Hello,
My next charity event is creeping up very fast. I am doing the London ‘Run to the Beat’ half marathon on September 26th.
I have been off training due to a sports injury where I badly pulled my groin which has been very painful. However I have been doing other training to keep my fitness up just in case.
Hi,
Thank you to those who sponsored me on the 70 mile cycle ride from Manchester to Blackpool. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. Not only was the burning pain in my knees and getting saddle sore, the weather turned where we had gale force winds, rain and sand blown in my face! I struggled on a bike not fit for this distance and I couldn’t get into third gear.
There are three days to go until the Manchester to Blackpool charity cycle ride. I’ve not done as much training as I would have wished for, however my half marathon training is up to 5 miles so I hope to complete the cycle ride in 5 hours! Wish me luck!! 
The last two days went so fast, and I could not believe that very soon I would be gone, no teaching, no bedtime stories, no hearing the kids laugh…I was very sad and I just wanted to take them with me, take care of them, have them by my side. As another volunteer friend well said… ‘Maria, it is so strange to feel so safe when these boys are sitting next to me, I know they would do everything to protect me!’ and she’s right, so true!You could see their respect and appreciation, wanted to make sure you are ok, offer you to eat from their food, what a privilege for me to have met them.
I’m so glad to have taken part as a volunteer at Grandsons of Abraham , it was such a big appreciation lesson about life, feel lucky that I’ve been to Africa and I know that I’m going back to see and learn more, offer my help, and see again the beautiful smile of the children!!!
Peace & love
Maria P
“You want to make them happy? Give them food!” That what I heard after asking the member of staff what we can do to make the boys happy. That is true. Eating rice and beans or ughali and beans most of the days is not a fun.
One day, 3 other volunteers and myself, we bought live chickens in the village and brought them to the Centre. The boys were so excited. They knew how to prepare and cook them. I was so impressed, I did not have a clue what to do with them. We are all used to ready cleaned or packed meat from Tesco or Sainsbury. I felt like typical ignorant and realised how modern western life is making us useless. We had so much fun that day! So….the following week we arranged to do the same thing but this time with a goat. Read the rest of this entry »
The last couple of days at the centre were very emotionally tensed. I wanted to spend more time with the boys, some days I did double shifts ,wanted to stay longer with the children, get as many memories as I could, they were giving so much strength to see life from a different prospective that every day was a different lesson about life. They were thirst to learn too, many questions about how is the rest of the world out there, how are schools in Greece, why my nails are white and clean, what do we eat, and many many more, that were making at times smile…They are normal questions for us that we are no curious to know when we meet someone, very important to them though and it makes you wonder when we lost the importance of sharing simple thoughts with each other…..when??
peace & love
Maria P
Well I’ve been here a while now and so much has changed at the centre. There has been so much progress with the organisation of the way the centre is run and the benefits are being seen everyday. The centre has been redecorated, and a library has been built, there are now football nets, swings and a basketball net, all donated by volunteers. Standard 8 have just finished their exams and are feeling confident, so fingers crossed for them
This week the boys have been on holidays so there has been lots of activities, including bead work, sports day and football tournements. The kids are having a great time and plans are all set for the leaving party for standard 8 tomorrow. We had a great time yesterday,we had a big water fight and the volunteers definitely lost that fight.
There are now shifts at the centre consisting of a morning, afternoon and bed time shift. Bed time is my favourite, its lovely putting the little ones to bed and reading stories, down side, the bugs are out with a vengence.
We are now preparing for christmas and Fiona and sisters are teaching the boys charols, I’m staying out of it, my voice would just ruin it, but its great fun to watch, hoping to be able to do choir services in the hotels nearer to christmas. We have also started the christmas fund to buy all the boys pressies, which can be found on the Africa Watoto website, so get on and donate, it will be money very well spent.