They’re going to be posting up recipes throughout this week. If they’re anywhere near as good as the other recipes up on the site they’ll be delicious!

https://www.facebook.com/TheEverydayVeggie

http://theeverydayveggie.com/

We’d like to wish anyone taking part good luck! We hope you find it an enjoyable experience, and do let us know how you get on.

Check out the various blogs/diaries for some inspiration.

We came up with this challenge not to show what it is really like living in countries such as Uganda – we don’t think that’s really possible. But, what we do hope is that it will get people thinking a bit.

Even in Uganda, $2 does not go very far. A typical lunch in one of the plethora of cheap eating places in Kampala will cost around $1.

Of course, some people largely grow their own food, but even then they need some money for things such as school fees, medical costs and iron roofing.

So yes, $2 does go further in countries like Uganda than it does in the UK or other richer countries, but it still doesn’t go that far!

We would love to hear your thoughts on the $2 a day challenge, and the poverty lines as seen by the World Bank! Please leave your comments below.

Our first seedlings

The tree nursery we completed late last year has suffered some ups and downs since we planted our first batch of seeds. Disruption in the rainfall patterns have meant that some of the seedlings dried up and died, particularly the orange trees. However, we now have around 1,000 seedlings ready to be distributed and we shall do this when the rainy season arrives soon ( we hope!).

Most of the seedlings we have are passion fruit and avocado and as we distribute them we shall explain the proper care for the seedlings and also emphasise just how important trees are to the environment and agriculture. If the seedling are properly looked after they may be able to begin producing fruit in three years time, particularly the passion fruit trees.

We shall plant a second batch of trees in the next couple of months and will add in a few more varieties, such as coffee trees. Some of these we shall be able to sell in order to help pay the running costs of the nursery.

This year’s $2 a day challenge will run from March 19th-25th. We aim to raise a minimum of 7 million Shillings (£1,900 / $3,000) to help fund a water source in a village in Kalungu District.

You can find full details of the project and what the challenge involves in the $2 a day section of the site.

We want to get as many people involved this year as we possibly can. If you are taking part, then make it your aim to get at least one more person to participate with you. If everyone does this we can potentially double our money! If each of them do the same who know what we can do…

Why not hold a party the week before the event, invite all your friends and cook something that you will be eating during the challenge? It might be a good opportunity to let them know what you’re doing and to get them to sponsor you.

Or, of you have friends doing the challenge with you, you could organise a ‘pot-luck’ dinner, where each of you bring something you have cooked with your budget and you all share dinner. (Remember, you can only do this with other people doing the challenge!)

We’d love you to get involved with us as much as possible. Join us on Facebook, and join the event page. We’re also now on Google+. And on Twitter, use #2dollarsaday. It’s be great to hear how you’re getting on with fundraising, promoting the event, and of course with taking part in the event itself.

Also consider writing a blog of your experiences, sending us photos of your recipes, and tips you may have.

Local media are likely to be interested in what you’re doing, so if you get in touch with us we can provide you with a template of a press release you can adjust accordingly and send out. Try local newspapers, radio stations, even tv stations. If you do get a mention then do let us know and send us a link.

Most of all, have fun!

I love my two season schedule of dry and wet seasons. Uganda enjoys ideal weather conditions ranging from the warmth of the lowland areas to the coolness of the Kigezi highlands.

Uganda is sunny most of the year with temperatures rarely rising above 29 degrees The average temperature is about 26 degrees centigrade, with a maximum of 18-35 degrees and minimum of 8-23 degrees depending on the part of the country.

As a primary school teacher, I was overwhelmed by the number of children in my class and the situation is not about to change although I long moved in my career choices. Otherwise, I had to teach not less than 80 children per class for six years which was a daunting reality for me in Lira Municipality which is in Northern Uganda.

Expressing my religious faith and belief in Uganda is another beautiful aspect something that I miss in the West. Freedom of worship and expression is active in Uganda so much so that every Sunday is clearly respected with minimal business activities going on across the country. But actually in the rural areas, it is more of time with God and family.

However, it is also good to mention that I do not like the political situation, dust, road traffic confusions and poor public transport management. However, where I go…Uganda is my motherland and home is home…and I am proud to be Ugandan.

February 2012

I was looking forward to finished the challenge so much – I’m not sure how I managed for a month last time. Though when the end is in sight it is always more of a struggle to reach it. If I’d known I had another 2 weeks or so to go I’m sure it would have been fine.

I managed to complete the challenge more than £3 below budget – that’s just over £1 per day.

Despite having spent 6 weeks on the challenge prior to this year, it’s amazing how much I still learn while going through it. I think I’ve been able to be far more creative this year than I have in the past (at least when time has allowed me). It’s actually surprising how varied a diet you can have on such a limited budget.

People kept asking me if I was hungry – and mostly I wasn’t. I was able to eat plenty. And I could easily have eaten more considering I was so much below budget.

One things that I have been thinking a lot about this year has been the ethics of doing something such as this. Apart from what I mentioned in my ‘Day five’ post, one of my colleagues who was taking part in the challenge mentioned to me about just how little money we are giving to food producers. If a pack of 80 tea bags costs 27p, or digestives cost 31p just how much money can possibly be going to the farmers producing the raw materials for these. How can this possibly create a sustainable agricultural future. Hopefully he is going to write something about this that we will post up on here but it has really got me thinking. Incidentally, the second week of my challenge coincided with the international Fairtrade Fortnight.

As far as fundraising has been going – I’ve been able to get a decent amount from work. I haven’t seen my friends much since I’ve been working a lot, but they’ll contribute some. As far as reaching our £2,000 target I know there is still a fair way to go but time will tell when the contributions from other participants comes in just how much we’ve made. We may have to try to organise something else in the near future to try to ensure we reach this target.

I’ve had so much support from people at work and people I’ve talked to. Almost everyone I’ve told about the challenge has been impressed with how I’m able to eat on such a limited budget. I’d like to thank everyone for their support and everyone who has sponsored me.

I always enjoy doing this challenge and while today I’m enjoying not being so restricted with what I can consume I’m looking forward to next year too and working hard to raise more money for Codewe. Maybe then I’ll be better at doing a blog too!

Total for the challenge – 1414.8p / 1722p – 307.2p below budget.