moving in and walking along and the future adventures

Time seems to be flying by at the moment and as we discussed creating a new post for the blog we couldn't believe that near on six weeks had passed since our last update, so once again we're sorry for our tardiness.

our new home!

It's hard to know where to start but suppose it would be best to begin with the main thing that has been at the forefront of our minds, that being the fact that we have not only completed on the sale of our old family home and but also on the purchase of a new home in Bristol!

This is such big news for us as we had owned our home in Whitchurch since we got married in 1988, in fact the house had actually been built for Maz' Grandparents just before the second world war. 

However the sadness in letting go has been overwhelmed with the joy in knowing that we now own a house which ours, all paid up, and is currently providing a home to our eldest son and his family. 

This is a wonderful feeling but one that hasn't been without it's stresses during the near four month process with Estate Agents and Solicitors, as well as all the challenges in moving not only our stuff from the various nooks and crannies we'd been storing since our move to South Africa in 2008, but also a whole young family who's life needed to continue throughout the whole thing. 

Maz busy painting....how many coats?!

The completion date was Thursday 12th October but the previous owner kindly allowed us in a week before to undertake some major and much needed decoration prior to the big move on Friday 13th!, not a day we feared, other than the fact that we tried, abet in vain, to have every room stripped out, including fireplaces, re carpeted and painted before that move date.

We, both myself, Maz, Chris and Claire, almost managed it but once the boxes and furniture arrived from their previous house rental it was almost impossible to move, so since that date we have been busy constructing bedroom furniture, making endless trips up into the thankfully large loft, as well as the local recycling center.

our real new home!

The house has a large driveway, which is a true blessing as our friends have kindly lent us their touring caravan which myself and Maz have been sleeping in, having our meals in the house. It's very cosy and although things are quite cramped it's much bigger than the tiny gypsy caravan we spent a week in when we were in Tenby a few years ago whilst on 'sabbatical'.

However there are a few challenges, such as we have only one shared toilet, which we know is a blessing compared to much of humanity so we're not really complaining, in the house, a bucket in the caravan, but to step out from a fitful sleep in a pair of pyjamas for the world to see on a chilly autumn morning wasn't something I (Tim) had planned as I move into my fifty first year. 

Arron, our youngest son, also arrived back from his latest job so he camped down with us in the caravan too, which has been fun for all, who ever said life is easy?

Saying all that it's been great to see the Grandchildren have space to run around outside in the garden and we are certain that the house will provide a home that we can all benefit from in the future as we make our base in Bristol and explore all that the city and surrounding countryside has to offer.

view from looe (well quite near by)

Prior to moving in we were able to spend a week away with Tim's family when we joined his sister and her family and in-laws as well as his Mum and Dad at a wonderful house overlooking the sea near Looe in Cornwall. The week was spent walking the Southwest Coastal Path, which Tim's sister and husband have been walking, on an off (not off the path cause that would be very dangerous) over the last nine years or so.

family fun

The weather was stunning which helped as we wandered up along clifftops high and into valleys low all the time with the sound of the sea crashing or slowly lapping against rocks or sandy inlets, you honestly can't beat England on a fine sunny day and we certainly had a few of those.

along a clifftop high

The feelings that I (Tim) had during our walks were quite spiritual and upon our return I put pen to paper to write this little poem which I hope captures the things that I was thinking as I walked along the ancient paths.

"As we amble over ancient clifftop paths, 
Our thoughts, our very being, at one with all we see, our senses overwhelmed by all we observe, 
The world in which we have escaped for a few fleeting moments continues to spin.

But few of our fellow brothers and sisters have stood captivated by the majesty of the rugged rocks turned sideways cascading down into an aqua blue sea, 
Taken time to watch the delicate flight of laced winged butterflies in the autumn of their short lives, 
Or had taste buds tantalised by the sweet tart juice of the blackberry picked right from the brambles ripened by the last of the summer sun.

It's kind of fun to answer nature's call as we relieve our bodies of the liquids once carried in overloaded rucksacks with all of nature gawping at our little white bums, 
And the steep steps we climb drain us, nay exhaust us, but as the summits approach vistas expand revealing further adventures and we feel energised to conquer further assents, 
Sweat pouring from our brow soon cools as we stand to catch our rasping breath.

Our feet shod with the latest lightweight technology to ensure fatigue is postponed as long as possible,
Eyes shielded, heads shaded, steps measured as each footstep is recorded as data informing us of pace and calories burnt.
For us these experiences are part of a wonderful journey creating shared memories captured by smart devices to be posted upon our social media profile so others like us are wowed by our week away, 

But for the majority of our brotherhood of man our highlights of freedom are seen as daily hardships of open air loos and long barefoot walks to dried up riverbeds, whilst dodging bullets or the hands of men, for a few drops of water, these are not memories that they want to remember."

birthday celebrations with the family!

During the month we also spent a couple of nights with our newly wedded middle son, Josh, and his wife, Haddy, in London. We were also able to celebrate both Maz' and Chris' birthdays together for the first time in ages and we have really enjoyed our first week or so in Bristol, the city seems to be buzzing with activity.

Noni (Maz) having birthday hugs!

We've been exploring our local neighbourhood, doing a couple of shorter runs along the river Avon. It has been great to be able to pick the grandchildren up from school and have opportunities to attend assemblies, harvest festivals and sports events with them.

We are now back in Buckinghamshire for a few days, saying our goodbyes to family and friends, before travelling back to Bristol before flying out to Uganda on Wednesday, a trip that will see us working with our good friend Emma and the team at Every Life who we worked with earlier in the year. 

The six week trip also includes an adventure across Rwanda to Burundi where we will meet up with an old friend, Simon, who has been working in that needy nation for over 20 years. We can't wait to be able to share the Leadership for Life programme with the people he is connected with, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for our next update which we hope will be from somewhere near Kampala.

A couple of weddings, a BIG birthday and fun fun buying and selling a home!

The happy couple with Hever Castle in the background

Once again we've been a little aloof from posting on our blog, we're sorry if you've missed us, however we have been a bit busy what with a couple of weddings, Tim's big birthday and purchasing a new home in Bristol as well as enjoying some fun times with family and friends.

So first things first and that must be the news of the most recent wedding that we enjoyed this weekend as we celebrated with our middle son, Josh, and his new wife Haddy in her home village in Kent.

Josh and Haddy have been seeing each other since their university days so we've journeyed together and seen them grow closer together, they are both very eccentric and share the same sense of humour and fun, although they both have very challenging jobs.

The Walker girls

Our youngest son, Arron, had flown in from Greece where the current boat he is working on was ending a charter and we were also joined at a delightful 'bed and breakfast' by our eldest son, Chris, his wife and our three young grandchildren. Tim's mum and dad also joined us as we prepared for the big day.

After a morning walk, all the boys together, everyone busied themselves with their final preparations, our grandchildren were flower girl and page boys, Arron was a groomsman, and obviously Josh had to pretty himself up as the groom.

Our family!

2.30pm raced around and as we gathered with family and friends in the Holy Trinity church in Crockham Hill Haddy made her entrance with her father, Paul. She looked amazing, as usual, her natural beauty was complimented by her stunning dress and 'yellow converse baseball shoes'!

The Walker Boys all dressed up!

The happy couple departed in a 1911 Rolls Royce towards their photos and wedding breakfast held at the nearby and historic thirteenth century Hever Castle, home of English Queen Anne Boleyn, of King Henry VIII fame. 

Thankfully the sun shone which allowed both Josh and Haddy and also the bridesmaids to travel with the top down on their powerful Ford Galaxie.

Tim with his Grandsons 

After drinks overlooking the lake, where photos were taken whilst dodging a squally shower, we made our way through the Italian Garden to The Guthrie Pavilion where we enjoyed a few glasses of wine, local beer and three course meal before the speeches given by Paul, Josh and his best man Dan Williams, more about him later, and danced the night way.

It was a truly magical day, the weather was kind and as we were about to leave we enjoyed a fantastic firework display over the lake as a send off to our new Mr and Mrs Walker. They are now enjoying a honeymoon in South Africa and then Mauritius where they should see some sunshine and get some much needed rest before the next phase of their adventure.

Fireworks send off the happy couple

Wow, how to top that!

To be honest one can't top a day like that but our summer has been one to remember so we'll quickly update you with the fact that Tim turned 50 in the middle of August, celebrating the day with some family, unfortunately both Chris, his family and Arron couldn't make it, and friends at the village hall in Oving. 

Selfie on Tim's 50th birthday

Once again the weather, which has been a little dull for most of the summer, was kind to us and we enjoyed a game of cricket, drank some beers and had some laughs. 50 not out isn't bad, especially after Tim had his health scare when aged 33, but we hope there's many more birthdays to come.

Dan with his ushers and best men

Earlier in the summer Dan Williams, Josh's best mate and the son of Trefor and Mandy whom we have been staying with since our return from Madagascar in June, got married at his family home. We were part of the busy planning team, working on getting the gardens, buildings (old and new) and other paraphernalia sorted before his big day.

Marquee in the horse field

Dan was getting married to his longish term girlfriend Lucy, they had got engaged whist visiting us in South Africa, and Josh was joint best man, with his other friend, Larne. Once again it was a great day with a huge marquee set up in one of the 'horse fields' and a field full of 'yurts' where the happy couple and some of their guests spent their first married night.

Chris on the Ridgeway

We also spent a weekend chasing our brother-in-law, Chris, around the country as he 'ran' along the 86 mile ancient Ridgeway, which started at 10am at Ivinghoe Beacon and ended 22 1/2 hours later in Avebury with it's prehistoric stone circles. Our friend had lent us his new VW California Ocean which became our base to support Chris on this epic run.

Northampton Half Marathon

The following weekend after and eventful day at the T20 Blast finals in Birmingham, Tim ran his first half marathon, a 13 mile run around Northampton town and surrounding villages and which he completed in a quite respectable 1 hour, 49 minutes and 23 seconds. He ran along with Chris, recovering from his previous adventure, which was great as he set quite a pace with Tim's sister, Vicki, coming home a few minutes later.

In amongst all this excitement we have been trying to finalise the sale of our long term family home in a village that has been home to Maz since her birth. We are buying a house near Bristol which we are going to rent out to Chris and Claire, this will both help them with their rental costs as well as helping us to pay off our mortgage.

JA at the Borderline

This whole episode has been quite stressful but hopefully we are nearing the end now as we are busy planning our next trips back to Africa which will include a revisit to work with our friends in Uganda as well as a trip to Burundi to work with our great and long term friend Simon, which we are really looking forward to.

And that, other than having an incredible evening in London watching our favourite singer songwriter, Joseph Arthur, who was playing a one off gig at the Borderline in Soho, is that.

enjoying special times with special people

This last month has certainly been one of our most relaxed and exciting for a long period of time. What we hear you cry, 'weren't you on sabbatical for most of 2015 and your current work and lifestyles enables you to both travel around the world together which must be exciting and to visit new places sounds relaxing and exciting to me', well some of that is true but even though we have worked and travelled together since we left our 'normal'/'regular' lives way back in September 2008 we have really enjoyed spending some downtime together.

sunsets over Quainton Hill

After arriving back from our near on six month working trip to South Africa, Uganda and Madagascar we have been staying with our great friends Trefor and Mandy who have made us feel very welcome at their amazing home in rural Buckinghamshire. This is once again providing us a wonderful base to catch up with friends and family from a very central location.

Notts beat Surrey at Lords

Whilst we were in Madagascar we made the huge decision to put our family home on the market. We have owned that home in the beautiful village of Whitchurch since we were married in 1988, our boys grew up in that home, in fact Maz' Dad grew up in that home too as it was built as a farmworker's cottage for Maz' grandparents in 1939. Our current tenants were keen to purchase the home from us which has enabled us to buy a house in Bristol which, once it's been renovated, will provide a home for our eldest son and his young family. All of this had been a bit of a challenge to undertake from afar but we are excited for the future now we are home for a short while.

Josh and Dan celebrate their upcoming weddings!

You may be aware I (Tim) am celebrating my 50th birthday this year, August 13th to be precise, so we have been trying to do some special things, such as trekking with mountain gorillas when we were in Uganda, and during the last month we have undertaken some further exciting days so if you'd like to find out where and when then please continue to read on.

Josh and Honi

I joined our middle son Josh, who is getting married in September, and his best friend Dan on a day out at the One Day Cricket final at Lords in early July. It was a great day where we (my Dad, brother-in-law and nephew included) saw Alex Hales play a wonderful innings to set up a win for Nottinghamshire against Surrey at the home of cricket.


The following day we had the chance to catch up with lots of our family with two events with both sides of our family, the main event was the celebration of Maz' Dad's 80th birthday which had been held back since early June to coincide with our return. It was wonderful to spend time with some of our favourite people who we really miss when we are away.

Pixies turn back time

The following week we travelled back to London to spend three days in Notting Hill, sleeping at our nephew and niece (in-law) home allowing us to walk to Hyde Park where we enjoyed two afternoons and evenings watching and listening to some of the bands who were performing at the British Summertime event under clear blue skies. We had booked the tickets with the desire to see one of Maz' favourite bands 'Elbow', however I wanted to see the 'Pixies' after following their music for years and missing the chance to see them in Cape Town earlier in the year.

The Killers keep us entertained

The crowds were huge on both days with 'Kings of Leon' headlining on the Thursday, however 'The Killers' were the biggest draw on Saturday and rocked the night away with their hits 'Mr Brightside' and 'Human' to name a couple of their sing-along tunes that got the whole crowd of over 60,000 dancing.

Benjamin Booker

I was somewhat surprised to find one of my new favourite artists 'Benjamin Booker' playing on an outside stage, I had no idea he was going to be there so we really enjoyed him as he played songs from his new album 'Witness' as well as some from his first album. We also enjoyed listening to another newish band called 'Sloes', go find them on Spotify as they are both big recommendations from me!

Sloes

We spent a wonderful day with our son, Josh, and his fiancee, Haddy, on the Sunday at their new home in London, before returning back to our base with Trefor and Mandy, completing some small jobs for them before our friends from Holland joined us on the Thursday.

English summers evening with our Dutch friends

Eveline and her boyfriend Bart had spent 10 months and five months respectively with us in South Africa back in 2010/11 where they interned as students from the HAN in Nijmegen. Eveline was studying Social Work and she helped Maz in the children's unit at the Village of Hope, Bart was studying Sports Management and was a key member of our daily sports outreach team who worked with the children in the local townships.

enjoying a traditional English Indian meal

The reason that these two very dear friends had joined Eveline's father, Henk, on a trip to England in mid July was to attend the Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone. It was the first time I had attended since 2008, and being my 22 Grand Prix I was full of excitement and expectation. It was however Maz' first Grand Prix weekend experience and one that she assures me that she really enjoyed.

Lewis wins!

Unfortunately the balmy weather we had been blessed with the weekend before had left us and we endured a freezing Friday and Saturday at free practice and qualifying and although race day was slightly warmer it wasn't the summer party atmosphere that I had been wanting. That said the result went according to our wishes with Lewis Hamilton taking a well earned win with all mayhem breaking loose behind him as the Ferraris of both Kimi and Seb suffered late problems with their tyres.

beautiful france with family

If you've never been to a Grand Prix then you will never understand the real appeal of the event, that being the incredible speed that these ultra machines reach, especially through the tight and twisty sections such as Maggots and Beckett's sections of what is a super fast circuit. The governing body takes steps to slow the cars down each year with restrictions on engine size or body style but year after year the amazing engineers find ways to make the cars go faster and the technology developed in this sport is then used in the cars we drive on our daily runs to school or to the shops.

happy sunflowers

The Dutch guys left us early on the Monday morning and by the Tuesday morning we were making our way, with my Mum and Dad, Sister and Brother-in-Law and Niece around the M25 towards Gatwick airport and a week in France.

evening sun over our french house

Flying into Toulouse airport we picked up our hire car for the week and travelled north west into the Midi-Pyrenees to stay in a wonderful 12th century house owned by Haddy's family. The home is stunning, set in rolling countryside with fields of smiling sunflowers who seemed happy to welcome us back to spend another week chilling out, walking, running and swimming in what was slightly inclement weather for the time of year.

lazy days playing games!

It was my parents first time to the house and therefore that part of France, they were very impressed with the 'frenchness' of the area, the little hill top towns are such unspoilt and still maintain that sleepy feel.

more sunsets!

We are now down in Bristol with the Grandchildren, we've visited the home we have had an offer accepted on and are feeling truly blessed to be able to enjoy this time together.

reasons to be thankful

I've just arrived back from a short jog around a 2 mile loop in my home town of Aylesbury in England, nothing too unusual about that, other than the fact that this was the first real exercise that I have been able to do since slipping a disc in my lower back way back in March.

Having been sporty as a youth and continuing that into my early 40's with weekly outings onto the football or cricket pitches I had somewhat lost some 'shape' during the years we spent at the project we set up in Grabouw, however last year, encouraged by my crazy sister and brother in law, I started to jog and found that to be a source of focus and even peace.

So after arriving back in England yesterday morning from a six month stint sharing with some of the most vulnerable people on the planet I was keen to get to 'test' the back, not going for any sort of pace but wanting to know if things felt right both with my body and also inside my head!

The route wasn't as scenic as the apple orchards and vineyards surrounded by majestic mountains like South Africa, or as hot and humid like I'd experienced on the east coast of tropical Madagascar when I last ran there in October last year, but as my less than fit legs got the hang of moving slightly quicker than a sloth, which had become their norm, I experienced things that I had become so accustomed to that I had missed them up until this point.

I don't want this to become such a protracted post that you stop reading and leave to do something much more productive with your time, but if you will forgive me I am going to take the next few paragraphs to get these thoughts out of my head and onto this virtual page.

Turning right past the papershop, not literally a shop made out of paper but one which sells the daily newspapers that I used to deliver on my 'round' during my teenage years, I ran over the railway bridge and looked down as a train passed underneath making it's slow, steady and regular way along the well worn tracks towards London. Delivering commuters towards their place of work without a hitch, other than when some light snow blocks the line in the short English winter, every 20 minutes or so day in day out and although it's quite expensive it provides a regular service where one can travel in relative comfort.

I past the old pub, now an Indian restaurant, and opposite a car hire dealer and thought of the opportunity that I could have of hiring a brand new car for a day or two to travel freely around the wide network of tarred roads, clearly signed, dare I say well maintained, sharing the road with the majority of other people obeying to laws set up for the safety and smooth passage to anywhere on this Island Kingdom.

Turning right again the local police station sat with officers at the ready to protect my freedom with fully equipped vehicles designed to keep the peace and curtail any unwanted menace from causing my path to be blocked.

Onward towards a couple of nursing homes providing care for the elderly, again at a cost, but with the basic amenities for those too frail to live on their own. As my heartbeat increased so did the housing estates with tightly packed homes all with running mains water and a stable electricity supply, most I would imagine with access to the world wide web enabling the family to connect to the 'global village'.

The two schools I attended came and went as my pace steadied and although I was out way too early to see the hundreds of children who would be making their way, probably dropped off by mum in the family's second car, to school, I was reminded of the wonderful if somewhat basic education that I received in those buildings many moons before. Teachers with a good understanding of teaching, enough books and materials for each of my fellow classmates and knowing how things have moved on since I was there classrooms now fitted with interactive whiteboards to make learning an even more exciting experience.

I now passed under the railway bridge, on the home run back to my parents home where we enjoyed our first night in real comfort for near on four months. As I turned right again I saw the entrance to the swimming pool and fitness center, home to the paralympics, and thought of the lessons that I had taken as I reluctantly learnt to swim in the 50 meter pool years before.

The local hospital, fully equipped to serve those suffering from major back injury, is staffed by the people who near on 17 years before had saved my life from the multiple pulmonary embolisms which were treated with medication readily available for such unseen circumstances.

Now I was sweating, long gone was the fitness I'd built up over the later part and early part of this year, and there was some spots of rain in the air so although I nearly stopped at the local cooperative store to grab a energy drink I resisted this strange notion knowing I would have been bombarded by shelves full of exotic produce gathered from around the globe. I passed with somewhat of a slight twinkle in my eye with the knowledge that I hadn't been drawn in by the bright lights and colourful advertising.

I was nearly home, still going abet at a much slower pace, and came upon the road works that have been started near the 'papershop', evidence of huge machines operated by men in hard hats and hi viz jackets making repairs to afford smoother passage for the newer cars with lower emissions that even smelt quite pleasant in comparison to the heavy diesel that I had become used to in Antananarivo.

So why all these ramblings, strange thoughts and random paragraphs?

Well just to say that I am thankful to have access to all of the above and think of those that we know and love who don't which makes their lives so much more of a challenge that I can ever know.

'They' (not entity sure who the 'they' are) say that the world is getting smaller and smarter and richer and more productive but I personally know many thousands of people who will never even understand the sights and sounds, the smells and those thoughts that flooded my mind as I ran this morning, let alone experience the benefits that come with living in a first world nation with all of its faults.

In my mind are the railway lines once bringing life and people and goods together in Madagascar but now are left overgrown. Of the police on the street corners or setting up a roadblock looking for a bribe or the school with no windows and doors let alone books and materials, of the poorly educated teachers working for a pittance or less! Of the families drawing water from their hand pump well living together in a tin shack or bamboo hut, with little or no access to medication for the child impacted by the ravages of HIV, TB, Malaria, Typhoid or even Bubonic Plague. Of the street stalls selling their meager locally produced slightly misshapen and oddly coloured and susceptible to inconsistent weather patterns which threaten their production, either devastating cyclones and too much rain or droughts and heat which scorch and destroy.

And I suppose you might say that's life, that's the way it is, and with all that in mind I am still sitting here thinking to myself 'is it'?.......

......and maybe that's for me to square in my head so thanks for reading.

time in Toamasina

tim and the minister of education

once again it's been a busy couple of weeks since we last provided an update, first of all we want to share a photo that was taken of me (tim) as we signed an agreement with the minister of education that we weren't able to share that on our last post, which can be found here for more info about that!

we have flown back from Toamasina to the capital Antananarivo via the somewhat fragile national airline, Air Madagascar, saying that most of our experiences, with the exception of the extortionate fares, have been great and this last flight actually took off 30 minutes early. All the passengers had checked in, via a written boarding card system, so what was the point waiting around! 

traditional transport around toamasina

I can't tell you how amazing it is to be back in with a relatively stable internet connection and whilst we had a wonderful time in Toamasina the humidity and pace of life is a bit tiresome. 

as we explained in the last post we were spending around 20 days in a place that has become very familiar to us since our first visit in 2014. in fact this was our fourth visit and we have now spent over six months in Toamasina over the last couple of years.

haja, theo, kimberly and hany from HELPMadagascar

we had various opportunities to share the Emerging Leaders programmes with a huge number of people who we were training up to become trainers. our first engagement was with the teachers who work in the schools run by our friends Cho and Deborah from 'Love 'n Care' ministries, both in and around the east coast port. it was a joy to be able to invest in the teachers, many of whom have become good friends over the years.

our trained teachers from Love'nCare

the training was run over three days where we delivered a train the trainer of the new children's leadership programme called 'LEAD NOW' with the near on 40 teachers. 

planning to share the LEAD NOW modules

we started by looking at various methods of teaching, focusing on a more creative style which helps to engage the children in the LEAD NOW short lessons with games, repetition and actions. the general method used here is the standard 'teach at the children' with the teacher at the front of the class writing up on a blackboard for the children to learn by rote rather than interactive open sharing and discussion.

feedback from the teachers

we helped the teachers explore the wonderful material, with them join in and having fun with the games and actions that are used in the programme. all of them had already attended the adult version which we had been sharing whilst we were on our recent trips to South Africa and Uganda as well as previous visits to Madagascar. its important that the teachers are actually living out the basic leadership principles in their own lives before trying to 'model' anything to the children they teach.

maz training in the prison

the middle week was spent in the local prison where we ran a train the trainer with 16 of the prisoners, their guards or admin staff who we'd worked with last year. whilst the prison is a tough place to work it was wonderful to catch up with those inmates who are serving longer sentences. we're not sure we have the words to convey the conditions that these men have to endure day in day out. 

in a country with around 50% of the population living below the poverty line, 85% of people living in remote rural villages and only 10% of homes with access to electricity its not hard to imagine the challenges that these inmates live in. with up to 200 men sharing a classroom size dorm and what with the humidity and threat of mosquitoes carrying malaria we think you might get the picture.

working through their Leadership for Life manuals

however there are signs of hope and we were so encouraged by the stories, and not only confirmed by the prisoners, of the improvements that they were making themselves, using the leadership mindsets that we share with them! we are very aware that many of these man have done some very bad things but when all is said and done they are human like all of us and we are seeking to see the potential in all people and call it out of them.

traditional river scene on a walk

following the training the prisoners and guards are going to be sharing the Leadership for Life with the younger inmates who are going to be released so that they can take these amazing principles home with them and apply them to their lives and families.

enjoying working outside in the winter sunshine

our final week was spent running a second train the trainer with teachers, this time 50 of them from 25 different schools and organisations working with young children, vulnerable youth and even prostitutes (which is a huge problem in a desperately poor port town!)

the lovely venue for our second LEAD NOW training

the team from HELPMadagascar, headed up by Kimberly and Colin Radford, true saints and bringers of hope and change each and every day of their lives, incredibly they have lived in Toamasina for near on 20 years, arranged to host us at a local restaurant come wedding venue. we not only ate well but enjoyed sharing the LEAD NOW with these people, some of whom come from remote villages with limited education themselves. 

trained LEAD NOW teachers from 25 schools

this limited education is a going to be a major issue as we share this further, the base level of teachers is very low, however saying that any input into their is going to be of great benefit to them and the children they teach.

korean friends

in the evenings and over the couple of weekends when we weren't working (either teaching or sharing at local churches!) we did enjoy some great times with friends, mostly international, who are doing some incredible work in and around the town and we take our hats off to them for their commitment to the people of this awesome but incredibly needy nation. 

anyone for fresh lobster cooked on the beach
over an open fire/bbq/braai

we had some nice meals, even went on a trip up to find fresh lobsters cooked on open fires on the beach and had a morning walk with our friend robert and found a bar to watch the monaco grand prix.

off for a walk in the countryside with robert

we're gonna miss all our friends but not the weather, although we are already planning to be back in early 2018, God willing!