Trade 62 | Uganda International Marathon
Define: TIA -"This is Africa" - Term of endearment/explanation typically used by Westerners living in/visiting Africa to shrug off power shut downs, old technology, hazardous commutes, a generally slower pace of business and any other occurrences vaguely deemed 'African'. Usage:
“It’s not here yet. TIA.
I got another electric shock from the the shower and my finger is still twitching. TIA.
Bowndsey spent 30min twerking on stage just to keep the Ugandan 10k runners occupied while they waited to start. TIA?”
With this in mind, running a marathon around a small town in Uganda in the blasting heat is no mean feat of logistics. Requiring a particular kind of fluidity in teamwork to keep things running when they rarely go to plan. It was impressive watching the team work. The Marathon itself was in it's third year run by a British/Ugandan NGO as a week long fundraising event and I was brought out there for the better part of a month to cover it and everything else.
“Bye Mzungu!”
Runners spent the week seeing the sights and getting involved in the community projects they were fundraising for. The projects/organisations themselves had been required to apply for the support and given it on the grounds of the sustainability of their plans - designed to work themselves off support from the Marathon and support others in turn. Updates were already coming in of individuals having paid of their loans having started businesses with help from the event in year one.
Then, after the starting gun fired on the race day itself, I spent half a day on the back of a motorcycle photographing the early and eager crowds of the full, half marathon and 10k right through to the remaining lone bodies of the 42km.
British photographer moving between hosts and countries through a back-to-back series of creative trades. Exchanging my photography for all of my needs in a mission to reach every continent without needing money.