by Richard | Feb 3, 2011 | Creative Writing
[Sketched on the back of a napkin at many thousands of feet somewhere between Kampala and Kigali] With the passing of the Great Ruler, it came to be that his eldest son – long spoken of fondly throughout the kingdom – would ascend to his throne. A date was...
by Richard | Jan 31, 2011 | Photography
It’s taken a little longer for me to get my 2011 improvements programmed in, but I’ve been diligently working on it, when not preoccupied with health scares, photo editing or more recently, discovering how dense media studies reading can be when you have,...
by Richard | Jan 23, 2011 | Africa, Journalism, Photography, Travel, Uganda
In five hours it will be time to get up for introductory lectures, but every late night hour working on editing pictures has been worth it. Most of the pictures have stories, and many of those stories will be told in coming posts – just as soon as Telkom...
by Richard | Jan 9, 2011 | Africa, Reflections, Travel, Uganda
It’s late, and I’m tired, and I can’t get back to sleep. So I am up and writing again. Sifting through thoughts that come in the nights, when the day and all of its distractions have passed. I’m back in South Africa again. At last. I arrived...
by Richard | Dec 30, 2010 | Africa, Journalism, Travel, Uganda
When we arrived in Gulu, we spent only one night in the place we had booked to stay in. A serendipitous confusion of a lost booking and an entire house becoming cheaply available near the Kabero Opong district meant that we would relocate lock, stock and sleeping bag...
by Richard | Dec 27, 2010 | Europe, Travel, United Kingdom
Last year’s Christmas miracle was not being left in the desert in northern Sudan. This year’s Christmas miracle is nevertheless a contender for the throne of strangest annual experience. Every time I think I might have peaked at the oddest possible thing I...
by Richard | Dec 18, 2010 | Africa, Journalism, Thinking, Travel, Uganda
Light and dark are a simple analogy for so many things. Waiting at the baggage counter for my pack and pondering the miles of home beyond the exit gate, I think I would have done well to consider how light and dark interact. How they manage, in a way, to make each...
by Richard | Dec 14, 2010 | Africa, Journalism, Travel, Uganda
Kitgum lies about three hours east of Gulu, and is the largest town in the Kitgum district of Northern Uganda. It is a place where, as I stepped out of the front door of the Sunshine Modern Guest House (singles from 16,000 shillings), I was privileged to witness the...
by Richard | Dec 5, 2010 | Africa, Journalism, Travel, Uganda
Arriving in Uganda three days ago, I am now in Gulu. The fact that I am blogging this, from an airconditioned coffee shop in safety should immediately give you a hint that you shouldn’t believe everything you read in the papers. For the most part, the last few...
by Richard | Nov 25, 2010 | Uncategorized
The end of the year is approaching, bringing with it that sense of slowdown, of a subtle gear shift across my life and the lives of people making plans to be elsewhere in December. Something in the last, frantic rush to Get Things Done has meant that I’ve been a...
by Richard | Nov 7, 2010 | Journalism, Photography
Twenty three days until departure to Gulu. If you had followed this blog a year ago in the run up to Cairo, you would understand that I have a fascination with countdowns. Particularly at the end of the year, and particularly for adventures. This involves both. The...
