The beautiful children of Kiyumbakimu - farewell...
Char is thoroughly impressed at being made to dance in front of everyone!
Jay 'shakes his bones' at our Leaving Party
Julius shows us how its doneChar says: After a week back at the orphanage it was time to say goodbye to the kids, the people and the amazing country that is Uganda. Needless to say the farewells were emotional. And in true Ugandan style our taxi taking us to the airport arrived well over an hour late. It shouldn’t be any other way! We left Uganda on Saturday 29th March after nearly eight months in East Africa. Since we were flying Emirates, we decided to have a short stop-over in Dubai on the way home. This proved to be something of a culture shock for us but was still good fun – if we didn’t think about it all too much. Coming from deepest darkest Africa to a land of over-the-top, indulgent, excess was perhaps a little in bad taste, but none the less, we wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
Dubai is a crazy place and a sprawling suburban centre featuring hundreds of shopping centres and a new sky-scrapper under construction on every street. We visited one of the big shopping malls and the scene outside was like a high class car show. Bentley followed Porsche followed Macerate and so on. Inside there was none other than a real snow ski slope (with three runs and a child’s toboggan run). Bearing in mind that Dubai is the middle of the desert and gets 50 degrees hot in the summer months, the indoor snow really summed up the indulgence of the place.
Arriving back to the UK mid-afternoon on Monday (31st) I tried (and failed) not to cause a scene when reunited with my mum in the middle of Heathrow. Needless to say, we were both thrilled to be reunited with our family after such a long time apart. We are now both slowly starting to get back into the swing of things and rebuilding our life in the UK. But Uganda can never be too far from our thoughts and just as soon as we have enough money, we will be back to visit our ten beautiful children, Sseguya, Stuart and all of our Ugandan friends. They always will remain very close to our hearts and minds.
Char and Jay say: Before we end the blog forever (!), we would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to follow our story, especially those who have stayed in touch and helped to keep our spirits up.
Special thanks go to:
Marion Millerick and all at MicroDrainage for their generous donation – without which KCV may not yet exist
Hants &IoW Sustainable Business Partnership, HCC Economic Development Office and the Olive Consultancy for much appreciated Christmas donations
Everyone who sent letters and parcels but Ella deserves a particular mention for fortnightly letters and newspaper articles – you made us feel loved!
Both sets of parents for your incredible support (and cash!!!)
Please don’t forget about Kiyumbakimu Children’s Village and keep an eye on the forthcoming website www.kcvillage.org for news stories and ways to help. Donate online now at www.justgiving.com/kcv
Big love,
Over & Out
Char and Jay x x x
Dubai is a crazy place and a sprawling suburban centre featuring hundreds of shopping centres and a new sky-scrapper under construction on every street. We visited one of the big shopping malls and the scene outside was like a high class car show. Bentley followed Porsche followed Macerate and so on. Inside there was none other than a real snow ski slope (with three runs and a child’s toboggan run). Bearing in mind that Dubai is the middle of the desert and gets 50 degrees hot in the summer months, the indoor snow really summed up the indulgence of the place.
Arriving back to the UK mid-afternoon on Monday (31st) I tried (and failed) not to cause a scene when reunited with my mum in the middle of Heathrow. Needless to say, we were both thrilled to be reunited with our family after such a long time apart. We are now both slowly starting to get back into the swing of things and rebuilding our life in the UK. But Uganda can never be too far from our thoughts and just as soon as we have enough money, we will be back to visit our ten beautiful children, Sseguya, Stuart and all of our Ugandan friends. They always will remain very close to our hearts and minds.
Char and Jay say: Before we end the blog forever (!), we would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to follow our story, especially those who have stayed in touch and helped to keep our spirits up.
Special thanks go to:
Marion Millerick and all at MicroDrainage for their generous donation – without which KCV may not yet exist
Hants &IoW Sustainable Business Partnership, HCC Economic Development Office and the Olive Consultancy for much appreciated Christmas donations
Everyone who sent letters and parcels but Ella deserves a particular mention for fortnightly letters and newspaper articles – you made us feel loved!
Both sets of parents for your incredible support (and cash!!!)
Please don’t forget about Kiyumbakimu Children’s Village and keep an eye on the forthcoming website www.kcvillage.org for news stories and ways to help. Donate online now at www.justgiving.com/kcv
Big love,
Over & Out
Char and Jay x x x
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