help, and this was the underlying feeling for many on the journey home.

But we did do some good – for us it wasn’t just a case of we went, we saw, we left. Instead we went, we saw, we sat with the ladies who make paper beads to earn extra money, we had a go at making the beads as the ladies tried to teach us, we played with the children in the soaring heat, and then we brought back 3 sacks of jewellery and bags etc made from the beads so that we could spend our money on them, and support the community financially (and boy did they spend – the joys of a team of girls!).

And next week the team will go there again and spend more quality time with the children, doing games, crafts and sports. And as I mentioned yesterday, we have future teams lined up to support them in more long-term ways.

We are so aware of the dangers of being misunderstood as running trips of poverty tourism. But I think today was a case in point of how what we do is so not that. We don’t just go places, take some photos, and leave. Instead we work with local agencies and projects, supporting people on the ground, building long-term relationships with them, and getting involved in what they do.

Today’s visit to the Acholi quarters was a snapshot of that.