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The beauty of Uganda and the strange contrast of life in the towns to the standard of living in the villages is starting to not shock me anymore. It's no longer shocking to see 5 year olds walking along the main roads holding hands with their 3 year old brothers or sisters and carrying either large oversized planks of wood or large cartons of water on their heads.

I'm actually seeing that it no longer shocks me as a positive. It means I can see past the immediate pity or sadness you want to feel for them as you compare them to your niece or nephew back home who probably at the age of 3 was being rewarded for stringing a few sentences together with a toy phone or pram. It means you get to understand more about why they are doing this. If they're in school they need to walk miles to get there - for some this morning that meant anything up to 6 miles. If they're too young for school then they need to learn how to carry the precious water from the local watering hole or local shop miles away. They need to because their parents are busy harvesting their farm or working in a local coffee / tea / sugar cane / tobacco field.

Ugandans tend to have so many children because the mortality rate of children is so high -about a third don't get to make it to adulthood. The average life expectancy is just over 50. If they live to be old they need looking after. Doctors and hospitals are more than likely miles away so they need enough of their children to grow old to look after them.

As Chris mentioned this morning everyone has a mobile. As odd as that sounds for a country that has running water in only a third of houses it's actually essential. Mobiles mean that you can bypass expensive landlines and they can supply not only a way of communicating to each other but basic healthcare help and advice to those cut off from the towns. Some African countries even lead the way in mobile banking - not paying your bill online like we do, but actually sending digital money to your handset so that you can take your phone to buy things.

Similarly that contrast is evident as I sit here in my car looking out ahead of me. I am overlooking the most beautiful scene of lush Ugandan meadows with mountains lining the distance. Amongst the greenery are two clusters of huts for houses. Some made from earth some from brick. But then in one of the central houses not so far away is a blackboard advertising that the next Premiership match game is happening soon and you can watch it on their tv.

These are some of the wealthier villagers because all around them are fields of tea. These are harvested for sending around the world. Unfortunately the (relative) wealth amongst these fields also brings disease as people travel across country for this work bringing with them disease. For this reason there are high infection rates of HIV as well as Malaria here. Something that could be easily avoided with some simple education, condoms and mosquito nets.

Thankfully there is light at the end of that tunnel for both HIV and malaria. Uganda is being praised for it's work in awareness of how you catch HIV, and with the help of your money and Comic Relief there is hope that we are about to put a very healthy dent in the malaria rates too.

From the primary school this morning of 1,100 pupils 3/4 of them have had malaria. Some of them more than once. Only the fact that they are close enough to the main town has saved them from suffering the fate of their classmates who've died of the disease. As of today every student in that school has a malaria net.

This is a 4 year project that Comic Relief are embarking on. Enough money has been raised to buy 600,000 nets for the families in this area of Uganda. The malaria statistics will be monitored to see what kind of effect that has in this area. As more money is raised with Sport Relief they will extend the plan to other areas of Uganda and hopefully save even more lives.

Stamping out malaria won't solve all the 'problems' for the people of Uganda (if I can be as self-righteous as to call their life style as such). I'm realising that to get the people of Uganda a better standard of living is going to involve much more than money and mosquito nets - but it's an excellent place to start.