When I went to Uganda in 2008 I spent 5 weeks living in a mud hut. We lived, ate and travelled with the local people. We used their washing and toileting facilities – which were basic to say the least! As I was there I thought that this was an ideal Mission Direct project for those people who wanted to experience life as the locals lead it, rather than in a hotel with running water and electricity which is how our mainstream trips work.

Both Kotomor (Uganda) and Ndiadzo (Zimbabwe) are rural communities. Kotomor is an IDP (internally displaced persons) camp in the north of Uganda and Ndiadzo is a small village of brick houses and mud huts in the south-east of Zimbabwe.
Both communities rely heavily on farming for their income and have very little help from outside agencies.
When we visited Ndiadzo, we were the first white people some of the villagers had ever seen.

Some challenges will be logistical – travelling on long dirt roads, fetching water etc. But mainly the challenges will be how the individual volunteers cope with the daily living in this environment.
For some the test will be eating the same food 2-3 times a day for 10 days, for others the discomfort of sleeping on the concrete floor or inside a mud hut - we may be sharing our accommodation with some unwelcome creepy crawlies! Again, others will find the lack of good toileting and washing facilities difficult while others will find it difficult to manage without water and electricity. And we will be working on the site for a full 6-8 hours a day; that will be tough for someone that usually sits in front of a computer all day.

We could not have been made more welcome! In Ndiadzo the whole village turned out to meet us – in fact they were all waiting for us even though we were 24 hours late. People are very hospitable – they share everything with us; their food, home, vision and dreams.
The builders in Ndiadzo were so excited to hear about the work we have planned that they told us they would work without wages to invest in the future of their children.

Anyone who wants to experience a little bit of Africa through the eyes of the locals but without any luxuries. Anyone prepared to roll up their sleeves and work hard, not to mention a bit of discomfort.
But the rewards will be huge. These communities are so humble and resilient. They survive day to day with next to nothing except their faith in God and their reliance on each other. They have so much to teach us and we have so much to learn.
The people are amazing, the children are beautiful and the environment is stunning; what more could you ask for, except perhaps a flushing toilet?