More media coverage.

Hi all.

Its not going to be a long blog but I wanted to keep you updated with the media outputs from the trip, The media team at WaterAid have done a great job producing Videos and photos to sell into local media and they have been really successful getting these picked up. Not just for me but for all the supporters. This is brilliant news and helps to get WaterAids message to an even bigger audience. So well done (and a massive thank you) Lisa, Tadg and Eliza at WaterAid!

Below is a link to see the peice that ITV in my region did about Sophie and I in Uganda. Many people have seen it and I got some great feedback,I've also put below a link to the full VNR, I just wanted to share my interviews, although I look awful and I'm not great at thinking on my feet, there are some honest real interviews with me while I am in Uganda, which it is useful seeing and adds another perspective. Hope you enjoy

ITV footage

WaterAid VNR

Newspaper print

Well.... for anyone still reading my blog you are probably wondering why I'm still writing it. The answer...I want to keep it updated because although the trip has finished, WaterAids work hasn't, and neither has my contribution. I want to keep people updated with what I am doing and also use it to track what I have done. 

So since I last posted Southern Water had their xmas ball which raised money for three charities, one of which was WaterAid. All of th money raised for WaterAid is going direct to Uganda, so for me it was amazing to think that £25,666 (give or take) will go directly to the country programme team that we visited and will help them help some of the communities we spent time in.... Amazing. Hopefully Aguti Agnes and her family are one step closer to that much needed water supply! Ojalai village is school is one step closer to some new toilets, etc etc. My colleagues who arranged the ball did a fantastic job but for me, as an attendee, it was difficult sitting there, eating amazing food with an endless supply of water, (and wine) trying to think back to just two weeks before when I walked through the Kampala Slums. What a different world! But well done Laura and Anita for arranging it, fantastic!

Today I had an article published in the Littlehampton Gazette....massive news I know haha, but even if a few people in Littlehampton read about the trip and read this blog, they may not have otherwise thought about WaterAid, so that will be success indeed. Even more exciting, myself and Sophie from the Environment Agency have been invited to talk to Danny Pike (ironically he was compere at the ball) on BBC Sussex on 22 December. I'm really excited about this, and I am sure Sophie is too.

So that's it really from me, I just wanted to share a few more pictures from the trip I didn't have before. I still have some plans to raise money and awareness next year, which is a big reason why I want to keep this blog going.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget if you want to get involved or you want to hear more about my trip, please get in touch with me.

Adam

Back Home

"While the years are still on my side, my back is strong, my eyes are wide, 

I want the work I do to be a bigger point of pride."

So.... I've been back from Uganda for over a week now and I thought that its high time I wrote a blog entry. I had been thinking about letting the blog go but my press officer reminded me to today that travelling to Uganda was really only the start of the trip. 

See the thing is, travelling to Uganda was such a great experience, not just meeting the communities who are helped by Water Aids work, but seeing the hard work the WaterAid Uganda team, and their partners put in every day to make Uganda a safer and healthier country. Coming home and thinking that that is the end of the trip and the end of the blog is wrong. I have seen how WaterAid work and its fantastic, this needs to be shared with others to inspire and motivate. 

I had so many nice comments from people reading my blog, and so loads of people wanting to get involved, so I am going to use this blog to share what I WaterAid are up to, and how I am going to help raise money and awareness. Infact, if I didn't have to worry about looking after my family and paying off  a mortgage then I would probably ditch work and do something I can be proud of. 

Coming home has been a bit of a struggle, its great to see loved ones again but I have been at a bit of a loss, questioning lots. I wrote this in two blog posts that I ended up deleting because they sounded like mine was a high horse, thats not what I intended. But in honesty with people fighting over TV's on Black Friday (they probably already have 3 anyway), and hearing people moan about trains being late and missing their favorite programme, Brighton losing etc, I cant help but think we have out priorities wrong. Since I've been back I've become acutely aware of the things I have as opposed to the things I havent. In realitiy we have everything we need. A safe place to live, clean water, a toilet and access to free healthcare. Everything other than that is a bonus. 

So...what are my plans... well, the Southern Water xmas ball is on Thursday and I recorded a video while I was in Uganda to share at the ball, I really hope that this makes people dig really deep and raises loads of money for WaterAid. Other than that I have shared my trip with so many people, each person I speak to is another person who wouldn't have necessarily supported/heard of WaterAid before. 

Myself and a couple of colleagues are going to arrange a fundraising event next year so if you want to be involved then please get in touch. 

Other than that I don't have a lot to say.... If you have any feedback/questions/you want to hear more about my trip then let me know.