It is currently 4:25pm Ugandan time, I'm sat in a rickety jeep in what is, I kid you not, a scene from Lost! This is one of the greatest misconceptions of Africa. It is beautiful. If it's just me being ignorant I apologise, but I expected miles and miles of desert with African huts clustered together trying to find water. But this isn't like those films of the Ethiopian famine that we've all seen. Uganda is a central African country which has two 'great lakes' the sizes of oceans - but with fresh water so having access to water isn't the issue (it's the money to distribute it). The country is top to toe green. The most lush countryside with sugar cane plants taller than we are, it also has breathtaking mountains that makes the rain worse for this country.

In front of me is a square hut (reminiscent of Lost's Jacob's house - both Chris and I said it together when we saw it!), there are huge mango and banana trees all around surrounded by high grass. Behind me are two houses, one circular hut made out of mud with straw for a roof, and a second house also made of mud but with corrugated iron for a roof.

Chris is inside talking to it's owner who works as a local health officer. If anyone from the cluster of houses near here falls ill then they travel to him for a diagnosis. He then determines whether it's worth the many many mile's walk to Hoima (the nearest town) either by foot or bike to see a doctor and perhaps a hospital.

The other thing Lost-like was the rain. As I was filming a little video for back home of me with some new friends I made (couldn't speak English except "Hello" and "Bye!" - but they were all transfixed by the new Lady GaGa video on my phone) someone shouted "look" at a dark cloud approaching and we all legged it for our vehicles while the sound of torrential rain closed in like the wall from 'Hole In The Wall'. I made it to the car on my own while the others legged it to the man's house. The poor man had all six of his children, his wife, friends, Chris, someone from Comic Relief and a camera crew in his living room!

That is why I'm sat here writing this blog, waiting for the heavens to close up and Chris is in the man's house trying to convince him that his Manchester Utd clock is wrong and that he should really swap to Leeds!

We're not even half way through the day and it's a struggle to balance the poverty that we're witnessing in the villages with the relative comfort of the cities and towns. That's even before you start relating things to your life back home in the UK!

The strange thing, and one that I doubt I'll be able to convey accurately home is that there isn't a sense of morbidity or sadness among the people you're with. It's hard to be upset as you would if you were sat at home watching the appeal through your tv because all around you is laughter. Maybe it's because we're funny looking white people with funny looking clothes and music videos or photos on their phones, or maybe this is their life, this is all they've known and they have ups as well as the downs just like the rest of us.

The sadness comes for them and us when you talk of disease and death and for Chris and myself we've yet to see the worst examples of this. Tomorrow we're going to a school to meet some kids who have inevitably lost their classmates to Malaria and Thursday we're visiting a hospital. Kimberley went to a hospital on Monday and spoke about how hard it was, but she was actually angry with herself for crying. As she put it, when you walk in and see a room with children all lying on the floor with malaria fighting for their lives with simple drips attached to their arms the last thing they or they parents want are people coming in and crying at the sight of them.

Aled

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/chrismoyles/

Hello from Uganda,

Together with four of the team who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in March, I've come back to Africa to see how the money we helped to raise is being spent. We knew when we were doing the climb that the cash would do some good - but we had no idea just how much could be achieved.

Here in Uganda Malaria kills more children than any other disease. Often bitten as they sleep, the young ones are defenceless against the mosquitoes that carry it.

Over the past 48 hours we've helped to give out almost 14,000 mosquito nets - every one of them paid for by Red Nose Day cash. Thousands of people, the vast majority of them parents, walked for miles in blistering heat to collect their nets and the atmosphere was amazing, almost like a carnival - all that was missing was the waltzers!

And that's just the start of it - over the coming months 1.5 million people will be given protection in total, across an area the size of Northern Ireland. That's what you call making a real impact - and it all starts with someone like you supporting our challenge to climb Kili.

So thank you and take it from me, the money you gave couldn't be spent any better than it is.

Love Gary,

Watch the Kili team in action
P.S. Watch the story of our trip on Sunday 27th December at 6:30pm on BBC One:

Gary Barlow was last night reunited with the troupe of celebrities he led on a life-changing trek up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania back in March.

Gary, 38, met with Alesha Dixon, 31, Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh, 28, and a pregnant Denise Van Outen, 35, who left their showbiz lifestyles behind, and raised a stunning £3.5million for Comic Relief as part of Red Nose Day 09.

But thankfully, last night's get together was a less than taxing meet-up at private members club The Dunhill.

Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles, 35, was also in attendance, as was Boyzone star Ronan Keating, 32, who were also a part of the celebrity team that rose to the gruelling challenge.

Leader of the pack: Take That star Gary Barlow met up with his team of celebrity climbers that took on Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief in London last night

Just a couple of the intrepid squad were noticeably absent, X Factor judge and Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole, Fearne Cotton and GMTV's Ben Shepard.

It seemed to be a celebratory night for the hardworking stars. But although the trek took place earlier this year, the hard work is not quite done yet.

Gary and the team have all returned to Africa see the results of their efforts for Comic Relief and to help distribute some of the £3.5million they raised.

Chris Moyles and Ronan Keating: Moyles recently returned to Uganda to help distribute anti-mosquito nets bought with the £3.5million raised by the stars

Some of that money is being spent in Uganda on supplying anti-mosquito nets, education and medicines. Malaria is the biggest killer of under 5s in Uganda.

Gary, Fearne Cotton, Ben Shepard and Kimberley flew to Uganda to visit the warehouse in Hoima, Uganda where 200,000 nets are being stored, and helped load them onto trucks in preparation for mass distribution.

And fellow Kilimanjaro climber Moyles, was on hand to assist with giving out the nets.

The team were present to help with the distribution of half a million nets across four districts of Western Uganda, and their return to Africa was filmed for a documentary called ‘Comic Relief: The Net Result’.

Kimberley recently recalled her gruelling time during the trip, which involved some particularly less than starry moments.

She revealed while cold and exhausted and needing the loo halfway up Mount Kilimanjaro, she had to get the guide to help out.

She told YOU magazine: ‘My hands were so cold I couldn’t pull up my pants properly, so he had to help me. By then I was past caring.

'You can’t get any harsher than that, but we did it. It was amazing.'

Kimberley said it was her sister's love for Take That star Gary that made her agree to undertake the challenge in the first place.

‘I used to share a room with my older sister and she had all these Take That posters on the wall.

'When I told her I’d met him she said, “He’s the only person I really care about that you’ve met since you became part of Girls Aloud.”’

‘Gary is so lovely, he’s really funny. You almost don’t want to make him feel old by saying, “When I was young we had your picture on our wall".

'A few times on Kilimanjaro I looked at Gary and thought, “I really want to push you off this mountain for making us do this,” because he was moaning as well, saying, “I can’t believe this, it’s awful, isn’t it?” and I was like, “It was your idea!”’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowb....7qKndOW

DURING the climb of Mount Kilimanjaro lots of questions ran through my mind.

Would I be able to handle the terrain, the altitude, the cold? Would any of us reach the top?

No matter how tough it was, though, you knew one thing was certain - that the cash being raised would be used by Comic Relief to do an awful lot of good.

Net gains ... Gary Barlow with mosquito net
Net gains ... Gary with mosquito net

For more than 20 years, the charity has been helping to change lives for the better and, just like the rest of the British public - including, no doubt, millions of Sun readers - I've always known a pound given to Comic Relief is a pound very well spent.

But when they asked me if I wanted to see for myself the kind of impact the cash makes on the ground, to meet face-to-face the people who would benefit, I thought it was a fantastic idea.

It's important to everyone who did the climb that all those people who were good enough to support us get to see the kind of thing they have helped to make happen.

So I said yes, and together with four of the Kili team - Fearne Cotton, Chris Moyles, Ben Shephard and Kimberley Walsh - I headed to Uganda to see the distribution of a shipment of malaria nets that Comic Relief money had paid for.

Malaria is a devastating disease. In Africa it takes the life of a child every 30 seconds. Often bitten as they sleep, the uncovered youngsters are defenceless against the mosquitoes that carry it.

I can't begin to imagine what it must feel like to put your children down for the night knowing, by morning, they could have caught the disease that will kill them.

All it takes to protect them is a simple bed net - and one costs just five pounds. Five pounds to keep a family safe.

Once we arrived in the part of western Uganda where the nets would be given out, I visited the local hospital to see first-hand the damage that malaria causes.

As I walked into the crowded ward the doctor told me that more than half the deaths in the entire hospital were down to malaria.

Scores of children lay motionless everywhere - in the ramshackle cots, on top of drawers and on every inch of floor space.

And there was silence. In a room packed full of small children not one of them was crying. They were too ill for that, they were just quietly dying - all for the want of a net.

But for thousands of people that was about to change. The next morning we arrived at a meeting point on the outskirts of a town called Hoima and were met with lorries packed with nets - 14,000 of them to be precise.

And every single one was paid for with Red Nose Day cash.

We had helped to load the nets from the warehouse to the lorries the previous day. Those nets are much heavier than they look all packaged up.

I still have problems with my back that started on the climb and loading them reminded me how much pain I was in on that mountain. All of that was worth it, though, to see the physical evidence of what all of the donations had paid for.

Over the course of a day we helped to give out all of the nets to thousands of people - the vast majority of them parents who had walked for miles in blistering heat.

The five of us had such a great time handing out the nets. I think Ben Shephard and Chris Moyles even competed at one stage to see who could hand them out the fastest! You can see our efforts first-hand in the documentary Comic Relief: The Net Result on BBC1 on Sunday, December 27 at 6.30pm, which follows our trip to Uganda.

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The atmosphere was amazing, almost like a carnival. Families whose lives, up until now, had been at risk every time they went to bed, couldn't believe it. They were finally getting the simple thing they needed to protect themselves. Watching people go off with their nets knowing their lives were about to change was brilliant.

While giving out the nets I met an amazing woman called Flora. She's 38 and has ten children. When we met, three of her children were really ill with malaria because they didn't have any mosquito nets. Being able to give her enough nets for her and her family was incredible.

And the great thing is, that was just the start of it - days like that will be repeated countless times over the coming months with 1.5MILLION people being given protection across an area the size of Northern Ireland - thanks to money raised for Comic Relief.

That's what you call making a real impact - and being there to see it happen made every single tortuous step up Kilimanjaro more than worth it.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol....xzk8oNo

Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh was back in Africa this week to see where the money raised on Red Nose Day has been spent, and to see how the threat of malaria - Africa's biggest killer - is being dealt with.

Earlier this year, Walsh was one of nine celebrities who flew out to Tanzania to take on Africa's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, in a bid to raise money for charity.

It took the team, which included Cheryl Cole, Alesha Dixon and Ronan Keating, seven gruelling days to complete the trek up to the summit.

Heart warming: Kimberley Walsh got a chance to play with the local children before heading to the net distribution area

This time round, Walsh travelled to Uganda with Fearne Cotton, Gary Barlow, Chris Moyles and Ben Shephard in tow, and their trip is the focus of a BBC documentary to be aired this Sunday.

'The climb was a real challenge and there were times when most of us didn't think we would make it to the top,' Walsh told the BBC.

'But seeing the impact it's made, we are all so glad we stuck at it.'

Fun and games: Gary Barlow gets to know some African sports with the local children

Helping hand: Fearne Cotton helps hand out mosquito nets to queues of waiting people

The team were given the opportunity to see first hand just how their money was spent.

A short chance to interact with locals and meet people on the ground was followed by a visit to the Bulimya net distribution area - one of the centres that provide mosquito nets to help protect children and families from the disease.

'Handing those nets to people who needed and wanted them so desperately was an unforgettable thing to be given the chance to do,' Walsh said afterwards.

Chris Moyles hands out a set of nets, as a massive queue forms at the centre

'Almost all of them were parents and they were desperate to be able to protect their children - it was great to play a small part in it.'

With the money the celebrity-team had raised, around 1.5million people would have been protected from malaria in an area the size of Northern Ireland, Cotton told the BBC.

The TV presenter, who was also part of the team, said: 'It's a real privilege to be honest. When you help to raise money for Comic Relief you know it's going to make a difference to people's lives.'

Apart from the charity work, the team enjoyed catching up with each other again.

'There's been a lot of reminiscing, a lot of stories I'd forgotten about and some I'd wished I had,' Walsh said.

Cotton added: 'It's something that we will always, always talk about when we see each other.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowb....jWg4oQB

They help prevent the spread of deadly malaria which is carried by mosquitoes and is Africa’s biggest killer.

Back in March, Kimberley, 28, and a host of celebs embarked on a gruelling seven-day hike up Mount Kilimanjaro and raised a whopping £3.5million for Comic Relief.

Just before Christmas, Kimberley and four of the stars who braved the 15,000 ft trek – GMTV’s Ben Shepherd, 35, Take That frontman Gary Barlow, 38, DJ Chris Moyles, 35, and telly presenter Fearne Cotton, 28 – flew to Uganda.

They went to see how the money they had helped to raise earlier this year was being spent. They will report back their findings for a BBC1 special show.

And as our pictures show, a large portion of the cash has been used to buy nets.

Millions in Africa, especially children who are particularly vulnerable, will die from the disease.

Until now few have been able to afford the nets.

But now the funds raised have been used to buy millions of them which will shield Africans young and old from being bitten.

Gary said: “I can’t begin to imagine what it must feel like to put your children down for the night knowing, by morning, they could have caught the disease that will kill them.

“All it takes to protect them is a simple bed net and one costs just five pounds.”

Comic Relief 2009: The Net Result airs tomorrow on BBC 1 at 6.30pm.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news....-Africa