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I cannot describe the emotion when I arrived back at the lodge from our safari and Christine and Gladys were there to greet me!!!! Tears of joy and bear hugs were the items of the moment. For those of you who don't know, Christine was a recipient of a bedkit in Uganda four years ago. I had done an interview with her and couldn't get her out of my mind. So about four days later I asked Gladys if she could find her, would she see if Christine would like to go to boarding school. After a long search, Gladys did indeed find her in a village about 6 hours from Kampala where Gladys lives. Christine is an AIDs orphan and is HIV positive. She had lived with many people in the past and was currently with a paternal aunt. She was overwhelmed but agreed to go to residential school, and the rest is history. She started in Grade 2 and is now in Grade 7 and was made head girl this year. She occasionally has health problems but is usually fairly stable on the retro antiviral drugs. Gladys is a saint and supervises her education and health, and often has her stay at her home during school breaks.
The happiness and self confidence that Christine showed was so wonderful to see. Lauren, Christine, Gladys and myself spent the evening and next morning together. And hopefully there will be another time in our lives when we can meet again.
At noon, we left for the airport, and they left for the bus and their 12 hour ride back to Kampala, Uganda
Lauren and I left Nairobi for Dubai and after a 5 hour flight we arrived at about midnight. We slept for an hour they off to Sydney, a 15 hour flight. We were met at the airport at approx 10:30 pm by the Seabrook family, complete with balloons and welcome signs. A joyful reunion and then off to the apartment at Bronte Beach. The next couple of days were very slow as we all reccuperated from jet lag. (The Seabrooks had just arrived from NZ, the night before)
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