Hogwarts

Now I'm no Harry Potter aficionado but lately it feels like my life is starting to resemble that scene in the Philosophers Stone.  You know the one... the one where Harry, Ron and Hermoine arrive at Hogwarts only to find themselves climbing the moving staircases, with doors opening all over the place, and the three young wizards a little stunned and not quite sure what to make of it all.  That's me right now, doors opening, things happening really fast and mouth all agape, and it let's be honest that ain't pretty.

Remarkably these past four months have brought more interesting, kind, generous and exciting people into my life than I have been fortunate enough to have met in all of my forty three years.  I can't begin to describe how it feels to walk to work each day, knowing I'm one step closer to this dream becoming a reality, one step closer to stepping off that plane in Jomo Kenyatta airport and one step closer to meeting the children of the Holding Hands Children's Home.

I know that some off you watched on in horror as this small, nothing of a person ("small" in importance not small in stature) made a big fuss about making her dream a reality... "who cares" you probably asked yourself on more than one occasion, you know what, I CARE.  For me, that fuss was necessary, it was that fuss that would prove how badly I wanted to make it happen.  Here I was, presented with the challenge of making something I had wanted forever into a reality.

Okay, I could have just trotted off to the bank, cap in hand and quite simply popped $7k on my mortgage and slipped off to Kenya.... I would have done what I always wanted, some of you would have known I went, but how many of you would have been any the wiser to the plight of these children?
How many of you would have even heard of the Gioto Garbage Slum... in the words of Scribe "Not many, if any"

Let's get this straight, I'm not overly religious, though I would say I hold Christian beliefs, so this isn't a Mission or Pilgrimage to some higher cause, I'm no rock star with time on her hands between albums and money to burn, nor am I  a high profile sportsperson with an obligation to be a positive role model, or even a retired television presenter telling their story.  I'm none of these things, I'm just plain old Jacqui Edwards; mother of two amazing young daughters, a forty three year old woman with a burning desire to see if she can help in some way.  And the reason I'm sharing my story? maybe somebody will read this and think they too could help in some small way.

"If you think you're too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito" - African Proverb