The i-to-i Campfire online travel community - Meet. Share. Travel with Purpose

Hi Mandy

Good to hear from you. Dont worry we are still in a manic position with all these arrangements. I have put things in folders now month by month of what to do. I take it you have done your CRB check your on line application and dont forget to buy yourself a "treated" mosquito net. They are about £45 on internet but make sure you buy the treated one. We are trying to organise a fund raising disco night - thats pressure in itself LOL. I have written to Emilie as well so lets hope we hear something. Have you been in touch with Priscilla - also I have contacted her to see if she has any photos/info on the orphanage so I can show people for the fundraising also contacted i to i to see if they have any promotional material to use. Dont worry about things too much I am sure it will all fall into place eventually. If you need to check anything let me know as I have pretty much got everything sorted into "what to do each month". Al and I are going shopping to buy our summer clothes tomorrow cos when we go in Feb there wont be any in the shops to buy. Are you still OK for us coming up to see you it will be good to meet up and exchange worries LOL. Keep smiling and you know where I am if you need me - also sometimes I have trouble with this site so let me give you my email address - Janice.Ward@hotmail.co.uk. x PS just a thought - any chance you could change your trip so you join us? x

Hi Janice,

Thanks ever so much for the email address. I have emailed, but not heard anything back as yet!

Work is so hectic at the moment, I am looking forward to the bank holiday to try and catch up on sleep! I have to say I am a bit worried about everything I still feel I need to do for my trip. I can't believe it is nearly May already and I feel very disorganised. It is so hard to try and plan what there is to do and what I need!

How are things your end? Any plans for bank holiday? How are your trip plans going?

Take care

Mandy :)

Hi Mandy

I have found the email address. Her name is Emilie, and her email address is: mimie_42@hotmail.com. Hope that helps x

Hello

I am dreadful using this website - but I think the person you mean is called Xoxoandrea. She (I think) is the one who gave us the contact email address of another person who was travelling to the same place as us but I cant find it. Maybe we should start a campfire ourselves about the place where we are going to?

Hi Janice,

Me again. I don't suppose you have the email of the lady who went where we are going? I can not get on with this site at all and now can not find the original post with the email address on. Do you have it, or the name of lady who originally emailed??!!

Thank you!

Mandy :)

Hi Janice,

So so sorry, I only just seen your message!! I didn’t get an email notification again. Work has been completely manic and I just haven’t had time to look. Great to hear from you.

I got my flights with Thomas Cook in the end. Yes, I shopped round, I was surprised by the rice difference. I went with a travel agent as opposed to going online as I thought this would be safer in terms of possible cancellations etc. I think ticket was about £580.

Saturday 26th June would be great for you to come and visit. Yes, we will have to exchange lot’s of notes. I will need help with deciding what to take for the children. There are going to be issues of space and what I can take.

I have only just emailed the other lady (can’t remember her name) I’m only sorry it’s taken so long!! I’ll let you know asap when I hear from her. I am finding navigating the Campfire site very difficult. I can’t seem to find anything or anyone! Thanks for the email address of the co-ordinator. I will email her at the weekend. How are your plans going?

Take care

Mandy :)

Whoops - meant to ask you - Alex and I are looking to book flights next week - where did you get yours from in the end. I trust you shopped around to get the best deal

Hi Mandy - yes I wrote back to Xoxandrea and it was very good of her to give us an email address. Once you hear back from the person let me know. I have heard from our co-ordinator - she emailed me - if you want her email address it is kadogokigg@yahoo.com and as your know her name is Priscilla. Apparently there is currently 89 children (50 inprimary school and 39 in high school) although obviously this will change by the time we arrive. She has given me a list of items they need - clothing, bedding, toys, food, sportd equipment, furniture, text books, stationery, medical help - so that should keep you going for a while LOL. Alex and I are thinking about Saturday 26th June for visiting you in sunny Suffolk - it will be like a day out for us and we are looking forward to it. Hopefully by then we will have loads to discuss and lots of notes to compare - so get scribbling x

Hi Janice,
You are welcome to come to Suffolk as long as don’t mind travelling all that way? We have a lot of lovely places in this area of the country so we could arrange to meet somewhere.

Your fundraising ideas sounds good, good luck with it! You sounds very organised with your plans leading up to Feburary! Good idea, I’m finding time very difficult at the moment!

I’m not sure what I imagined re how many children would be at the centre, but I didn’t think it would be that many! Really looking forward to it, although I can imagine it will be very emotional.

Glad you have got the time you need off work. I too had thought of using weekends to do some travelling / safari, but I am finding it difficult to work out distances of everything! I did think weekends would be a good opportunity to explore areas a bit more. Did you see that ‘xoxoandrea’ had commented on the Mount Kenya campfire? She has given an email address of a fellow volunteer who went to Mount Kenya (our project) a few months ago. I shall email them so will keep you posted.

Take care

Mandy :)

Hello Mandy - I know that we have 111 children at the centre - I was thinking about 70 so was surprised at 111 - bless them. I am waiting to hear back from Pricilla and will let you know when I do. I am now starting a folder with a month by month section leading up to the trip - so I know when and what it is I am supposed to be doing. LOL. Alex and I both work for Kingston University in the HR dept - me in recruitment and Alex an HR Adviser. We have both been given 3 weeks and 2 days off as annual leave. So will be at the Centre for 3 weeks and the two days use as travelling time. We are thinking of fundraising ideas but one we have is to hire a band (I have a couple of friends, ones boyfriend is in a band and the other was son is in another band) - hire a hall and invite everyone for a evening of listening to the band and dancing. Charge people £10 to get in and tell them to bring their own drink - that way they are not paying extortionate prices at a bar. But I think the only draw back is finding a hall that will allow booze anyway we are considering this as an option for July - so plenty of time yet. What fundraising ideas are you having. Also Alex and I may consider doing a safari whilst we are there during our free weekends. So much to list down and think of. But hopefully we may be able to bounce ideas questions off each other - its so good to know someone is going there too. So glad you are happy about meeting up although Alex and I thought that as you live in Suffolk - instead of you travelling to London alone we would be happy to travel up to you. But thats just an idea - entirely up to you