Africa on my horizon

Posted on October 4, 2021 by ileftmyheartinuganda

Greetings from Tarifa,

Fourteen years ago I came to this hidden gem in the south of Spain, a mecca for wind sports, a stumbling maze of whitewashed buildings, an endless stretch of white sand dotted with colourful beach umbrellas, a never-ending steam of ships making their way out the mouth of the Mediterranean and into the open expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.

And, just above those ships, the mountains of Morocco, once again hovering tantalisingly on my horizon, so near and yet so far. Fourteen years ago, I caught my first glimpse of Africa, at the time still a dream, a hazy mirage I hoped I might one day grasp and find something solid. Today, nine trips and over a year spent in Uganda later, ‘Africa’ is very much a defined place to me. And yet, once again, it hangs hazily on my horizon – it could be the early morning light on a stormy morning but it’s also the fact that I truly don’t know when I’ll be able to return to my African home.

Uganda is in the grips of a second nation-wide lockdown. This one began in early June and we don’t yet know when it will end. My latest conversation with Dominic painted the rather bleak picture that it is predicted to be next year before schools will reopen. The mind boggles – 15 million children out of school since last March with only intermittent studies for some – and those are the lucky ones; some students have been out of school for close to two years. It’s beyond comprehension. Distance learning is impossible in remote villages with no connectivity and many children are suffering from a multitude of threats – violence, child labour and teen pregnancies are rising at frightening rates. It’s a difficult and uncertain time for my friends on the continent that hangs on my horizon and I’m so painfully aware that across the thin Straits of Gibraltar here in Spain, life continues largely as normal. Yes, there are masks and hand sanitiser and I’m sure there are those doing it tough, but there are also tropical juices, tapas and cafes con leches. How vast the divide this narrow stretch of water brings.

Despite the challenges faced, Dominic never finishes a conversation without his usual optimistic enthusiasm and overflowing gratitude, and he took great delight in updating me on the success of our latest fundraiser – a teachers’ project fund which is enabling KAASO to retain, pay and keep motivated their out-of-work teachers. With no government funding, KAASO is classified as a ‘private school’ so when students stop attending, school fees cease, making it impossible to keep paying the teachers who then have no way to support themselves and feed their families. Thanks to our new fund, KAASO teachers now come to school each day to work on their various projects – a piggery, a poultry project, goat-keeping, brick-making and various agricultural projects, including growing crops and seedlings. These projects not only generate much-needed income and sustenance for teachers, but also help keep them connected to KAASO and give them a purpose during these difficult times.

As Dominic wrote in his recent progress report:

Sustaining staff during a time when the main income generating route is closed is so hard in a developing nation like Uganda. As KAASO management, we are so grateful to our supporters and donors for that hand they have rendered to us especially during this challenging time. We know ‘’we can’t do everything, but we can do something’’.
Let blessed be your Hands.

Leaving NZ straight after my book was launched meant I had very little time to actually reflect on the enormity of achieving my lifelong dream and it’s only been the past couple of weeks here in Tarifa, staying in one place for more than a few days, that I’ve started to catch my breath and begin to take in the messages of love and support – and to realise the impact of my words and the awareness they are generating for KAASO. It’s a wonderful feeling. We now have 80 children sponsored through the Kiwi Sponsorships – something I never imagined when we first set out with just Henry. I’m so grateful to all our new sponsors, as well as to those who have donated to the teachers’ fund and also to all those over the past few months who have read my book and got in contact with me with messages of support and encouragement – it really has meant the world.

As our time on the road comes to a close (all going well, in just over a week we’ll be flying to Australia to spend the rest of the year there before finally heading home to NZ in January/February), I take this moment to look back on the last few months travelling across Europe with Nath and our two young boys to Nath’s various sailing events. What a whirlwind! It’s been incredibly busy looking after our wee boys (Jack is now just over 2 and a half and ready to take on the world and Charlie is coming up 9 months, bobbing his way through each day full of smiles), but I’m so very grateful that we’ve been lucky enough to be together as a family and to experience the freedoms of European life right now while so many of our family and friends back in NZ and Australia are in lockdowns.

I don’t know the answer to this strange global predicament, and I often feel conflicted by all that is going on in the world around us. One thing I do know is that it’s a time for unity not divisiveness and that polarising opinions do nothing to bring us together. So I’m trying to simply embrace an open mind, to listen to all sides of each argument and not let the weight of the world weigh me down, something my huge heart often struggles with. Everyone has the right to their own beliefs, everyone’s life experience is shaped by different forces and people’s minds work in different ways. There’s a lot I don’t know, but what I do know is that we just need to keep loving and supporting each other and that no one can underestimate the power of hope and positivity. I want nothing more than for my boys to grow up in a world of openness and love, not fear and separation. Time will tell where all this ends up, but for now I am just trying to live each day with my old mantra from years ago – open your eyes. And heart and mind. The world needs more openness.

As the sun climbs higher in the sky and the day begins to unfold, it’s time to rejoin my boys for the day. I feel clear-headed from my morning walk and from taking this brief moment to capture my thoughts. I hope this finds you well, wherever you may be, whatever shape your days may be currently taking.

I leave you with a beautiful moment from a few days ago when I took Jack down to the beach for an evening swim. The sand was warm and, unlike this morning, the horizon was spectacularly clear. I was looking over Jack’s head at the outline of the mountains, that undeniable magnetism that constantly pulls me towards Africa, when suddenly he stopped and grabbed my hand.

‘Look mama, look!’ he said, pointing the peaks of Morocco, jutting across the sky. ‘That’s Africa!’ he told me proudly, repeating what I’ve told him each day.

I smiled. ‘That’s right Jack, it is Africa.’

He stood staring, eyes still fixed on those mountains. ‘Yes, and our friends are there. Dominic and Rose and Henry. They’re in Uganda.’

‘They sure are.’ I said, marvelling at the way he absorbs everything he hears, a little sponge.

‘Yes.’ He nodded solemnly and then looked up at me, his face wise beyond his years. ‘And mama, one day you’ll take me to Africa, won’t you?’

It was all I could do to stop the tears from falling. I nodded and crouched down to wrap my arms around his little waist to we could look over at Africa together.

One day my boy, one day.

Much love,

Em xoxox

If anyone is interested in donating to our teachers’ project fund, you can do so here:

NZ & rest of world: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/kaaso-covid-relief

UK (tax deductable donations through our partner charity, Unity is Strength): https://unityisstrength.org.uk/covid-19-measures

Between Two Worlds – the road to publication

Posted on April 28, 2021 by ileftmyheartinuganda

A rare quiet moment of peace on this beautifully calm morning in the Bay of Islands.* Jack, our effervescent two-year-old is down on the beach with mama, his beloved ‘JoJo’, and Charlie, our three-month-old latest addition to the family, is blissfully sleeping downstairs. And I am taking this moment’s repose to finally sit down and do what I love most – write.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 8 months since I last wrote here but also not so surprising considering all that has happened during that time. Nath was lucky enough to be retained by the Sail GP circuit throughout 2020 – he wasn’t able to sail or travel but there were plenty of meetings, which, thanks to an international team working on different time zones, mostly took place early morning and late night, meaning the days were free to spend with Jack while I battled morning sickness and increasing fatigue as my body went through its remarkable transformation. My swelling belly grew and grew as new life bloomed within me and at last, on 5^th January, 11 days after his Christmas Day due date, our wee Charlie entered the world, mercifully missing his brother’s birthday by one day.

Now a family of four – with Nath and Jack welcoming baby Charlie into the world

At the same time, Nath resumed work outside of the house for the first time since the initial March lockdown, commentating on the 36^th America’s Cup racing which took place on Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. I was so happy for Nath to be involved, albeit in a rather different capacity, in the event which has always been such a huge part of our life, but it was overwhelming to be suddenly without him after a year of never being apart. When Charlie was just 6 days old, Nath headed off to work and I was incredibly grateful to have my muzungu sister, Kirsty, come up from Wellington with her 5-year-old Mateo, to help me through those early days. She tag-teamed with mama, who spent most of the summer staying with us, helping so much through that crazy time.

I couldn’t have survived without mama and will always be eternally grateful for her help, as not only was life with two children incredibly busy but, in between chasing a toddler and rocking a baby, another new life was taking shape – my book.

Ever since I first arrived at KAASO back in 2009, I have been writing about this incredible part of the world, sharing the stories of children in a little corner of East Africa that often go unheard. In an apartment in Sydney’s Bondi Beach in 2010, I wiped off my dusty notebooks and first pieced together my stories, working the late shift at Ariel Booksellers in Paddington by night, and writing by day. It was truly living the dream and, a year and a half after I first began, I felt immensely proud to have ‘finished’ my book. I submitted it to a Melbourne based publisher before moving to Paris at the start of 2012 and was devastated when they came back saying that while they loved my story, they were unable to publish it at this time. That was the beginning of what was to turn into a decade-long journey and, looking back now, I’m so grateful that they did turn me down. I didn’t know it at the time, but what felt like the end of the road turned out to be just the first step on my path to publication.

The years that followed saw me globe-trotting in my role as Event Manager for the Louis Vuitton Cup, working in Paris, Nice, Monaco, Venice, Naples, Newport, New York and eventually San Francisco. It was there I met my love, Nath, and, in the months following the 2013 America’s Cup, with Nath’s encouragement, I enrolled in an intensive writing course down at UCLA under the instruction of an incredible woman named Jennie Nash, someone who would change the course of my book – and my life. A few days in, Jennie pulled me aside and asked if I’d be interested in working with her after the course to completely rewrite my story from scratch. It was a daunting prospect but I agreed and together we set to work. We broadened my story from a blow-by-blow account of what had happened during those first 6 months in Uganda, and widened the scope to encompass the years that followed and the effect they had on me and my continued work at KAASO. Most importantly, the book came to include both my world in the village in Uganda and the one I continued to inhabit as part of the international sailing community. I learned that I didn’t have to renounce one world for the other and that in fact, moving between my two worlds was where I was meant to be. I learned over time that it wasn’t simply a case of one side helping the other – the flow went both ways: finding a meaningful cause to support helped enrich the lives of my supporters around the world who were thrilled to find a project that was truly making a difference – and they could see the tangible change they were making on the lives of those in the village.

I wrote from makeshift writing desks around the world as Nath and I travelled to his various Olympic and America’s Cup events, setting up my creative space everywhere we went. When I finally completed the first draft of the manuscript, we were, rather momentously living on a houseboat in an inland waterway just north of Buenos Aires while Nath was competing in an Olympic world championship event and I’ll never forget rowing ashore in torrential rain with my laptop in a rubbish bag tucked in my wet weather gear so that I could get an internet signal to send the manuscript off to Jennie. What a journey we had shared!

Rowing ashore from our houseboat in San Isidro, Buenos Aires to email off my completed manuscript

That was late 2015 and the year and a half that followed was spent trying to get my manuscript ready for submission while supporting Nath in Bermuda where he was working as the Skipper of Artemis Racing for the 35^th America’s Cup. I was also working on the America’s Cup managing their VIP hospitality and life was very full – but incredibly fulfilling and a whole lot of fun! I sent my manuscript off to a bunch of New York agents and received various expressions of interest but ultimately they all declined my work. I was disappointed but I had come to learn that my journey was not necessarily going to be an easy one and that I just needed to persevere. I had a lot else going on anyway – I had been organising major fundraisers in Bermuda through my amazing new network of supporters there and we had managed to fund not only a school bus for KAASO but also an entire water harvesting system encompassing four 20-thousand-litre water tanks and gutting on all school buildings.

The America’s Cup ended and Nath and I hit the road once more and my manuscript submissions resumed – this time to UK publishers as we were Europe-based and spending a lot of time in London with my brother and his partner there. Again, some encouraging responses but ultimately no offers of publication.

Nath and I finally travelled to Uganda together where we celebrated our much-awaited Ugandan wedding at KAASO with both our families who had made the trek to be there with us – along with the 1,000-odd guests from Uganda!

After a summer working with Nath in Australia on a new sailing event called SuperFoiler, we moved back to NZ and I got pregnant with our first son, Jack. He entered the world in early January 2019 and we spent the rest of that year on the road following the Sail GP events at ports around the world. My book was well and truly relegated to the backburner as I took on my new role as a travelling mama, bouncing around continents with a baby as we cheered on daddy.

With Nath and Jack at Sail GP San Francisco 2019

We flew back into New Zealand in mid-March 2020, expecting to be home for a few weeks and then something we never could have imagined possible happened – Covid hit and the world locked down. Borders shut, planes were grounded, doors closed and streets emptied. It was a shock beyond belief but I, like so many, believed that it would ‘just be for a year’, that by 2021, we’d all be back to ‘normal’. Little did we know.

In the meantime, we lived a simple life, stayed at home, planted vegetable gardens, planned meals to make our supplies last and spent time together as a family of three. As the year went by and New Zealand’s lockdown was slowly lifted, Nath managed to get back out on the water, relishing his new hobbies of wind foiling and winging. Every afternoon he would come home buzzing from the thrill of it, his eyes shining with excitement as he recounted the new discoveries he’d made in techniques, settings and manoeuvres.

Meanwhile, feeling decidedly average, I was staying close to home feeling rather sorry for myself battling all-day morning sickness. Then, one day in late July, I realised that I was actually feeling better but I still wasn’t up to much and that it was time to find my own spark. Seeing Nath fizzing each day kicked me into gear that I also needed to be learning and growing and feeling the buzz that comes with doing new things, which make you feel truly alive. My unpublished book was still hanging over me but I had convinced myself that to get published I needed to have a well-established platform of thousands of followers and to be a household name before I could start submitting the manuscript – something I had never had time to do. I chatted it over with Nath and realised that, with a second baby due at the end of the year and Nath likely to start sailing around the world again in 2021, I was never going to have as much time in my whole life as I had right now with a husband at home and ‘only’ one child to look after between us. I decided not to wait any longer and to just give it my best shot now: it was finally time to find a publisher for my book.

I set to work but quickly realised that to get anything done, I needed to leave the house or Jack would come and find me and want to help work on ‘mummy’s book’ on my computer which wasn’t really all that helpful. So, each morning, I would go down to our local plant based café, The Living Room, and set up my writing studio. It consisted rather simply of my laptop, a notebook and a soy latte but it was all I needed to get back into it.

I researched every publishing house in NZ and Australia and made a list of those for which I thought my book might be a good fit. I had come to peace with the realisation that I might still be met with a stream of ‘thanks-but-no-thanks’ emails, but I had identified a few good self-publishing houses which were my back up so that, no matter what, I would end up with a copy of my book to put on my bookshelf and, quite literally, close that chapter. It felt good to have a plan.

I sent out my first submission on 8^th September and held my breath in the days that followed. A week later, while chasing Jack around our local playground, I received an email requesting the full manuscript. I was overjoyed. Jack and I celebrated with a little dance and then I spent the rest of the afternoon pushing Jack on the swings, grinning from ear to ear. I felt a glimmer of hope – this felt right for the first time – but tried not to get my hopes up too much. Within three weeks, my wildest dreams had come true – I had received not one but two offers of publication! I never imagined I would have to turn down a publisher and it was hard to do as both were incredible publishing houses, but I ultimately went with Allen & Unwin NZ and what a dream it has been to work with them. I have loved the process from start to finish – although I’m not sure life has ever been so busy as trying to edit an entire manuscript with a newborn baby and a toddler and a husband coming home at 9pm each night! But somehow (thanks mama!), we got there and I can’t believe that I now have my very own (advance) copy of my book – my two babies of 2021 to cherish.

The book is due for release on 25th May so in less than a month, it will be on the shelves and people far and wide will be able to get an insight into what has held me captive the last 12 years in a little corner of the world down a red dirt road.

Thank you so much to the incredible team at Allen & Unwin for believing in me and for bringing my story to life. Thank you also to Jennie for helping me shape my story – I’m so proud of what you helped me to achieve. And a huge thanks to all those who have supported me along the way – anyone who has met me within the last 12 years has been hearing about this book. I hope you all feel as relieved as I am that it is finally going to be on the shelf! Now I guess it’s time to start working on the next book…

*The reality of life as a mama meant that this took me four mornings to finish, punctuated by picking up Jack when he fell over and bumped his head, going downstairs to pat Charlie back to sleep, tripping over the toys Jack had left lying about on the way back up the stairs, making Jack a snack, going back downstairs to pat Charlie again, filling Jack’s water bottle then allowing him to sit on my lap to ‘help’ mummy on her computer, eventually giving in and picking up Charlie and bouncing him while trying to one-handedly insert photos, proofreading with Jack pulling my top demanding MUMMY PLAY WITH ME. Ah, life.

New life and hope when we all need it most

Posted on August 18, 2020 by ileftmyheartinuganda

What a strange time we all find ourselves in. It’s been hard to know what to say, what to post, what to write, conscious as I am that we are all living this pandemic so differently – spread across the globe in different situations, juggling different worlds, all faced with diverse challenges and unknown future prospects. For some, it has been an immense struggle, battling with illnesses, uncertainty, a lack of childcare while working full-time, extreme lockdowns, families separated across borders and a lack of freedom and fresh air. For others, it’s been an almost tranquil time of togetherness, simple pleasures and making the most of what you have, not needing more than that. The contrast is marked.

For us as a family, I have felt incredibly fortunate to have been in New Zealand throughout this period – much as we miss our family across the Tasman and hope that we will be reunited before too long! In early March, we flew back into Auckland from Sydney, Nath’s first Sail GP event of the season complete, with a full programme of events mapped out around the world for the rest of the year. The day we landed, the global pandemic was declared and I must say, I was still largely ignorant of the scale with which this was about to affect our world. Until then, it had seemed something far away, unrelated to our itinerant travelling life which had been so full, even more so since the joyous arrival of Jack last January. But within a week of returning home, we were in self isolation and the day we were due to re-enter the world, New Zealand’s five week nation-wide Level 4 lockdown began.

Pre-Covid days on the beach in Sydney

Guiltily, I quite enjoyed our time at home. Our wonderful friend Simon Gundry had supplied us with all the materials we needed to build garden beds and so we got to work in the late summer sun, building and planting and growing new life while Jack oversaw the process from his backyard swing, an online purchase which had mercifully arrived the morning before lockdown began. Nath and I spent hour upon hour discussing the global situation and wondering where it may lead, ruminating on how the situation would look with the benefit of hindsight in years to come and how our opinions would have changed by then. I am conscious that everyone has their own opinions on the situation – some very strong ones too – and these are obviously influenced greatly by people’s individual situations, but I will state that I think our prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is incredible and has managed the situation so well. I have felt overwhelmed with gratitude to have had such strong, clear, ethical leadership at this time where it would have be all too easy to rule with fear, false information, indecision or even oblivion as we have unfortunately seen unfold in other parts of the world. We have had the opposite here and I feel endlessly lucky for that.

Nath putting our garden beds together

Not sure the start of a five-week lockdown was the best time to reseed the lawn with a toddler who had just learned to walk, but that’s what we did!

Happy Jack in his swing

Over the past few months, I have kept in close contact with Dominic and Rose in Uganda. KAASO – and all schools across Uganda – were closed down from Friday 20^th March in a pre-emptive move to curb the spread of Covid-19 as Uganda had very low case numbers at the time. I couldn’t help but feel optimistic as Uganda has had highly infections diseases like Ebola and Marburg to deal with in the past and has always been very successful at containing any outbreaks. In spite of the school closure, Dominic and Rose’s spirits were high. With the students gone, they took the opportunity to work in the numerous school gardens and it has been a bumper season with crops growing in abundance. Elderly members of the community come to KAASO’s gates and receive food parcels from the school gardens as the school continues to try and help their people.

Rose and her new matooke plantation

Blog 10 Matron Passy working in one of the school vegetable gardens

Passy, one of the school matrons, tending to cabbages planted within the KAASO school grounds

In Uganda, I find that life is generally much harsher in the city than in rural settings where food grows in such abundance, but I have been heartened to receive messages from graduated Kiwi Sponsorships students in Kampala finding temporary work in spite of everything, making the most of this time while their workplaces or educational institutions have closed down. I delight in the messages I receive from Henry who, in typical Henry fashion, has been out in the community as part of an outreach team, distributing masks and hand sanitiser and helping educate people in remote areas about the dangers of Covid and the need for good hygiene and sanitation.

Henry in a community marketplace educating people about Covid-19

Blog 7 Henry pinning up posters in the market

Henry sticking up educational posters

Blog 8 Henry in the microbiology lab at the hospital

Henry in the hospital microbiology lab with a colleague

Henry after a day’s work

Another huge positive at KAASO has been that construction on our incredible two-storied school hall and classroom block has continued, with workers staying in the empty school dormitories and, while following social distancing, keeping up the momentum of their work. Funding has come almost entirely thanks to KATKiDS charity in Bermuda, led by my dear friend Rebecca Roberts who has worked tirelessly with Jennie Lee O’Donnell from KATKiDS to make this incredibly ambitious dream come true. It has been the most incredible partnership and, boosted also by a New Zealand Embassy Government grant, we have raised over $130,000 NZD – by far our greatest achievement ever! I am forever grateful to Rebecca, Jennie Lee, the NZ Embassy in Ethiopia and all who have supported us along the way. More updates to come on this!

The incredible KATKiDS School Hall and Classroom block at KAASO

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly international news reaches Uganda, a far cry from the isolation I felt when I first lived there in 2009. A mere few hours after it was announced that NZ would move back into Level 3 lockdown last week, I received a message from Dominic worried about the situation here as he had heard the news of our renewed lockdown. I assured him we were fine and I remain optimistic that the situation will be brought under control again here soon. As for what the long-term future holds, that of course remains a mystery but my instinct tells me we are on the right track and I am hopeful that we will soon go back to the levels of freedom we have been so fortunate to enjoy for the past few months.

I spoke to Dominic a couple of nights ago and listened with delight as he told me about the school’s new tomato and coffee gardens, the additional eucalyptus forest they have planted and the acres of sweet potatoes growing beneath the ground that will be used to feed the returning students – whenever schools reopen. Dominic is hopeful that they might be able to get in the third and final term of this year and said there is even talk of reducing the long Christmas holidays to just one week to squeeze in another term before March next year. We will see. But down the dusty dirt roads of Kabira, the overriding messages I continue to get are those of hope for the future – something that helps me to sleep at night!

Workers tending to the tomatoes in one of the new school gardens

As the school hall continues to take shape, the cabbages grow around the school, the pigs produce piglets and the school cow has had its first calf, we are also growing here in NZ. Not only are our garden beds now full of plentiful herbs and leafy greens, there is new life growing within me – our second child, Jack’s affectionately nicknamed sibling, ‘Jill’ (whose sex we won’t find out!) is due on Christmas Day! So that’s keeping us busy here and makes me smile every time I rub my fast-expanding belly. In the same way KAASO is using this time to grow and produce as much as they can, for us, 2020 will not be a write-off but a time of new life. I’m also using the next few months to work on my book in the hope of finally bringing my manuscript to the page before you… Watch this space!

My very happy boys after our first scan in May

Blog 12 Me and Jack

This is a strange time, but, as ever, I am optimistic we will get through it. Sending much love to you all far and wide. Stay safe, take care and, as has come to be NZ’s new catchphrase, be kind – the world has never needed kindness so much as now.

Em xxxxx

From one home to another

Posted on November 20, 2019 by ileftmyheartinuganda

Greetings to you all,

What an incredibly full but immensely fulfilling 10 days it’s been. I was worried that such a short trip to the village might feel like it wasn’t worth so much travel, but it went far beyond my expectations and it’s reassuring to know that, having spent so much time in Uganda over the years, I can get so much out of a whirlwind trip like this last one.

Rose and Dominic had done an incredible job of making sure everything was ready for our arrival and Kirsty and I were greeted at the airport by 8 of the Kiwi Sponsorships students, which meant that within an hour of arriving, my interviews had commenced!

We had a beautiful night at the Guinea Fowl, a blissfully chilled little guest house in Entebbe, sitting under the stars with Dominic, Rose and Ambrose, a boy we met when we first came to KAASO 10 years ago who Kirsty has been supporting ever since, now a grown man (and qualified pharmacist!) with his wife, Flower, and their 6 month old baby, Anthony. Such a special time.

The following morning, we caught up with John & Mirriam, Sonia & Paul – friends from NZ, Canada and the US, all living in Kampala with their expanding families and it was amazing to share stories from over the years and to meet the new additions to their families.

Our arrival in the village was magical – a full welcoming celebration had been organised and we were entertained by dancing, singing, speeches and countless hugs and smiles, while being refreshed by fresh homemade passionfruit juice – my absolute favourite! The children had made signs and pasted them around the school – ‘Welcome Back Home Emma and Kirsty’ – and that’s just how it felt. Like we had come home.

The days were full to bursting as we toured the school and got the updates on its myriad of projects. I managed to catch up with all the Kiwi Sponsorships students (something that usually takes 6 weeks – now done in record time thanks to the organisation of Teacher Gerald, the Kiwi Sponsorships Coordinator in Uganda, who had arranged for all the students to meet in central locations so we could get through them in the limited time we had!), got the latest on the Suubi Sanyu student microloan fund, spent evenings up with Kim up KAASO hill, shared stories with Rosie, the British volunteer currently living at KAASO, and saw the incredible progress of the KAASO Main Hall and Classroom Block we are constructing with the support of KATKiDS in Bermuda (greatly assisted, as always, by the unstoppable Rebecca Roberts!). There was certainly never a dull moment.

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The Kiwi Sponsorships Graduation Day was very special as it was tied in this year with the 20-year celebration of KAASO. It seems so hard to believe that 20 years ago, KAASO began with just 12 young orphans living in Dominic and Rose’s living room, being taught in a grass thatched hut – and now that same school has educated literally thousands of children, with a current roll of over 630 students receiving top class educations, a third of them without paying a single shilling to do so. How far they have come.

Our Kiwi Sponsorships graduates this year were Anthony, the son of a peasant farmer, who has just fulfilled his dream of becoming a journalist, and Deborah, a girl with a shockingly tragic past whom Nath and I took on supporting a few years ago. Deborah has made such a dramatic turnaround and now has a qualification in tailoring, fashion & design. Seeing Rose wearing the most beautiful dress Deborah had made her on the day of graduation filled me with such immense pride. Again, I marvelled at how far we had come as the 5^th annual graduation ceremony took place, and our 22^nd graduate was celebrated.

It was very emotional being in Uganda for the first time since we lost our dear Damian, one of our beloved Kiwi Sponsorships students, who was murdered in May this year. His absence was greatly felt, but the gap was filled in a small way by his dynamic five-year-old daughter, Lizzie. None of us knew of Lizzie’s existence until after Damian’s death as he had feared to tell us for worry of disappointing us, but in the wake of his death, her gorgeous little face, so very similar to her father’s helps bring us some relief as we are reminded of her incredible father and we know that his memory will live on within her. She is now studying at KAASO, supported by Damian’s amazing sponsors, Sarah, Matt, Hugo & Amelia.

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I didn’t know how it would feel returning to KAASO as a mother. I thought I would feel even more emotional than usual about the children and their difficult situations – and of course, I did feel that. But what struck me most what the new light in which I saw the parents and guardians. In the past, I had often been frustrated by the lack of things in the children’s lives – not monetary things, but love, support, encouragement, guidance. But now, as a parent myself, I know that raising children isn’t always easy – it can be exhausting, frustrating, repetitive and hard work (while at the same time being the most amazing thing in the world!). But couple all that with having no money, barely enough food, no real home to live in, no job prospects and no education, and parenting becomes near impossible. Meeting with the parents and guardians of the Kiwi Sponsorships students on graduation day has always been such a special time for me, as they show their immense gratitude to the sponsors for supporting their children in their education, but this year I felt struck by the realisation of how difficult it had been for these parents, guardians, grandparents and distant relatives to simply raise these children to where they now were – and I recognised that just having brought them up was an achievement in itself. Most of these adults had never made it beyond primary education themselves and were sustenance farmers who lived at the mercy of the rains, caring for at least half a dozen children in their simple mud brick huts. And here were their offspring now graduating as journalists, nurses, midwives, plumbers, electricians, teachers and lab technicians. I now understood the full extent of the immense pride they felt at seeing their children have the chance of a future they never even dared to dream about. And that filled me with a newfound pride for what we are achieving in the community – this wasn’t just about the children, but also about the adults that raised them, doing the best they could with what little they had. Anything I can do to help make their tough lives a little easier is immensely rewarding – and appreciated beyond belief.

Having Kirsty at my side on this trip after our initial blind date at KAASO 10 years ago (incredible now to think that we didn’t know each other when we first moved to the village!) was very special. It was amazing to share the experience – both that of being at KAASO, but also of having had to leave our boys behind in NZ. We both missed our little ones like crazy and I definitely won’t be rushing to leave Jack again anytime soon, but it was worth it in the end. He was soooo well looked after by his dada and his Nana Jas, who came to stay, and it meant that I could go to the village worry-free after my two-year absence. Jack is so incredibly well loved, and while that will forever continue, it’s also important to me to share some of that love with children who could do with a little more love in their lives.

So now I’m home to spend time with my boys, reflect on my time in the village, and get ready for Christmas, my favourite time of year. Crazy to think this time last year we were waiting for Jack to arrive – and now he’s not far off turning one. Oh, how time flies.

Thank you for sharing my journey and for all your continued support for KAASO. To all my wonderful sponsors, your reports, photos, videos and letters will be coming to you as quickly as Jack’s nap times allow!

With love and gratitude,

Em xoxoxo

Let the adventure begin

Posted on November 7, 2019 by ileftmyheartinuganda

Greetings to you all,

Well, it’s certainly been a while! The last year has been one of the most incredible of my life – welcoming our little Jack Henry into the world and experiencing the most immense joy at seeing the world through his eyes has been mind blowing. It sounds silly, but I truly never realised how much I would love being a mama until Jack came into our life. And now I’m totally smitten.

I have spent every minute of every day with him and, until now, a few hours while he’s sleeping is the longest we’ve been apart. But all of that is about to change. Tonight I board a 17 hour flight to Dubai and then onwards to Entebbe where Dominic and Rose will be waiting to take me back to my village home. I feel sick at the thought of leaving my little monkey behind, but also incredibly excited to see my Ugandan family after two years apart.

I’m so thrilled to have Kirsty joining me – one of my original muzungus and a supermum of two boys, also leaving them behind for this short stint so that we can be back in the village that stole our heart. It was 10 years ago this year that Kirsty, Cherie and I first went to KAASO and it’s also an amazing 20 years since KAASO began – starting with those 12 children, now home to over 600. A year of milestones! This time two years ago I was in the village with my Kiwi, Aussie and Ugandan families celebrating my Ugandan wedding to Nath, now I go with Kirsty to celebrate the 20 years of KAASO, 10 years of the Kiwi Girls and a much-awaited reunion with the 69 bright sparks in the Kiwi Sponsorships programme (soon to become 71 thanks to the two new sponsors who have already come on board for next year – if anyone is interested in taking on a child, I have a list of 7 more students looking for support!).

I have never been to KAASO as a mama. I went first as a wide-eyed volunteer, I returned 18 months later as a friend, and then over the years of repeat visits that friendship became more akin to family. But this trip feels like the most significant yet – now, as a mother, I get to feel the full force of how important the work being done at KAASO is, to truly understand what it means to love and support a child – something I don’t believe I could feel the true extent of until now. I had loved before, I had felt before, I had been incredibly passionate before, but the fierce love I have for Jack, the kind of love that makes me feel I could move mountains, part oceans and blow trees over, is like nothing else. I was always an overly emotional girl and now I’m almost frightened to return to KAASO with my ever-heightened sense of feeling. It’s going to be an emotional few days for me I know!

So, with a heart full to overflowing, I leave my little Jack Henry behind in the safe and warm arms of his dada, his nana and his Auntie Haylee, so that I can be reunited with the original Henry that inspired this all – and Dominic, Rose, their family and the 600 children of KAASO…

My 10 days out of New Zealand gives me 8 days in Uganda, just one week in the village. It’s going to be frantic, it’s going to be a whirlwind, it’s going to be hard at times but I know I will be fine, I am doing the right thing. There are children to visit, construction projects to oversee, priority lists to update, Graduation Ceremonies to organise and the 20 years of KAASO to celebrate. I will not have a minute to dwell on my longing for my boy(s!).

So wish me luck, and let the adventure begin…

Much love,

Em (a.k.a. Madam Emma or Mama Jack Henry as I’m now known!) xxx

As Close to Coming Home

Posted on November 6, 2017 by ileftmyheartinuganda

On a plane bound for Uganda, I sit reflecting on the journey that got me to this point.

Eight years ago, almost to the day, I left Uganda for the first time. I had just spent six months in the village of Kabira living at a school called KAASO and, while I knew that something unbelievably special had happened, I didn’t realise that the entire course of my life had forever changed. I had no idea that eight years later I’d be headed back to Uganda for my eight visit – with my husband at my side. I could never have imagined that the village would be planning a Ugandan wedding for us, that both of our families would be flying from all corners of the globe to be there for that most humbling, most incredible day. And yet, here I am. Here we are.

Eight years ago, I left KAASO with a promise to sponsor a boy called Henry. A few other wonderful souls had also agreed to sponsor children that, without support, would not have made it past primary school and onto secondary school. I was filled with hope and optimism that we could make a difference in the lives of these few children. Within a couple of months of my return from Uganda that first time, all seven children I hoped to find sponsors for were supported. I didn’t realise that this was to be the start of the Kiwi Sponsorships, a programme that today helps 55 children – now young adults – to have the chance of an education. Nine of those students have since graduated and later this month we will celebrate the graduations of three more. We are making progress and, slowly but surely, changing lives.

Eight years ago, there was no such thing as the Suubi Sanyu Fund. I had sat through countless meetings of the Women’s Empowerment Group – now the KAASO Empowerment Group – which enables members to access the microloan fund that has so helped the community that surrounds KAASO. I had witnessed the phenomenal impact this fund was having on the lives of adults in the area. And as I watched the children from the Kiwi Sponsorships become teenagers and then grow taller than me, I realised that they too needed access to capital, a chance to get ahead. Together with Nath, we created a fund that now enables KAASO students and graduates to get loans that would have previously been unavailable to them. It’s a source of great pride to see these young entrepreneurs take their futures into their own hands and I can’t wait to tour the various projects this fund has enabled – and to show Nath what the vision we dreamed up together has helped to create.

Eight years ago, I decided to write a book. Across the dust-strewn pages of dozens of notebooks, I scrawled stories, thoughts, observations and countless words of wisdom spoken by Dominic, Rose and the other inspiring people I met in the village, ideas I hoped to one day share with a wider audience. Multiple drafts, rewrites, days, months and years later, my manuscript is now finished and I hope with all my heart I will soon find the right agent and then publisher who shares my passion for this story so I can bring it to the world.

Eight years ago, I didn’t know the boy sitting next to me. It would be another two and a half years after leaving the village before he walked onto the rooftop of a Newport hotel in Rhode Island and changed my life. It still feels surreal that now, one year and eight months after daddy-o rowed me ashore in the Bay of Islands to marry the boy of my dreams, I am about to repeat that experience – minus the boat, the beach, the ukulele orchestra and the naked people (yes, we got married somewhat unintentionally on a nudist beach…!). While our ‘real’ wedding has already taken place – as Nath keeps reminding me – the wedding that is about to take place is just as special to me. Not many people are fortunate enough to have the incredible honour of having a wedding thrown for them – not to mention one in a village a world and a half from home. We haven’t even touched down on African soil and yet I already feel it in my bones, in my heart, this overwhelming sense of anticipation and humbling gratitude, which creates tears of excitement that keep threatening to spill from my eyes.

Eight years ago I left Uganda at the end of my first African journey. Since then, I have lived the life of a continent-hopping nomad, calling many places home along the way. It’s an adventure for sure, but sometimes it’s hard to define ‘home’ when your horizons are forever changing. But one thing is for sure – returning to my Ugandan family with my husband at my side, soon to be joined by my Kiwi and Aussie families, is as close to coming home as it gets. It seems that now, more than ever, the words I read at our wedding in New Zealand last year ring true:

“For the two of us, home isn’t a place. It is a person. And we are finally home.”

Inspired by Bermuda, underway in Uganda – KAASO’s new water harvesting system

Posted on September 13, 2017 by ileftmyheartinuganda

I often find myself trying to explain why a Kiwi girl married to an Aussie living in Bermuda thinks there are parallels between the international sailing community and a rural village community in Uganda. It all seems a bit improbable. … Continue reading →

Back in the world again

Posted on September 5, 2017 by ileftmyheartinuganda

And now, seemingly in the blink of an eye, it’s September. All my best intentions and New Year’s resolutions to keep in touch more, to write more, to share more stories seem to have gone by the wayside. But yesterday, while cruising with Nath through Ely’s Harbour, brainstorming book proposals and future plans, he reminded me that it’s never too late to get back in touch with the world. So here I am.

My last post, A Year of Milestones, summed up 2016 and all that it was. 2017 has been similarly epic, but also interspersed with the moments of calm and reflection that come from (finally) having your own space in the world, a place to rest your travelling shoes. From January until July, with the exception of a brief Easter trip to Newport, RI, we went almost half a year without getting on a plane, a record for us given the past four years of frenetic travel. It was such bliss to have a home of our own, a fixed, immovable place on a far-flung island, one that has come to mean the world to us. The people we have met, the opportunities we have had and that breath-catching view that never ceases to fill me with joy – Bermuda, we will miss you.

The America’s Cup came and went like a hurricane. After over three years of trying to convince people that being married to Nath did not compromise my ability to work on the Cup, I finally got a job. I spent the event period running the Longtail Lounge, a corporate hospitality lounge filled with Bermudians and international guests who came to fill themselves with Moët and gasp at the flying rocket ships that sailed before them. I put together a team of fabulous girls, friends old and new, and together with Mark and Ben, the Longtail Legends rocked the Cup village.

Being part of Artemis Racing was an experience I will remember for the rest of my days. I was so immensely proud of Nath and the entire team for what they managed to achieve – from where they started to where they ended up was a phenomenal leap. To me, most importantly, was also how they did it – the spirit, the sense of family, the determination and the refusal to give up right to the very end was extraordinary. “We are Artemis,” is a cry that will echo in my ears for many, many years to come.

Nath and I left Bermuda two weeks after the Cup ended for a whirlwind month around Europe – Nath competing in the moths, flying at a thousand miles around Lake Garda, a huge contrast to cruising with my parents along the south of France on their new boat, Sojourn II, Nath learning how to sail slowly. A brief stopover in England, sharing stories with friends and family before heading on to Sweden to celebrate the wedding of Nath’s teammate and his gorgeous bride on the Stockholm archipelago before returning to our Bermudian home for the last time.

So now is a time of reflection, of gathering our thoughts, of hypothesising about what the future might hold – something entirely out of our hands now – and, inevitably, packing up our home. To go where? That is still uncertain. What is absolutely certain, however, is that we are going to Uganda – together – in November. After five years of hearing stories about the village that stole my heart, it’s time for “Mr. Nathan” to meet his Ugandan family. Oh, and we thought we’d just throw a big, fat Ugandan wedding in there too. A date has been set – 24th November – the planning committee is underway, and family and friends are starting to book flights from around the world. Dominic and Rose have timed the date so that not only can the 638 KAASO students and 46 staff members attend, but also the majority of the 53 sponsor students, their families and those from the surrounding community. As the preparations get underway, Nath just watches me with a patient, albeit slightly terrified, smile, knowing how much this means to me but struggling to comprehend just how huge it is going to be. Even I have no real handle on how the day will unfold. When I ask Rose what exactly is going to happen at this wedding of ours, she simply laughs and asks, “But Madam Emma, you want to spoil the surprise??” No, no I don’t.

A year of milestones

Posted on December 19, 2016 by ileftmyheartinuganda

It seems hard to believe that two weeks ago I was still waking to the roosters at KAASO, and now I’m sitting on a glorious 22 degree winters day at Bermuda airport about to trade sunshine and palm trees for the snow and bright lights of New York City. The world and all its contrasts.

As sad as it was to leave my KAASO family, it has been amazing being reunited with my Bermuda family and sharing stories from the six weeks I spent in Uganda. The love, support, compassion and generosity has been overwhelming and I feel so grateful to be surrounded by such a loving community of people. The response I’ve had to the children’s crafts has been incredible and the Suubi Sanyu micro loan fund is so much better for it. Thank you so much to all those who have supported this enterprise – you are wonderful!

As the year comes to a close, I look back and think of how many milestones 2016 has held. Daddy-o rowed me down the aisle to marry the love of my life, thanks to Jennie’s guidance and unfailing belief I finished writing my book (yet to be published but that’s next year’s challenge!), I watched my love win a silver medal in Rio, I spent a year ‘living’ at the same address, together with Beau and Rebecca I delivered a school bus to KAASO, then proudly supported over 50 sponsored students and cheered on three Kiwi Sponsorships students on graduation day at KAASO. It sure has been a year to remember!

As I prepare to sign off for the holidays and enjoy some long-awaited R&R with Nath, I want to take a moment to thank you all for sharing this journey with me. For supporting me from near and far, for sponsoring piggeries and giving students the chance of an education, for donating to school buses, for listening to my stories time and time again, for designing countless logos (Claire!!), for encouraging me to keep going when times get hard and for making me feel endlessly loved and valued. I am so much better for having all of you – and everyone in my Ugandan village home – in my life.

I leave you with this gorgeous little KAASO Christmas video – thanks to Beau for putting it together. On behalf of the whole KAASO family, we wish you a very, very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

https://youtu.be/FodxJg1lPNU

The children of KAASO with their new school bus

A beautiful joining of worlds at a time when we need more open minds

Posted on July 19, 2016 by ileftmyheartinuganda

Dominic and Rose have seen and done a lot of things. Every year, they give over 600 children the gift of education at KAASO, the school they created 18 years ago. They have raised seven children of their own as well as mentoring and supporting hundreds of others. Their Empowerment Group enables members of the local community to feed their families and educate their children through microloans projects, piggeries, poultry farms and adult education. Both Dominic and Rose have travelled around their region and their country, inspiring others to give more, help more, be more. But, born and raised in Uganda, opportunities to travel abroad were about as common as flying pigs in the local piggery.

In June of this year, that changed.

Thanks to a school partnership established by Lizzie Hulton-Harrop between KAASO and Northbourne Park, a primary school in the UK, Dominic and Rose’s dreams of travelling overseas together came true. Last year, Lizzie and two teachers from Northbourne made the trip to KAASO to begin the partnership, and Dominic and Rose’s trip to the UK this year was to help further the work begun.

Dominic and Rose at Entebbe Airport with their 24-strong send-off committee

For Rose it was her first time on a plane, with the exception of a short trip to Tanzania when she was a teenager. Dominic had been twice to the US at the invitation of the National Educator Program of America, first in 2013 to present at an educational conference in California, and again in 2014 to complete the second part of the two-part workshop he had begun in Florida the previous year.

So he was the kafulu, the expert, seated next to Rose as they flew to the land of so many volunteers they had welcomed into their home over the years.

The selfie Rose sent me from their flight to Dubai

They were met in London’s Gatwick by Lizzie and her mother and driven to Northbourne Park School (NPS) in Kent, not far from the famous white cliffs of Dover. There, they spent a week living with Sebastian Rees, the school’s headmaster, and his wife Gillian, in their home within the school grounds. NPS is housed in a beautiful old building dating back to the early 19^th century and is home to both boarders and day scholars, around 120 students in total from the UK and around Europe. It was ironic timing to be building a close partnership between two far-flung nations at a time when the UK was so dramatically exiting the European Union. Dominic and Rose actually landed in London the morning the Brexit results were announced and I was relieved to hear that they were warmly welcomed into the country, in spite of Britain’s frustrating backwards step towards separatism.

Dominic and Rose spent a phenomenal week at NPS with the students and teachers, studying different educational techniques, visiting the homes of some students and enjoying the school’s end-of-term festivities. I arrived from Bermuda full of anticipation to see Dominic and Rose – the first time we had ever met outside of Uganda. Pulling up outside the impressive school grounds, I entered the old stone buildings and reported in with the school receptionist, explaining I was there to see Dominic and Rose from Uganda. Before I had a chance to say anything else, she smiled knowingly and told me to follow her. She led me to the school staff room where Dominic and Rose were seated, casually chatting with the other teachers as naturally as if they’d been there their whole lives. They launched themselves at me with huge warm Ugandan hugs then proceeded to introduce me as one of their family to all their new best friends. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face, thinking how in less than a week, they had already forged such strong bonds with everyone here, and the respect and admiration the teachers had for them was evident. My visit also gave me the chance to finally meet Lizzie, with whom I had been corresponding for years but never actually met face to face. We had worked together closely for months to make this trip a reality and it was amazing at last to be standing here with Dominic and Rose and to feel that all that hard work was worth every second.

Lizzie, Rose, Dominic and me in the NPS Staff Room

It was the end of the school year and all the parents, teachers and students gathered into a marquee for the final Speech Day. We were seated as guests of honour in the front row and Sebastian, the headmaster, gave a moving speech about how much they had learned from Dominic and Rose over the past week. He invited them on stage to receive gifts of farewell, voicing his excitement for this long and prosperous partnership. I loved that the emphasis was on how much NPS had learned from Dominic and Rose’s visit; people often assume – wrongly – that developing nations have the most to learn from the West while I feel strongly that there are equal lessons to be learned on both sides.

Dominic in front of the NPS buildings after the Speech Day formalities

Following the speeches, everyone mixed and mingled over cucumber sandwiches and cream scones and I got the chance to meet some of the families, students and teachers who had been touched by Dominic and Rose’s visit. So many people came up to me, saying how honoured they were to have spent time with this inspiring couple and a little girl attached herself to Rose and refused to let go, explaining that they shared the same name so were “kind of like sisters.”

Rose and Rose

When the time came to leave, I watched Dominic and Rose bid farewell to each of their new friends and thought about how amazing it was to have arrived at the end of their brief stay and to bear witness to the impressions the had made on this close-knit but outward-looking community in such a short space of time. NPS has students from all over Europe and their inspiring headmaster emphasised the bonds forged over the years between the UK and its European neighbours, assuring those gathered that, no matter what, those friendships, relationships and prosperous bonds would continue.

Dominic and Rose with headmaster Sebastian and his wife, Gillian

We were dropped off at the local train station and as I stood waiting on the platform with Dominic and Rose for our train to London, I realised that they were staring at the tracks in wonder.

“How does this work?” Rose asked quietly and I looked at her as the realisation dawned – this was their first time on a train. I explained the process and then delighted the rest of the journey as they marvelled at the passing scenery, commenting on the different farming techniques, the crops grown, the animals they saw, all the while Dominic whooping with excitement every time we went through a tunnel.

“Rose! We are under the ground!” he kept saying with his irresistible grin.

Rose and a very happy Dominic on the train to London

Arriving in Kings Cross St Pancras at rush hour on a Friday night was hectic to stay the least. Dominic and Rose experienced their first escalators, first elevator and first turnstiles all in the space of a few minutes. And then suddenly, we were outside, the buildings of London towering over us, my two Ugandan friends gaping in wonder.

Outside Kings Cross St Pancras Station

It was a strange feeling in the days that followed to be leading rather than being led. Rose and Dominic have – and always will be – my guides to all facets of life in Uganda, guiding me not just geographically but emotionally and culturally, helping me navigate my way through unknown territory. But suddenly, I was the guide. It was a strange role reversal.

Dominic loved the escalators!

I checked them in to their hotel at the bottom of my brother’s Farringdon street and gently explained how to use the shower, the soap dispenser, and the key cards, all of which caused a great deal of hilarity. That night, we dined with a group of past volunteers at a local restaurant and Dominic and Rose’s faces lit up to find themselves reunited with so many old friends from around the world, all of whom had gathered to see them. Some volunteers had travelled from around the UK, Rachel had flown in from Berlin and Cherie had come all the way from New Zealand to coincide with this visit from our Ugandan family.

Volunteers’ dinner with Rachel, Cherie, Fraser, Lizzie and Tom

The following day, I sat with Dominic and Rose in a local café for our annual run-through of KAASO’s priority list. This meeting has always taken place at the KAASO dining room table so it felt rather surreal to be sitting in a London café talking over scrambled eggs and lattes about the latest happenings at KAASO, but they just took it in their stride and I was transported back to my village home as they talked. It was with great pride that I recounted the story of how we were able to raise enough money to buy a school bus for KAASO thanks to my friends in Bermuda (the full school bus story to come soon). They were overwhelmed with gratitude and we excitedly made plans for the arrival of the bus later this year.

My first KAASO meeting to be held in a London cafe

We jumped on board a red double-decker bus (another first) and I loved watching their faces as the world flew by at eye level out the window. We had just settled in when we were abruptly told to get off the bus just before Picadilly Circus and when I questioned the driver he explained that the roads were blocked and we could go no further.

In Picadilly Circus

Not understanding, I led Dominic and Rose through the streets towards our destination and suddenly it all became clear – we had landed bang, smack in the middle of London’s highly-charged anti-Brexit rally. For half an hour we walked backwards against a sea of thousands who angrily protested the UK’s decision to leave the EU. Well-accustomed to crowds and chaos, Dominic simply turned to me with a grin and asked, “Whose side are we on? Are we with the protesters?” Dominic was thrilled when I nodded my agreement, and proceeded to punch his fist into the air in solidarity as he walked, joining in the chorus of dissent. I couldn’t help but laugh and think back on my last trip to Uganda in which we had so often found ourselves in political rallies leading up to the Ugandan elections. Dominic and Rose were no stranger to people taking to the streets.

Dominic embracing the Brexit rally

We finally made it to Hyde Park Corner where we met Teressa Macbeth, who has been sponsoring Violah, one of the Kiwi Sponsorships students, with her husband Jono for the last three years. It was a beautiful catch up and I loved watching these two worlds unite, having heard so much about the other. Teressa listened intently as Dominic and Rose shared the tragic story of Violah’s family and I felt so grateful that together we would enable Violah to get the education she deserved.

With Teressa at Hyde Park

After lunch, the three of us sat on a sunny park bench in Hyde Park to continue our discussion of the latest priorities at KAASO. I jotted notes in between Dominic and Rose’s questions about the swans and paddle boats on the lake, the motorised golf-carts collecting rubbish and, my favourite question from Rose, “How do these people not have to work?” Sure, it was a Saturday but not many in Uganda have the luxury of spending a day lying in a park sipping Pimms and reading the newspaper.

We had another wonderful evening with a collection of volunteers at a French restaurant in Angel and I couldn’t help but smile looking down the long table, thinking how amazing it was that the thing that united us all was a tiny village in Uganda and here we were sharing stories over sauvignon blanc in London.

Pre-dinner drink with Lizzie, Rebecca, Sarah and Rachel

The highlight of the trip for me, however, was the much-anticipated meeting of Dominic and Rose and Nathan. For three years this trio has been hearing about each other, already considering themselves family, but on Sunday 3^rd July 2016, my dream finally came true. Nathan flew all the way from Bermuda for one day to meet them and nothing could have meant more to me. Watching Dominic and Rose embrace him as a long lost family member is an image that will stay with me forever. The four of us walked to a nearby café where we met my brother, Nick, and his girlfriend Grace for brunch. Nick had already met Dominic and Rose, having spent two weeks with me in Uganda last year but it was also the first time for them to meet Grace and over brunch, Rose gave a moving speech about how the full Blackman family was finally united.

Nathan with Dominic and Rose at last

During Nick’s visit to Uganda, the preparations for this UK adventure had already been underway and Nick had joked that if Dominic and Rose ever did make it to the London, he would take them on an open top bus tour. And that’s just what we did. Sunday Funday was spent together with Cherie and her boyfriend, Fraser, hopping on and off an open top red London bus, seeing the sights of the city.

Dominic, Nathan, Fraser & Cherie on the open top bus tour

We lit candles in St Pauls Cathedral (which Dominic and Rose were thrilled about St Paul is the patron saint of KAASO), picnicked in front of Buckingham Palace, had a whirlwind shopping stop on Oxford St, drove over Tower Bridge, marvelled at the London Eye (“There are PEOPLE in those things?” Rose asked me, shaking her head. “Oh no, no, no please!” she laughed when Dominic suggested we try) and ended up back in King’s Cross for a farewell dinner.

With Dominic on the stairs of St Paul’s Cathedral

Rose and the London Eye

Nathan and Dominic passing Westminster

Outside Buckingham Palace – a highlight for Dominic and Rose to see the “Queen’s House”

After our picnic in St James’s Park

One very happy gang of bus tourers!

It was an emotional farewell that night as Dominic and Rose were leaving early the next morning to go to Belfast to meet with Share Uganda, a Northern Irish charity that helps with medical projects at KAASO and the surrounding community. As I said my goodbyes, I thought back on a moment during the weekend, when I had found Rose staring into space. I asked her what she was thinking and she looked at me and said, quite simply, “I am wondering, ‘Who am I? Who am I to deserve such a thing?’ These things we have been reading about in books and films – and now they are just there! Eh, it is all beyond belief.”

I reminded her that there were no two people on the planet that deserved this trip more than they did and that they would carry this within them forever, the ripples flowing out on their return to Uganda. The stories they would share, the lessons they had learned, the cultural exchange they experienced would slowly spread throughout their community, helping to bring two worlds together and reminding children everywhere that anything truly is possible.

Till next time! xxxx

Northbourne Park School: www.northbournepark.com

The Northbourne Park/KAASO Partnership: www.nopakaasoschools.wix.com/2015

Share Uganda: www.shareuganda.co.uk

I left my heart in Uganda

Category Archives: Writing from afar