The Year of Adventure

My new years resolution for 2017 was to have adventures. I find it difficult to keep resolutions (stop biting my nails has been a resolution for the past 25 years) and frequently make new week and new day resolutions. So I thought that a fairly broad one may be accomplishable in many small ways.

 Camping at Fisherground Campsite,
Eskdale in February 2017

We went camping, had lots of mini adventures to make full use of our National Trust card but I’d say that our moving to Botswana may have taken the biscuit on having adventures! I think it is safe to say that I have finally accomplished a New Years resolution – but I am not letting that stop us. All the way through our relocation we have had lots of mini adventures – having a company pack up our house, dropping our car at the docks, a few days in Dubai visiting friends and seeing what it is like walking round a country where you feel as though you are being constantly blown by a warm hairdryer.  

Watching the musical fountain show at
Burj Khalifa, Dubai.  July 2017

Then there are the adventures we have had since arriving in Botswana – choosing a house to rent and the fun that goes with that; negotiating the visa offices to try and get our work permits; registering with a Doctor whom we chose on their location as Little One fell off the top of the slide and busted his lip (again) and note should also be taken here that I coped remarkably well with the blood this time.( I wasn’t so effective the last time, the day before his Christening when his tooth actually went through his lip. Blood everywhere and a useless mother having to register her child at A&E from the floor where I was sitting with my head between my legs whilst Little one sat on a chair as I attempted to blindly hold ice to his face!)

But what brought about this relocation? Was I so desperate to fulfil a resolution that I just uprooted my family (a lovely husband and two sons aged 4 years and 2 years) from our wonderful village in Hampshire to the wilds of Africa? No. The truth is, I had an idea – it was a shock for all of us 😊 – But this was not one of my many ideas that flit by barely worth a mention, this was THE idea that somehow took hold and seemed like a really good idea. It all came about after spending time in Gaborone before my sister’s wedding last year and I found it very difficult to entertain my boys in the heat (check out the British girl, I say heat but we were actually here in Winter and the local were all wearing thick coats and woolly hats which we matched with shorts and t shirts!) There were some great play areas outside some of the shopping centres, but they were all in direct sunlight. We paid for Virgin Active membership just so that we could take the boys swimming a couple of times but we couldn’t find any inside entertainment for them unless we went to a café that had some sort of small, inside play area.

Joint sliding outside Airport Junction, Gaborone. 

I can clearly remember sitting next to my sister in the car and asking if there wasn’t somewhere to take the boys and reeling off the different places back home, to which she looked me in the eye and said “No, you should set one up!” … And how we laughed!! But the next day I told her that our play area could have a café where we could have story sessions and song sessions. Then my sister suggested a fitness studio and she could finally become the personal trainer she has talked about for years. And we could specialise in pregnant and post-natal fitness. And there could be a classroom, and a miniature world role play area, and a soft play, and an outdoor ‘risky’ play area and we could offer free sessions so everyone could access it, and we could offer specific sessions for children with special needs and…. Well, the original idea was huge and would have been amazing but there was no way we could afford this but the idea had taken hold.

By December, we had come up with what we could realistically do and my lovely husband had come up with a budget for us (with some remortgageing and deciding that this is what our savings accounts are for right? Not so many rainy days in Africa!) So we decided to go for it, The Honeycomb Hub was born! A family centre that is a hive of activity, supporting the community in Gaborone and where everyone is welcome. Thanks to some fundraising and generous donations we have also been able to offer free sessions, free tea and coffee and to employ two assistants. We had originally thought to run it ourselves however through collaborating with the Downs Syndrome Association we are offering employment to two young adults and also producing a work experience program with local businesses to broaden their skill set.

It has been an interesting journey so far and a steep learning curve…. And we aren’t even open! We are trying hard to listen to advice, to be prepared to change our ideas and offer what is needed rather than what we want to do. I am currently sitting on the floor of our warehouse as I await a delivery of wood so my lovely husband can start building our tiny town but there is a special feel to this place. It may currently just seem like a warehouse nestled next to a pet supply store and along side electrical engineers but it is a centre born of love and giving that wants to do good things. I can almost hear the future echoes of laughter, imagination and generosity. Hugs being given and tea being drunk amicably amongst new found friends. I have loved being a teacher, believe there is nothing better in my life than being a wife and mother but this is something I am incredibly excited about. Please follow our journey and become a fellow bee of the Honeycomb Hub.  

 

NB – for those of you wondering, the wood did arrive and my husband has been working hard unleashing his inner carpenter!