Petites et Grandes Aventures

Sending out a SMS

2009-06-29T16:29:00.028+02:00

Mukaga - zero - zero - emu means 6-0-0-1 in the Luganda language.

In Uganda, using 4 digits and a mobile phone may become one of the most important gateways to accessing information and services and serve as a model for the rest of the continent.

Any guesses which search engine conglomerate is behind this?

That's right. Google together with the Grameen Foundation and local mobile phone provider MTN Uganda launched a new service today called Google SMS.

The idea is straightforward. If you need information on say health or agriculture, send your query by text message to Google SMS and you should get a reply text message with an answer.

I've been using the weather forecast service since my arrival here in Uganda which was one of the pilot applications. But the services are much broader:

- Farmer’s Friend is an application that provides tips on agriculture, especially when it comes to dealing with pests and diseases, and of course the weather, both daily and seasonal.

- Health Tips and the Clinic Finder offers the names and numbers of the closest healths clinics.

- Google Trader is a SMS-based "marketplace" application that connects buyers and sellers. One of the biggest problems of small subsistence farmers is accessing markets to sell the small surpluses they might have. With this new service, Google and its many partners hope to help farmers in poor and remote rural areas, as writes Rachel Payne, Google's Uganda Country Manager on the Google Africa Blog.

Up until today, the new service has been kept under wraps.

The launch was a festive event and it was interesting to meet the so-called Village Phone Operators and Community Knowledge Workers who had travelled from all corners of Uganda to be in Mukono for the launch. These people are the frontline of the service.

It was a big PR event. All the partners involved were wearing custom tailored shirts bearing the Google colours and the mood was festive after many months they say of hard work pilot-testing the applications. There were colourful local dances, songs and sketches explaining the various services in Luganda. Of course, the Jingle "MTN - everywhere you go" was played at regular intervals reminding the audience which mobile network to use.

Sending a text message to MTN's current SMS services costs 220 Ugandan shillings - that's about US 10 cents. MTN is the largest mobile phone operator in Uganda so GoogleSMS is likely to be a good revenue raiser.

Hopping into a cab on my way back to town, I thought I'd put the GoogleSMS "Information in the palm of your hand" to the test.

I sent an SMS to 6001 asking: What do I do when I have the flu? I got the answer: Human swine flu is caused by the Influenza virus A (H1N1) and spreads from one person to another. It is so called because the signs are similar to swine flu in pigs. A person can have and spread the virus without being sick. Signs include chills, sore throat, muscle pains, coughing, weakness. You cannot get swine flu from eating well-cooked pork or pork products. To protect yourself, as with any other flu, wash your hands regularly especially before eating or touching your nose or mouth. Go to the nearest health centre if you suspect you have the flu.

Well, no solution really on how to treat normal flu, but I had the option to hit reply with "Clinic and parish" which I did and got the name and number for the nearest clinic in Kampala. Now, that's a really useful service.

I also asked: How do I treat Banana Bacterial Wilt? Here I got a very exhaustive answer. But I won't bore you with this, because I've already told you everything about banana diseases in my last blog post.

Using Google Trader (6007) was less successful. I typed in Buy Bananas Mbale, but the service couldn't find any matches to this query. So I tried Buy Bananas Kampala, thinking this must be pretty straight forward.

I got one number to call for bananas in Kampala, the number was not available and two other numbers for Matooke. One line was busy, the other one was not selling Matooke.

The SMS said that there were 965 items matching my query, but I was not so keen on buying bananas anymore... That said, GoogleSMS Search (6006) on general queries is also up and running and I managed to get all the latest updates on Michael Jackson.

Over the past two weeks I've been travelling in remote areas of Uganda where internet access has been scarce. But I've almost always had a mobile phone signal. Remote communities particularly in the north are struggling with very high rates of HIV/AIDS because so many women have been raped by rebels during the civil war. Going to the closest health clinic often means selling valuable assets or taking out a loan.

Mountain View might be a long way from Pader in Northern Uganda, but this new Google SMS might start to bridge the digital divide in countries like Uganda and help people in a very practical way.

Update: I've had a lot of feedback via Twitter on this post. Thanks to everyone who has retweeted!

And here's the interview I did on Google's SMS service for Uganda in German for Deutsche Welle's Fokus Afrika.

From SMS weather forcast to geo-mapping banana diseases

2009-06-22T13:00:00.000+02:00

I know that mobile phones are rapidly expanding across the globe and reaching even the poorest and most remote people in Africa. But I wouldn't have thought that this trip to Uganda would give me a whole new perspective on these handy little devices. I also realized how little I actually know about my mobile phone.

In Uganda 7 million people, that is roughly 20% of the population, has access to a mobile phone. And experts expect the local market to grow to 14 Millionen in the next three years.

If you drive around Uganda, most of the outdoor advertising or sponsorships are for mobile phone companies. Namely, MTN, ZAIN and Orange. The mobile telco industry is growing faster than any other business and it's the best way to reach people.

Eric Cantor is working on developing mobile phone applications to boost development. He and his colleagues from the Grameen Foundation and MTN, Uganda's leading mobile phone network, have been doing a lot of experimenting in the field in the past few months. Importantly, they've been talking to farmers with small plots of land and asking them what sort of information they would need to improve their lives.

The Grameen Foundation together with MTN have already successfully introduced the Village Phone Initiative back in 2004.

But now they were wondering: how can mobile phones improve people's lives? Apart from helping people to make calls, is there a way to improve health, agriculture and education for example? How do you use this medium of the mobile phone to create a two-way connection; to give people the information they want and need and at the same time collect information that the government, the donors and companies require to be more efficient?

The Grameen Foundation has built a network of so-called Community Knowledge Workers or CKWs. A number of local Ugandan organizations are also involved and the Gates Foundation is helping to fund the project.

These CKWs are already leaders in their communities. Now they've been trained to become “information hubs” for smallholder farmers in Uganda. Using smart mobile phones such as the Nokia N95 and Nokia 1680, the CKWs act as intermediaries by giving out and collecting information from their communities.

The are plenty of practical mobile phone applications the farmers can use. For example, they can receive an SMS weather forecast for specific districts or search for seed providers and fertilizers.

One of the really interesting applications is being able to contact a call-center to ask questions on behalf of local farmers in their district. Not only is it a source of information it's a way of giving them access to the internet.

If the operators, who're searching the internet on approved sites don't have the answer, the question is passed on to an expert. So far the questions have been very diverse and include everything from history, politics, health and of course agriculture. Football questions are very popular, and they've had some odd questions too, like "do the pyramids move?" or " was Idi Amin a good president?"

The pilot project has currently 40 CKWs, 20 in the eastern Mbale district and 20 in the western Busheni district. Enough though, to keep the four ladies at the call-center busy all day. When I visited them last Wednesday, the phone rang fairly regularly and most questions related to agriculture and disease prevention.

What impressed me most though, was our visit to Mbale. It's a big banana producing area, though really I should say so is the whole country. Uganda is the biggest producer and consumer of bananas in all of Africa. Nearly every Ugandan depends on the banana in some way or another, so it's not only crucial for food security, but also income generation. The problem is in the past 15 years banana production has been down 50% due to various diseases. Banana plantations are losing billions of dollars every year.

Now, AppLab, the technology development unit and joint venture of MTN Uganda and the Grameen Foundation, has come up with an application that tracks banana diseases.

It's basically a survey of 50 questions, including name, gender of the farmer, contact information, how big their farm is, what they grow, what type of banana diseases they have on their farm and if they know how to treat them. The information is collected on the mobile phone - including GPS positioning and pictures of the sick banana trees - and then sent by mobile internet to a team of scientists in Kampala. Based on that data, digital maps will be established and the scientists will go back to the field on a weekly basis to follow up some of the findings.

Fen Beed, a leading Plant Pathologist from the IITA in East Africa, says they're looking at 3 diseases:

1. Banana Bacterial Wilt (BBW) which hit Uganda about five years ago and decimated production all over the country

2. Panama disease or Fusarium, the symptoms can be confused with BBW, so it's impossible to target BBW without also having a programme for Fusarium, because the two need to be disassociated

3. Banana Bunchy Top Disease, which currently exists in other African countries, notably Rwanda and DRC, and it's most likely to enter Uganda via those borders, either through biological transfer and insects that transmit the disease, but there is also a risk that people could move planting material from one area to another.

"So what we're trying to do", says Fen, "is sensitise people to be aware what the disease looks like if it does come in. What we want to achieve, is to have preemptive control of this disease and not a big epidemic and ask for donor funds to try help solve an already damaging situation, we want to stop the situation from developping where this disease is introduced and not noticed".

It was great to see scientists, IT development specialists, agriculture extension workers, Grameen Foundation project managers and of course the Community Knowledge Workers representing their farming communities working in the field together.

The CKW farmers I spoke to all seemed enthusiastic about the technology.

Mary, an older lady in her 60ies who's been discriminated all her life for not having children, said, it has already had a tremendous impact. "I'm now connected to so many people and different sources, and we're sharpening our brains," she told me with a huge smile.

"Now the farmers are taking me as their gold, because I have brought good technology."

George is equally enthusiastic: "The phone is helping us."

He adds that he had no idea Banana Bacterial Wilt was such a dangerous disease.

"We want to isolate BBW as it affects our income, so we want everybody to know that it's a big problem to us, and we'll fight it together," he said.

Of course it's still early days for the project. The CKWs have just finished their training and their real work is now starting. Will the farmers be receptive to the banana disease surveys? Will the information transmitted to the scientists be reliable and relevant? How can you expand such a project when hardly anyone in the countryside can afford a smart phone?

I really should come back for a follow up. But I must say, I was very impressed and after all a pilot phase is not only about identifying what works, but also what doesn't and why, so it can be taken to the next level.

Morning: Sunny. Afternoon: Sunny intervals. 30 C high, 20 low. Next three days: sunny. I'm now receiving regular SMS weather updates, though I doubt I'll experiment with banana trees anytime soon.

P.S. Here's an interesting blog post from the Guardian: Could mobile phone technology improve healthcare in rural Uganda?

I promised to introduce my coproducer...

2009-06-21T19:43:00.000+02:00

Name: Faridah Bongoley

Age: 28

Religion: Muslim

Why did she become a journalist? Because her sister inspired her.

Hobbies: reading novels, swimming and going to the gym

Favourite place in Kampala: Central Broadcasting Corporation

Most exciting journalism assignment: Visit of Muammar al-Gaddafi in Kampala to hand over mosque to Uganda's Muslim community

Dreams for the future? Being independent

What's odd? Doesn't like to go out.

Any heroes? Her mom!

Uganda's Barack Obama is no longer single

2009-06-21T10:44:00.000+02:00

I know. I've been in Uganda for almost a week now and still no blog post - a part from a few twitter updates.

It's been a really hectic week. On Wednesday I finally met my co-producer Faridah from CBS, Uganda's Central Broadcasting Service. We're going to be working together on rural development issues for the next three weeks. I'll introduce her to you very soon.

So far we've been out to Mbale in eastern Uganda to examine bananas and a new ICT for development project harnessing mobile phones.

Bananas are prone to disease and local farmers are being trained to collect data literally in the field and send it experts for analysis.

It was fascinating to see farmers, leading plant pathology scientists, computer wizzes and agriculture experts interact and conduct a training in the middle of a banana plantation.

Who thought you could be geeky over bananas? It's incredible how much you can do with a mobile phone. I'm still logging tape, but I'll tell you more about it shortly.

Last night I attended my first Ugandan wedding. I really had no idea about the dress code and hadn't planned to attend a wedding, so I opted for my nicest skirt. Black and white always works, doesn't it? I was told it starts between 4 and 4.30pm. I went at 5pm but was still way too early.

The MC kept on saying "it starts in three minutes"... three minutes, enough time to meet new people, because apart from the groom Morrisson - whom I had interviewed three days earlier - I didn't know anyone. Arthur and Bob were very sweet and briefed me about the Dos and Don'ts of a Ugandan wedding. For example, there's no seating protocol, but you have to make sure to sit on the right side. Morrison's guests had to sit on the left, while friends and family of the bride to be Rita all had to sit on the right. Apparently you're not supposed to shake hands with the members of the other family - I'm not sure if I got that one right though.

The Nile Room of the Hotel Africana was lavishly decorated for around 400 guests. The MC, a close friend of Morrison, had everything under control, and was even showing off some great singing talents. He introduced the chairman and the entire wedding organizing committee. Gee, I wish we had had that at our wedding.

The heads of the families spoke, siblings and friends - alternatively praising the hard working, warm hearted bride and Morrison the honest and good looking "Barack Obama of Uganda". It was a hodge podge of languages: English, Runyankore, Swahili, I think also Luganda, but don't quote me on that. A guest at my table lent over to say that you could even detect some cheeky little rivalries between family clans of the East and West of Uganda.

Despite missing some of the subtle jibes, I thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, the great food and thought the bride and groom looked a picture.

Among other wedding gifts, Morrison and Rita were offered several cows, a fridge and a plot of land in Kampala. What more do you wish to start married life?!

Tribute to Lindy Hop legend Frankie Manning

2009-06-07T08:00:00.008+02:00

Frankie was a legend among Swing dancers. I first heard about him in Seattle in 1997 where a bunch of students at the University of Washington introduced me to Swing and Lindy Hop.

For those of you not up to scratch on the dance floor, Lindy Hop is an African American dance that evolved in New York during the late 1920s, 30s and 40s. It's a sort of fusion of jazz, tap and the Charleston - and is danced with a partner.

Frankie Manning started dancing back in 1927 and had a huge influence on Lindy Hop. I distinctly remember watching excerpts from the Hollywood musical “Hellzapoppin’"(1941), thinking: WOW, this is mad...

Frankie was nicknamed “Musclehead” for his powerful and quick acrobatic style, hurling his swing partners through the air.

I was hooked, Swing and Lindy Hop quickly became a passion and when I lived in New York 1998-2000 I danced as often as I could to live bands playing at Swing 46, the Cotton Club, Irving Plazza, the Supper Club, Windows of the World on top of the World Trade Center and during summer weekends in Central Park... I loved this dance which is all about big band and swing music, improvisation and of course the style of the 30s and 40s. Plus it's a dance which bridges generations and it's great to see people of all ages dancing together.

“A-one, a-two, you know what to do...”

Long before meeting Frankie, I'd heard many people referring to him as the Nelson Mandela of Lindy Hop. He's traveled the world even til very recently in his early 90s teaching Swing. Every year he would spend several weeks at the Herräng Dance Camp in Sweden dancing and teaching this dance he loved so much.

Today, I just read an article of the New York Times and sadly learned that Frankie died a little over a month ago in New York at the age of 94.

A great man, whom I had the chance to meet and interview at the Herräng Dance Camp two years ago.

Here's the Lonely Planet Travelcast I've produced. It's a small tribute to a great Swing legend and his legacy.

Herräng Dance Camp Lonely Planet Travelcast by Aventures

Every summer, thousands of dancers from over 40 different countries converge on a small Swedish village for round-the-clock swing dancing. The Herräng Dance Camp started in 1982 and has become the largest of its kind.

The village shop is stocked up with mineral water, peanut butter and bananas, ready for the influx of hungry visitors. In the local school, bunk beds have been put up in the classrooms to serve as accommodation for tired dancers. The sports ground has become a campsite and four marquees have been set up, ready for dance classes.

The Herräng Dance Camp is about to get into swing.

The village of Herräng has just 600 inhabitants and lies some 100 kilometers north of Stockholm. 25 years ago, its isolated position attracted a group of Swedish swing dancers, who invited an American instructor from New York to teach them some new moves.

Since then, the event has grown into the leading and most comprehensive dance camp in the world focusing on the African-American swing dance tradition.

The living icon of Lindy Hop

The Herräng Dance Camp wouldn't be complete without instructor Frankie Manning. The 93-year-old is a legend at the camp and an inspiration for his many fans.

Manning teaches Lindy Hop, an African-American dance that evolved in New York in the late 1920s, 30s and 40s. It is a fusion of jazz, tap and the Charleston. Danced with a partner, the original Lindy Hop was a parody of stiff white couples at society tea dances.

However, by the 1950s, the Lindy Hop was superseded by the jitterbug and rock 'n' roll. It has seen a revival in the last couple of decades, though, partly thanks to the Swedish dance camp.

Lennart Westerlund is one of the camp's founders and still in charge today -- even if he no longer has much time for dancing. He says Manning's presence is very important for the entire camp.

"He is like an unbeatable ambassador for the dance," Westerlund says. "He's a living icon because he has done so much for the dance and inspired so many people."

"I just love dancing."

Of course, the Lindy Hop scene would exist without Manning, Westerlund says.

"But I don't think it would have the size, enthusiasm and energy that it has," he says.

Manning is the last link to a time, which all the dancers at Herräng view with hazy-eyed awe. In the 1930s and 40s, he appeared with Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald: names, which conjure up an image of a lost era.

Manning himself does not have a secret formula for the reason he is still dancing at his age.

"I just love dancing and I love watching people dance," Manning says.

It was a film choreographed by Manning, which inspired Westerlund to found the Herräng Dance Camp back in 1982. The two-minute film "Hellzapoppin" from the year 1941 showed eight African-Americans dancing in pairs in a wild frenzy of moves.

A truly international camp

Today, the love of dance attracts people to Sweden from around the world. Many come from the United States and Europe, but in the last couple of years, there have also been dancers at Herräng from as far afield as China, South Korea and Brazil.

Russia has the second highest number of participants at the camp after Sweden. Even though the dancers might not speak the same language, they can all communicate through their passion for swing.

And you have to be passionate about dancing to take part in the camp, which has a hectic schedule. Dance classes start every day at 10 in the morning. Each class lasts for an hour and twenty minutes.

After supper in the evening, there is a meeting, where the community comes together to hear about the day. Then they watch film clips from jazz history, to get everyone in the mood for the dance parties -- which often go on till 6 the next morning. After that, the dancers grab a few hours of sleep before slipping on their swing shoes for class the next morning.

As Faye, a dancer from Malaysia says: "You don't come to Herräng to sleep; you come to Herräng to dance."

The camp brings unavoidable noise, parking problems and traffic jams to the village. But the locals put up with the downsides in the knowledge that the money it generates is a lifeline for the former mining area. The rest of the year is so quiet that the local shop would not survive without the annual summer dance camp.

According to Herräng local Birgitta, the dancers are welcome.

"They like to learn and they like to practice, so they are tired," she says. "So they eat, sleep and dance, so no problem!"

Cycling for Development

2009-05-17T13:08:00.019+02:00

While researching topics for my trip in Namibia I came across a very interesting project: the Bicycling Empowerment Network or BEN Namibia. The aim of this small NGO is simple and compelling: give disadvantaged Namibians a means of transport and a way of generating an income.

A bicycle's benefits

The benefits of a bicycle in a developing country are numerous. Compared to a person walking, a bicycle carries up to four times the weight, goes twice as fast and actually much further. With bicycles, health workers and home-based carers can see more clients and deliver more supplies. It's also by far the cheapest mode of transport apart from walking of course.

Affordable and reliable transport can significantly improve livelihoods and contribute to sustainable development. When the rural poor - and particularly women - gain access to health, education and information, they can access markets and improve their income, thus reducing their vulnerability.

Since 2005 BEN Namibia has already distributed more than 7,000 second hand bikes in Namibia. Most of the bikes come from Europe and North America. In 2009 BEN is looking forward to hand out its 10,000th bike.

New skills & tools for new lives

The Bicycle Empowerment Centre in Katutura, Windhoek's largest township, opened in March 2009. King’s Daughters, a local church project assisting former prostitutes, and BEN Namibia decided to team up for a joint venture. The bikes were donated by the Canadian NGO Bicycles for Humanity in Ottawa.

Six former prostitutes learned how to repair bikes and now run their own business.

Across most of Namibia there is no public emergency ambulance system, and people often die because they can not afford to pay for private transport.

BEN Namibia's bicycle ambulance project began when the NGO realized that health care workers and volunteers who had received bicycles were using the luggage racks to transport clients to hospitals and clinics.

Work on the first prototype, a basic stretcher towed behind a bicycle, began soon thereafter. For the past three years now bicycle ambulances have been used to transport people for conditions ranging from scorpion or snake bites to HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. There's no doubt that bicycle ambulances save lives in remote communities.

Who would have thought that so much could be done with two wheels.

Update: Here are the links to the German online article Fahrradverleih statt Prostitution and my feature which was broadcast on Deutsche Welle's Fokus Afrika.

Fahrräder für ein neues Leben by Aventures

I've learned a new word today

2009-05-07T21:12:00.001+02:00

Working in the media I was already familiar with the awful concept of 'infotainment', but reading Namibia's weekly Southern Times newspaper I stumbled over another creation of our spoilt and easily distracted societies: 'polytainment'. That's the answer of the SWAPO Party Secretary General, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, to political youth apathy. She says, "these born-frees do not have much interest to listen for hours on end to political speeches, that's why you have to combine it with entertainment."

I'd be curious to see how 'polytainment' actually shapes up. Unfortunately we're still a bit too early. Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for November and campaigning hasn't really started yet.

The SWAPO party has swept all past elections since Namibia's independence in the early 1990s - always with a comfortable two thirds majority. But in 2007, Hidipo Hamutenya and Jesaya Nyamu, two former leading SWAPO members and cabinet ministers, broke ranks and founded the new opposition party Rally for Democracy and Progress. It's in some ways comparable to COPE breaking away from the ANC in South Africa. Now, it's too early to tell how things will turn out, but maybe they should also look into to 'polytainment'.

And there's another interesting opposition party: the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance. Now, Turnhalle means Gym in German, but I wonder if this has another meaning here... I'll have to find out.

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

2009-05-04T21:59:00.004+02:00

Wedged between the sand dunes of the Namib desert and the Atlantic is the strange little town of Swakopmund. The architecture is an eclectic mix of early 20th century buildings as well as funky 60ies and 70ies beach town. Swakopmund is stuck in time. But that's not the most surprising... With its sea side promenades, half-timbered homes, colonial era buildings, it seems that only the wind blown sand, the palm trees and cactuses distinguish Swakopmund from holiday towns along Germany's Baltic coast.

Swakopmund has a long German history and many German-Namibians still live here. The list of sponsors for the kitchen extension of the local Youth centre for example, reads like a who is who of small town Germany:

Many street names are German: Bahnhof, Schlachter or Mittel Strasse. There are heaps of Bäckereien and Konditoreien where you can eat Apfelstrudel, Kugelhopf, Mohnkuchen or Linzertorte. Then there's the Hansa brewery, the Bismarck pharmacy and Café Anton with the low hanging curtains Germans love so much. In many ways it feels more German than Germany.

I was giggling last night when I had dinner at a great no frills sea food restaurant overhearing an elderly German tourist complaining about the lack of curtains in the restaurant "it's too loud here, curtains would make a big difference absorbing the noise".

It's a really strange, but quaint little town. And frankly a great treat after a few days roughing it out in the desert. Plus, nothing beats a Savannah Cider sitting on the beach watching the sun set over the Atlantic.

Breathless and blown away

2009-05-02T21:10:00.006+02:00

Hiking through the dunes of Sossusvlei is a massive workout, but one that you will never forget. The world's highest dunes (up to 325 meters) are a miracle of shapes and shades. Truly one of the most impressive sights I've seen in my life.

Rediscovering primary colours

2009-05-02T16:10:00.004+02:00

I'm sitting on Elim dune, a few hundred meters high overlooking the valley, my heart is still pumping from racing up the sand dune, my shoes are so full of sand it feels I bought them two sizes too small.

It's a real firework of colours: the deep dark red of the sand dune, the pale yellow of the dry grass of the steppe, the mountains shining golden brown, the bright blue sky. It's like I'm rediscovering colours as they shift with the changing light of the setting sun.

A quiet moment all by myself. It's difficult to describe how I feel: the serenity, the vastness, the world seems to be smiling. I know I'll be back, hopefully with friends and family to share this amazing scenery, but definitely with another guide.

My unplanned ordeal in the Namib Desert

2009-05-01T20:19:00.009+02:00

Wednesday 1pm. I wasn't planning to go on a camping safari, but here we are about an hour and a half south of Windhoek in the sleepy town of Rehoboth - just at the rim on the Namib desert stashing up on food, water and gas.

I'm still a bit tired from a bad flight from Frankfurt down to Windhoek. A stupid French woman was kicking my seat all night long. But so far things are turning out rather well. I stepped off the plane, hitched a ride into town and walked straight into a travel agency. I was afraid I might have been whinging it a little too much, but despite its strange name the Cardboard Box Travel Agency was highly praised in the Lonely Planet Namibia guide. An hour later with a little tour planned to see the famous Sossusvlei dunes, my guide Floris picked me up - white shorts, stocky legs, short white hair and a toothless smile.

Off we set in Floris' 4WD. I had noticed the "4 sale" signs stuck to both passenger windows, but didn't think much of it at the time...

Hours later. I was just enjoying the golden afternoon desert light when Floris suddenly pulled over and I heard the flop flop flop flop of a flat tyre. Shit. We're in the middle of the Namib desert.

Floris is nice, but he's not the king of changing tyres - and I'm not either. Every time we jack the car up it comes down again. At least 6 times. 30 minutes go by. One car passes and asks if everything's ok. Yes, yes - no worries. Finally we change the tyre and set off again. 10 minutes later another flat tyre. Shit. This time it's serious because we have no more tyres.

It's getting dark very quickly and cold. Floris says we're staying here for the night, and starts pitching the tent by the dirt road. Well, great. This is not how I wanted to spend my first night in Namibia. I flash back a few hours earlier. I had hesitated and thought why don't I treat myself to a nice lodge. Sure a little expensive but comfortable, hot showers, yummy food... Ah well, I chose the camping option. Big mistake! Instant noodles and tuna are not changing my mood. At 6.50pm I'm not so talkative and hit the hay, well, hard desert.

Thursday 6am. Rise and shine. We've been stuck in the middle of the Namib desert for the past 13 hours. I'm convincing myself that it's not that bad - the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the dry yellow grass of the plain is dancing in the wind... but it's still cold and there's no soul in sight. "Let's hope help comes quickly," says Floris. More talking to himself, "but people in the desert are very slow."

Oh well, we'll have to be very patient then. But patience is not exactly my strength.

The sun is rising quickly, I wonder how long I'm going to sit on this stone by the road waiting. How terrible must it be when you're stuck in a really remote place. But do I even know if we're not in a really remote place?

After more than two hours Floris decides to take a chance and walk to the next farm. I see him walk off on the desert road first carrying the dodgy wheel, then rolling it in the dust. This is going to take ages. I take my old Economist to read: 'Africa's Next Big Man: Trusting Jacob Zuma'. I'm sitting by the embers of a dying fire and reading. Very surreal.

I've almost read the Economist cover to cover and Floris is still not back. My mind is wandering. Next week I'm planning to do a story on bicycle ambulances and Namibia's bicycle empowerment network. I think this episode is teaching me a very big lesson about how it feels to be so remote, powerless and dependent. It feels terrible - and it's not even an emergency.

What is this tree called?

2009-04-30T20:47:00.000+02:00

It's a very common tree here in Namibia and it has some rather interesting seeds. So, for my Namibia PGA-Food-Quiz Question: what is the name of this tree? Here are two clues: it's a thorny tree & humans don't eat these seeds, but wild animals do.

Can you save your harvest with a mobile phone?

2009-04-04T16:42:00.006+02:00

Think back to your first mobile phone and how you used it. Now take a look at the handset you might have today and think about if you're using it to its full potential. I've only just scratched the surface of using my iPhone and am discovering new ways of using it in my work every day.

Listen!

We've come a long way and mobile phones are today even in developing countries within reach of many people. It's one of the most popular technologies ever invented. Today there are more than 4 billion subscriptions in the world.

The speed with which mobile phones have reached the poorest and even most remote parts of the world took many by surprise. In 1990, there were just over 14,000 mobile phone subscriptions in Africa. By 2000, there were 16 million, and today there are more than 280 million.

One of the topics we're working on for an international coproduction documentary in Uganda is ICT and rural development.

In 2003, the Grameen Foundation and the mobile network MTN Uganda established a joint venture company, to make mobile phones available to develop small businesses in rural Uganda.

The concept is simple. In remote rural villages where there is no means of communication, a village mobile phone can become a basic pay phone and small business opportunity that can benefit the whole community.

And it's not just about making telephone calls. The villagers can also receive information about education, health, agricultural development, market prices for their goods, micro credit loans - in fact anything that can be transmitted by SMS.

The initial goal to offer 5,000 village phones over five years was met within three years. It goes to show how popular mobile phones are and how quickly they can become an important part of our lives. Today the Village Phone initiative is growing at a rate of more than 150 businesses per month.

With financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation the organization now wants to strengthen the village phone operators and build a network of Community Knowledge Workers as “information hubs” for smallholder farmers in Uganda.

The Grameen Foundation is planning to recruit and train Village Phone Operators, agricultural extension agents, and other individuals living and working in rural communities to build the network. The Community Knowledge Workers will use mobile phones to disseminate critical agricultural information to farmers, link them to markets and other key resources and collect information about their community's needs.

Deutsche Welle is planning to send a correspondent to work with colleagues from the Ugandan broadcaster CBS to examine these ICT projects.

Just as an aside: as a radio journalist I'm curious to know if these mobile phones can in fact make a network of communities. I'd love to try to call some of these remote rural communities and hear what they have to say first hand. It is after all an interactive world.

Kampala's Khana Khazana

2009-03-11T19:58:00.006+01:00

Uganda's population is - like many other African countries - a kaleidoscope of tribes and nationalities. The Buganda make up about 20% of Ugandans, but there are also the Lango, Acholi, Teso and the Karamojong, who are cattle herders living in the dry and very poor North-East.

There's also a big community of Indians in Uganda who first settled here during the British Empire. Expelled by Idi Amin in the early 1970s, they were invited back by President Museveni more than a decade later to return, reclaim their property and drive the Ugandan economy forward.

Although only 2,000 of the estimated 55,000 forced to quit have chosen to return, the Indian population is estimated at around 20,000 today.

Tonight I felt like Indian food. Bruno, the French architect, entrepreneur and owner of the beautiful Hotel Bougainviller where I'm staying, recommended Khana Khazana. It might not be the best Indian food in town, he says, but the best option for good Indian food in a nice setting.

Khana means cuisine and Khazana treasure - and that's not a euphemism. The dimly lit open air restaurant overlooks a tranquil garden and has a really good feel.

And you can't help but smile at the Ugandan hostess welcoming you in a beautiful bright red sari.

I ordered a cheese naan and n°56 Malai Mushrooms - medium spiced.

My waiter grinned and asked "are you sure you want medium?" I said "Yes", but he convinced me to go for mild medium instead. I'm glad I followed his advice. The creamy mushrooms were delicious - the Mango lassi and the Tusker too.

India meets Africa. Aventures's happy!

Boona Bagagawale - Prosperity For All

2009-03-09T18:47:00.004+01:00

I'm in Uganda for a week to prepare a radio co-production on the topic of rural development. Over the next two years Deutsche Welle, Germany's International Broadcaster, is planning a new series of 12 radio co-productions in Africa examining various rural development projects with a focus on both success stories and challenges.

One of the radio co-productions will be produced here in Uganda by a Ugandan and a German journalist and broadcast locally by our Ugandan broadcasting partner CBS FM and world wide via Deutsche Welle.

My task this week is to organize this radio venture and identify interesting projects with our partners. This morning I had my first meeting at the German embassy as they coordinate German development efforts. But even though "rural development" is a desired outcome, the main areas of German development aid are finance, energy and water - not specifically rural development .

So I didn't come out of the meeting with concrete story ideas, but loads of contacts.

And something else caught my interest: the Prosperity-for-all programme launched by Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni in the fall of 2007.

Poverty Eradication through Prosperity for All

"The aim of Prosperity for All (PFA) is to transform all rural homestead landholdings into commercial, money making units in addition to being centres of residence and food security" (sic).

In a country where the very large majority are smallholder farmers harvesting minimal land, this is a huge challenge. Only sugar cane, tea and coffee are produced in larger quantities, I was told, but are predominantly foreign owned.

So, prosperity-for-all? How does it work? I haven't found much enlightenment online, but it looks like the government identifies 6 families in each parish who will benefit from this scheme, show the lead and transform agriculture from subsistence to commercial.

But how can you become such a successful business family and what are the criteria to be selected? Is it based on how much taxes you pay? How large your family is? Or if you're supporting the ruling NRM Party - morally, politically and financially?

Can you actually improve the farming methods of a few families and farms without improving the overall production, transport and marketing infrastructure in rural areas?

I'm curious.

Maybe one of our stories should be putting Boona Bagagawale to the test.

The Grain of Sand in your Shoe

And there was something else that caught my eye today, an opinion piece by Nabusayi Wamboka on Empowering the youth through Prosperity-For-All. He starts off with the saying: "it is not the mountains ahead that wear you out, it is the grain of sand in your shoe."

I'm hoping to identify the grain of sand in Uganda's shoes this week.

An afternoon with a survivor of Tuol Sleng

2009-02-17T23:43:00.007+01:00

I've been following the start of the trial of Kaing Guek Eav - better known as Duch - the head of the notorious Khmer Rouge S21 Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh.

Duch is accused of presiding over the torture and killing of some 14,000 inmates - there were only seven survivors.

In 2007 I interviewed one of these survivors, Vann Nath.

On a typical hot and humid afternoon in Phnom Penh, we met at the small Khmer restaurant that he owns and runs with his family. I found Vann Nath a calm and kind man who thought deeply before answering my questions.

I'd read his book "A Cambodia Prison Portrait" describing how he managed to survive Tuol Sleng using his talents as an artist painting official portraits of brother number one Pol Pot.

I found it difficult to begin an interview with someone who had experienced such violence and horror. But Vann Nath feels he carries an enormous responsibility as a survivor to tell his story and to make sure such crimes never happen again.

Here's a look back at the story I produced for Radio Australia in April 2007 examining the steps towards reaching this day and the start of the trial.

Abdallah and the Algerian Ahaggar

2009-02-10T22:58:00.008+01:00

I recently received a very sad email from Tamanrasset in the central Sahara:

"Chers amis et famille,

Mon cher et adorable mari SAHKI Abdallah est partie auprès de notre créateur suite à un terrible accident dans le puits de notre auberge à Tamanrasset. Mon adorable époux a eu une mort terrible et je vous demande à Dieu le tout puissant de l'acceuillir dans son vaste paradis. Que tout ceux qui l'ont connu et aimé ait une prière pour lui Abdallah est parti mais Temidoua son âme et son rêve est toujours là.

Son épouse Rabèa SAHKI"

Rabèa wrote that her husband Abdallah Sahki had fallen into the well of their backyard and died a tragic and painful death.

Four years ago, Abdallah was our great and knowledgeable guide who made us discover the Hoggar Mountains - or Ahaggar as the Touaregs call the highland region in Southern Algeria, close to the border with Libya and Mali.

It was my first encounter with the desert - an unforgettable, magical experience.

I dug out the photos and made a slide show in memory of Abdallah.

Meanwhile, back in the jungle...

2009-01-05T16:06:00.012+01:00

You'd think we're on holidays and sleeping in late. Well, not if a good dozen howler monkeys have taken up all the trees right next to your room. And by 5am they've decided it's time to get up. One howler starts whooping and all the other males chime in - a strange gutteral concert, somewhere in between the barking of a dog, the howling of a wolf and the croak of a monster frog... and they have endurance, no doubt even waking up our loud American neighbours who probably had less than an hour seep.

Anyway, our ten days here at the Canaima Chill House, a few hundred meters up the hill from the Santa Teresa beach have been exactly what we needed for our holidays. This beautiful brand new place lives up to its name. Our host JC and his partner Marta have created a little oasis in the jungle. Decked out it dark wood, bamboo and lush vegetation, perfectly blending into the environment. Add to that a few touches from their travels, elegant rooms, very thoughtful and welcoming hospitality and a great jungle jacuzzi... It's perfect and Mr Aventures and I have been delighted to be the Canaima Chill House first "official" guests.

Whether it was spending hours on end on the outdoor bed suspended on ropes reading more books than over the course of the entire last year, watching jungle life swing by, spending a few hours at the magnificent Playa Hermosa (even if we didn't bump into Gisele Bündchen who has a house there and was apparently in town), watching a sunset every night at another beach or kicking back in the whirlpool. It's been the most relaxing two weeks I've had in a long long time.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T18:37:00.004+01:00

Reconciled with Mal País. Welcomed 2009 with Latin grooves, a bonfire and shooting stars on the beach.

Mr Aventures' perspective on the robbery

2008-12-24T22:55:00.005+01:00

Mal Pais: Bad Country or Bad Luck?

Mal Pais means 'bad country' in Spanish. For surfers, tackling a surf spot with a name like that sounds cool. I first visited Mal Pais on Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninula 11 years ago this month.

I set out there with a hand drawn sketch of where the beach breaks were and places to stay from a mate of mine in Sydney.

I eventually ended up staying in a tin shed split into two rooms out the back of Frank's Place. Frank's son slept in one room and I had the other. Frank's was one of the few places to eat and had literally the only telephone in town. Arroz con Pollo – rice with chicken - was basically my staple diet for a month.

In between surfing and Frank's, I hung out with other surfers who were camping down at the beach.

Life in a hammock beachside was idyllic. The local farmer asked for a few colones every now and then for being on his land and no one bothered us at all. It was no worries to leave your stuff unattended anywhere.

Saturday nights were fun. We'd wander down to Santa Teresa past the church to the local dance hall where surfers would gather at the bar and local Tico girls would come up and ask for a dance.

11 years on and Mal Pais and Santa Teresa have changed radically.

Bridges have replaced shallow creek fords – the whole area is much more accessible. Loads of people get around on ATV's – all terrain quad bikes. There're two banks (!), shops (small malls perhaps a better description), beauty salons and spa treatment, and holy smoke, even couple of sushi restaurants. Sure, Frank's is still there at the crossroads, but rebuilt and now includes a two storey office block. The good ol' Mal Pais Surf Camp-Resort also still there but now there're are hotels, cabinas and resorts galore catering to all tastes all the way along the main road.

Click here for Mr Aventures full story on the robbery

Mal Pais lives up to its name or why I will never learn the difference between Imperfecto and Indefinido

2008-12-24T22:24:00.002+01:00

When I started off with Petites et Grandes Aventures – and bascially up until yesterday – the word „adventure“ actually always had a rather positive connotation. Well, as I said, up until yesterday December 23rd.

6.07 am. Mr Aventures is an early riser. I'm not. It's our second morning in Mal Pais, a surfer's paradise on the southern tip of the Nicoya peninsula. We've booked into a very cute little cabin right on the beach.

6.10 am. Mr Aventures nipps out, checks the weather condition, the waves and decides to go for an early surf.

6.15 am. He waxes his surfboard on the terrace and takes off. I decide to sleep in a it longer.

Between 6.20 and 6.30. I've just fallen asleep again as I suddenly feel a presence, very close - actually right next to my head. Instinctively I think this can't be Mr Aventures, he's out surfing. A fraction of a second later and the shadow is out the door. I'm storming behind, adrenaline pumping, brain on auto-pilot, blind without my glasses... and only wearing my undies. I'm just racing behind the guy, yelling trying to draw attention to the thief. I don't remember how I got around the hammock blocking the way in front of our cabin, I'm just running, screaming and shouting. 100 meters. Then it strikes me, what if he has an accomplice? What am I doing? The guy disappears in the bushes – I have two options, now quick decision Barb, I dart back. The beach is empty, no one has heard me, not even the fisherman at the end of the beach. F***. I'm angry, scared and really pissed off. I am in such a shock, I don't even remember a single detail of the thief – what did he look like? What did he wear?

6.35 am. I'm back at the cabin. I assess the damage, lock the door and go to find Mr Aventures.

6.45 am. I get Mr Aventures out of the water. It was such a peaceful morning and he seems to have a great time. Bummer.

6.50 am. We're back at the cabin, shell shocked, calling the manager.
My brown Marimekko bag is gone. And also the G10 Canon with all our holiday snaps. Damn. This stupid f***** he's probably thought he'd cracked the jackpot with my heavy bag... I would have loved to see his face when he opened it and saw: Spanish Level 1, Spanish Level 2, Spanish-German dictionary, Latin American Short stories in Spanish and German translation, Spanish vocabulary, Spanish grammar, plus a Gala and Vanity Fair magazine, along with my extensive collection of miles and more cards... Lufthansa, Air France, Qantas, British Airways, Air Berlin.

Shortly past 7 am. The very sweet manager arrives, and the night guard - who had left at 4 am.

7.30 am. Local police arrive on the scene. No one speaks English, great. I describe the facts for about the fourth time in broken Spanish, plus do a pantomime of the robbery. I'm clearly struggling with my Spanish verbs and the various past tenses that I was determined to learn during these holidays.

Well, so much for my good intentions, I will now certainly not improve my irregular verbs, nor my imperfecto nor indefinido, but I've managed to make a police statement in Spanish. And I think they told me there's a place in San Jose where I'll be able to claim my valuables and get reimbursed. That sounds too promising too be true, but I'll check it out.

For now we've moved up the hill, hopefully a safe distance enough from the beach, and I'm trying to stop scanning everyone suspiciously and looking for my brown bag and my yellow Spanish books.

El Cafe Quiz

2008-12-20T17:00:00.001+01:00

Today we've visited the headquarters and roasting facilities of Cafe Britt - the most famous coffee roaster in Costa Rica. We've learned everything about coffee - from its history, varities, harvesting, drying and roasting process. And of course I'm still shaking with so much coffeine after tasting all the coffees.

By popular demand the PGA FOOD QUIZ is back.

How many coffee pickers are needed to pick the Costa Rican coffee harvest every year?

Whoever comes closest to the correct figure will receive a packet of delicious Cafe Britt - which apparently is fairly difficult to get in Europe.

Pura Vida on the Pacuare River

2008-12-19T17:00:00.005+01:00

Rafting into the Pacuare Lodge was easy, but wait until you raft out we were warned. Our expectations were high, but the experience surpassed anything we could have ever imagined. The river runs fast with huge waves and rapids class III and IV. From October through December the water is at its highest - great, good timing!

I've never paddled so hard in my life. I clung so strongly to the raft that my muscles still hurt three days later. But our raft led by the indefatigable river guide Pascal was lucky. Down one shallow class III technical rapid we watched another raft lose its entire crew, almost capsizing. Plenty of chuckles from us as they floated by in ones and twos.

All that amongst a breathtaking rainforest: waterfalls right, left and centre. Deep spectacular canyons, wildlife galore probably wondering what all that screaming is about and the jungle so high it's touching the sky.

It definitely ranks as a TRES GRANDE AVENTURE.

Another day in paradise

2008-12-17T19:00:00.002+01:00

5 pm Pacuare Lodge. It's quickly getting dark here in the jungle of the reserve Rio Pacuare. The mist is coming down from the top of the canopy, it's humid and cooler than the past few days.

The staff is lighting hundreds of candles throughout the lodge. There's no electricity here - apart from the kitchen which is powered by a little water turbine.

Yesterday we rafted into the lodge, along with the supply raft that carried everything from our bags to food supplies - including dozens of cases of Imperial beer and as many trays of eggs. I think this made the eggs and beer taste even better knowing the effort it takes in getting it there.

As I sip my beer at the bar, the sound of the wild Pacuare river rushing by, the hum of insects and birds make a great evening sound track. It's paradise - a word I seem to be using everywhere in Costa Rica.

The Punisher

2008-12-16T01:43:00.004+01:00

The Lonely Planet had warned us, in its Top Ten of Costa Ricas Worst Roads Carate-Puerto Jiménez is ranked second and is called "The Punisher".

To save a few colones we decided to catch the bus, known locally as the "collectivo". For the equivalent of eight dollars your one way ticket gets you a place on a bench seat in the back of a cattle truck.

With a quick call of all aboard for any stragglers around the pulperia in Carate the driver locks the back gate and we were off.

The comfort of our thinly padded seat lasted about two seconds. I watched the agony as the man sitting across from me whack his head against the wooden side panels of the truck, but grinning like this was fun. He certainly had fun in Carate. Despite the bumpy road he whipped out a little plastic bag from his wallet and handed it across to me. At first I thought here we go, I'm being offered drugs, which wouldn't be surprising for a guy wearing a bandana emblazoned with marijuana leaves and lyrics to Bob Marley songs, but no he was just showing off the gold dust he had collected on the beach in Carate and in the surrounding creeks.

There are not really proper bus stops along the way, people just flag down the collectivo.

There was the Costa Rican cowboy who leaped on - light blue jeans, big belt buckle, leather hat and neat mustache. A real tough Tico. Later down the track the truck really filled up. There was the old woman trying to counter the impact of bumps by steadying herself with her umbrella. Across from the old lady another woman was also struggling with the bumps. While looking after her children the woman was clutching her enormous boobs with both hands to try and well... do you get the picture? Poor thing, the two and a half hour trip through the jungle and over several rivers was certainly arduous. Upon arrival in Puerto Jiminez the woman with the big boobs fainted in the truck. Maybe it was the heat... maybe mammary distress?