Up, Up and Away

It all started so well, I was probably more organised before travelling this time than I've ever been.......the night before my flight my cases were packed, weighed and locked ready to go - I usually finish packing as my husband is loading the car!

We set off for the airport and were enjoying nice drive and chat....when someone pulled alongside us and hollered that we had a flat tyre.....he was right, we did.....a very flat tyre. We managed to make it to the next garage where we added air, then we stopped at every other garage on the route adding air when needed. Luckily we had left home early so I still make it to the airport in plenty of time for my first flight.......and my husband made it back home again without too much drama.

Thank heavens I was flying from Gatwick - if I'd been flying from Heathrow we'd have been haring along the motorway with the flat and goodness knows what might've happened then!

The first flight was Gatwick to Casablanca, roughly a 3 hour flight - I chatted with two nice ladies in my row, one of them was interested in getting into charity work so we swapped contact details.

I had almost 6 hours to wait in Casablanca for my connecting flight and then we were off to Freetown. The flight was only about 2/3 full so I had the entire row to myself - which is always nice! This flight was due to take about 4 hours - after a bit of sleep and a snack and then a bit more sleep it didn't seem long before they announced that we would be landing in Freetown in a few minutes...........then about 20 minutes after that it was announced that the weather was too bad to land and we would hold for about an hour before landing.

I braced myself for a bumpy landing, but after holding for over an hour they announced we would be diverting to Banjul because of the bad weather! This was a bit of a shock.

We landed in Banjul and waited for 3 hours on the plane - it wasn't too bad because there were so few passengers there was plenty of room - then we refuelled and set off for Freetown again.

I got here in the end - almost 5 hours late, but in one piece and with both of my suitcases!!

I enjoyed the flights - there was loads of leg room and apart from panicking a bit when I thought I might get stranded in Banjul it was pretty much hassle free, I'd definitely fly with the same airline again.

I've spent most of today unpacking and settling back in, and now I'm having a cup of camomile tea before getting an early night.

Sorry I've Been AWOL

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted to this blog.....I'll explain.....

I came back to the UK for my 7th wedding anniversary - we had a fabulous weekend in London to celebrate it. It turned out that the weekend away coincided with the London Marathan - had we realised that when we booked we probably would have gone away another weekend.........but it was so much fun!

We got a good spot between mile 18 and mile 19 to watch the marathon and we just intended to see the elite athletes then do a bit of sight seeing......but we enjoyed it so much we ended up standing there for over 3 hours!! It was fantastic cheering on the competitors.

We were at the top of a hill, so a lot of the runners were struggling by the time they got to us and I hope our hollering encouragement might have spurred a few on.....we got a lovely smile from Paula Radcliffe as she passed - she was one of the few runners who looked like they were enjoying it!!



Paula Radcliffe - Enjoying the Marathon



We enjoyed it all so much we are planning to be in London again for the 2016 marathon to cheer everyone on!

My husband has been having a bit of trouble with his leg recently and the day we came back from our weekend away he had a hospital appointment........and ended up having to go in for an operation the next day. He is recovering well, but it has meant that I'm chief nurse and driver for while as he refused to rest up and insisted on going to work!

So......that's why I've been off the radar for a while.

I'm heading back to Freetown very soon.....when I left the schools were still closed, but many have reopened now so I need to check on each of our students and make sure they are attending regularly and that they have everything they need.

The parents of some of our younger students prefer to wait until there is no more Ebola in the country before their children go back to school and I will be meeting with each of them also.

Happy New Year!!

I know I'm a bit late, but Happy New Year everyone!

 

For various reasons 2014 was a difficult year for me and I'm not sad to see that back of it.

 

I apologise for the recent lack of posts - I've not had an easy few weeks. While I had a lovely Christmas and New Year with my husband, I also struggled a lot knowing that my Sierra Leone family are having a hard time, what with Ebola, rising food prices, restrictions on movement etc. It's hard to celebrate when people I love are suffering.

 

I've got a couple more weeks in the UK before heading back over to Freetown. We are going to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary with a champagne weekend in London and I will travel to Sierra Leone shortly after that.

 

Good news! There are plans for the schools in Sierra Leone to reopen by the 2nd week in March - so I will have a busy few weeks putting everything in place for our sponsored students so they can restart their schooling as soon as the schools reopen.

 

It seems that Ebola peaked when I was there in November, when the daily statistics were reporting around 100 cases each day - now were are  seeing much lower rates of infection being reported, some days single figures!!

 

We are continuing to provide rice for families and the blind beggars so if you feel that is something you can help with please get in touch with me by email or you can use the 'donate' button at the top of this blog to make a donation.

 

Here's to a fantastic 2015!!!

Being in the UK

I've been back in the UK for two weeks now and it's not been an easy transition.  I feel guilty for leaving my Sierra Leone family behind.  A lot of people have commented that I must have been pleased or relieved to get out of Sierra Leone.....well no, I'm not, I feel terrible about it.

I'm still shocked that there were no checks or information given when I came from Sierra Leone first to Belgium, then onto the UK. The flight was full, and any one of us passengers on that flight could have been exposed to Ebola, any of us could start having symptoma and be spreading the disease.

I will get the all clear from Ebola on 1st October. I'm not particularly worried as I'm quite confident that I wasn't exposed to the virus, but even so when I feel a bit hot, or get a headache the first though that comes to mind is that it could be ebola.  It is always with me in the back of my mind, like a black cloud looming on the horizon.

I'm still avoiding touching people. When I pay or take change in a shop I try to do so in a way that avoids touching the hand of the other person. I avoid brushing past people in the street or in queues. It is good not to have to be washing my hands all the time and I no longer smell of chlorine or dettol but I kind of miss that!

The three day lockdown helped to identify many new cases of Ebola and since then Port Loko, Bombali and Moyamba districts have been isolated because of the surge in cases. Other hotspots have been quarantined. 

While I'm in the UK the best thing I can do is raise awareness about the situation in Sierra Leone and continue to collect donations for rice for families to help them get through this crisis. Donations can be made using the DONATE button at the top of this page, please consider giving £13 for a 25kg bag of rice.

I travelled back to the UK to attend a family wedding,  but unfortunately they felt that having me there would be a risk to other wedding guests so I wasn't able to go. My husband took me away that weekend to Torquay to cheer me up and we had a lovely time, so we returned again the following weekend.  This weekend we are going to stay in a B&B in Buckfastleigh and we are planning to spend our time geocaching on Dartmoor. It sounds like the food at the B&B is going to be great, so I'm defiantly looking forward to that. 

Buckfast Abbey

The past two weekends we have visited Buckfast Abbey, a place where I feel great peace.  I'm looking forward to staying so close to Buckfast Abbey this weekend and to attend a service there. 

We don't get much opportunity to take holidays, so we've decided that when I'm in the UK we'll get away for weekend breaks as often as possible.

I have setup office in my husband's showroom so that I don't have to work from home. It works well and means that we get to see more of each other while I'm here.

Obai

I'm in daily contact with Sierra Leone. Unfortunately Obai wasn't able to keep his hospital appointment for his eye because the hospital was closed after a patient tested positive for Ebola. A nurse friend is going to keep an eye on him and if it starts to get worse again she'll get more medication for him.

When his grandmother died Obai had to leave the home that he'd shared with her. For now he's staying with another family in the same area.  I'm hoping this will work out and turn into a long term solution. His mother is alive but unfortunately it's not possible for him to live with her. He misses his grandmother terribly.

Please keep Obai and the people of Sierra Leone in your prayers