Day 2 in Zambia took us further into the depths of the country as we went into the national park that led us down the bank of the Luanga River. There were few farmers but the most amazing wildlife. Elephant families, giraffe, magnificent weaver birds, crowned cranes, hobbies, sacred ibis, hippos and water buffalo. After a few hours of driving, helping others push their truck that was caught in a ditch and finding our own way through the various obstacles, we made it to Dale Lewis’ paradise home that he and his wife built themselves. It was pretty raw compared to the George V in Paris but the view was spectacular. Right on the river, we could see across the water every African animal imaginable coming down to the banks for a drink.

We had a wonderful meal and a few beers, and, with the addition of the fresh air and 40 degree temperatures of the day, we were knocked out cold before too long.

The following day was another visit to a farming community where we were to meet Chief Malama. We were greeted by his secretary and are escorted into the Chief’s visiting hut, which is not much bigger than a boy-scout tent. Chief Malama was not there so we were sitting in the dim light staring at each other for a good 10 minutes. Chief Malama finally walked in and we immediately knelt on our knees and clapped 9 times (3 X3), which we were instructed to do. The Chief was happy that we were there to support his farmers and that we were going to provide a market for their cotton.

The rest of Zambia was more farmers, more chiefs, more villages and more wildlife until we made our way back to Mfuwe, said our goodbyes and headed to our next destination: Uganda.

Uganda

Uganda is a spectacular country but our visit coincided with the recent Commonwealth Country conference and the visit from the Queen of England. This meant that the Ugandan government had so much security so it seemed a bit like a police state and it also meant there were no hotel rooms so Bridget and I stayed in a 10 story housing project building and had to battle the absolute deluge from the sky and the noisy neighbours and drunks from the local bars. This meant that 5am the next morning seemed extra dark, extra wet and extra early.

We had met up with many others by this time so we head into 3 cars and made our way up to the North of Uganda where we were setting out to start our cotton project in Uganda with the WCS.

Our drive took us through very tropical and rich Budongo forest in the Murchison Falls National Park, where we often had to dodge families of baboons who took their time to cross the road.

Because we were going to miss our ferry (I had no idea we’d be crossing a river) and have some time to spare we decided to pay a visit to the Murchison Falls themselves – an area of the Nile River that is compressed into a 7 metre wide gorge. The power of the water is absolutely staggering. I had no idea the Nile was even in Uganda. I always considered the Nile was solely Egyptian but, in fact, the Nile’s source is in Uganda in a place called Ginga, 18kms from Kampala, the country’s capital.

After the ferry crossing, we made our way to the Para lodge to drop our things and get a bite. Para, meaning place of hippo (Pa=place ra=hippo) was certainly that. You could hear hippos right outside your hotel room grunting away much like a large big. Hippos are pretty impressive in size but what is more impressive is to see one run. You can’t imagine anything so large and lazy-looking run so fast!

We headed up to a place called Amuru, where there are displacement camps for the Acholi tribe. For the last 15-20 years, northern Uganda has been at war. Rebels under the leadership of Joseph Kony, head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) have been terrorizing young Ugandans, stealing their children and turning them into soldiers. The LRA and the Ugandan government have finally signed a peace settlement but only after thousands and thousands have died under brutal torture or rapid gunfire.

So people are starting to leave the camps back to their fields but have little or nothing in their pockets. Edun and WCS plan on taking these farmers and teaching them how to grow organic cotton, improve their wealth and help rebuild their communities, especially their schools.

When talking to village leaders and small-scale farmers it was clear that a solution was needed because the big cotton-trading companies had traditionally treated them poorly and taken advantage of their commercial muscle.

Back in Kampala we were visiting factories and making plans for the future. It was nice to see Edun product in the works and know that we had made a 100% made African product from the grower in the cotton fields to the sewer in the factory. Keeping 100% of the value in the hands of the Africans, rather than shipping out the raw resources and having our product made elsewhere.

Nobody liked this idea better than President Museveni of Uganda, whom we met later in the day. Walking into the palace grounds and later sitting in a large boardroom with the President at the head of the table, I could not get out of my mind the movie The Last King of Scotland that was filmed in this very location. I was hoping not to stay as long as the young Scottish doctor…

Madagascar

Our 5am flight to Antananarivo, Madagascar was brutally early but we managed to get there on time. Uganda was very soon a distant memory by the time we landed on the red soil of the former French colony.

I had been to Madagascar before with Edun and because my wife and I had adopted our 5th child from this country but I was particularly excited this trip because I was going to be travelling outside of Antananarivo and into some remote country.

Shortly after landing, we were escorted to a very small airport that had various small private planes. Ours was the smallest. As a tall man, I folded myself into a pretzel-esque shape and got in… ready to head for Porte Berger where we were going to visit Mammy, a young Malgache, who had started an innovative cotton project in the North called ODER. From the window I could see why conservationists were so concerned with Madagascar. There were virtually no trees to be seen and the soil had eroded completely.

When we landed on the grass strip at Porte Berger, we were greeted by Mammy and shown the training centre for farmers. It was very neat, organized and simple, but impressive. The cotton from the fields was trucked into the area and ginned (cotton seed taken away from the cotton lint) on site. The remarkable thing was that the gins were completely fuelled by corn. All the trucks, motorbikes and other vehicles were run on the cotton seed oil so the area was completely sustainable.

Following the guided tour of the area, we drove down the most un-transport-friendly road I’d ever been on and finally managed to get to a small farming community where we were met by some lead farmers and many small children. Again, we visited cotton fields and had a chance to speak to the farmers about various issues surrounding cotton.

After a couple of hours in the field, we hopped into the plane and headed back to Antananarivo. With the remaining hours left in the day, we visited 2 Edun factories, discussed the patterns for the up-coming collections and headed back to a small bed and breakfast, where we crashed for the night. The following day we held discussions with more factory owners and spoke with WCS staff and consultants.

By the time all our visits were done, 2 weeks had passed and we were on our way back to home base: France for me and New York City for Bridget.