One of the great things about being at Cambridge is that it facilitates all sorts of exciting possibilities. Last year I wrote this report from Ecuador. This year I am writing it from a small town called Masaka in Uganda, having just returned from Rwanda. I am here with an Oxbridge charity called Kenya Education Partnerships (operating for the first time in Uganda). I have been living and working in a rural secondary school here for the past six weeks and will remain here for another four. During the course of the year at Cambridge I applied for various grants, ran a sponsored half marathon in Reading and collected on the street in order to raise the money to come out here and invest £750 in textbooks and science equipment at St Anthony’s Secondary School Kayunga. The school receives £750 from my fellow project worker as well so there is substantial investment. We have also been running health programs, post-educational opportunities programs, addressing gender issues and working on the school management. It's been a very interesting experience indeed and I have also had the opportunity to travel to other parts of Uganda and Rwanda on the weekends.
Organising the school library.
Before ... and after. 
Rwanda in fact has also been a part of what has been a fascinating academic year. I studied the genocide in Rwanda as well as the Kyoto Protocol as a case study in my world politics paper this year. It was particularly interesting studying issues that have such contemporary relevance and this was probably reflected in my exam results for this paper; they were comfortably in the first class bracket. This year I was also taking an additional paper in development economics from outside of the SPS course. It was a struggle at times to keep up with a second year Economics paper without having done any first year Economics. Nevertheless I was delighted to find that I managed to get a first class grade in this paper as well.
Looking ahead, my final and most important year looks very interesting indeed. I intend to write a dissertation on the international climate regime and will be interviewing the chief climate negotiator for Uganda in early September. I am also very much looking forward to my other two papers - one on the politics of conflict and development and the other on the rise of China and Southeast Asia. I also take a synoptic paper on politics which should encompass the last three years' study.
College life for the first half of this year has continued to be very enjoyable indeed. I have written a few more articles for Varsity, the student newspaper, and have continued to play football for the College First team for which I have been made Captain for the coming year. I also continued to be involved with the Caius Politics society which I founded along with a friend in October last year. We had Lord Goldsmith and Michael Howard come to speak in Lent term and are expecting Alistair Campbell to address the society early next year. After exams the year wound up with a night never to forget at the amazing Caius May Ball. Life at Cambridge continues to be a fascinating and challenging experience. It is undoubtedly a superb place to study and live.
