Bournemouth with bare feet!

I'm off to Bournemouth soon, to do a TESOL introductory course (teaching English to speakers of other languages) for a week. I'm hoping this will give me some useful insights and will help me to be better at communicating with the children and adults at Mahali Pa Watoto. Although English is one of the official languages of Kenya, it may be their second or third language - I'm trying to pick up a little Swahili too!

After that I'm going to spend some time with my parents and Jon at Green Pastures and hope to have some rest, relaxation and quiet time listening to God in preparation for my time in Kenya. I know the second half of August is going to be quite frenetic with so many practical things to do, such as packing up my flat, so I want to make sure I take this time out first.

However, it's not all holiday - I'm planning to do a 'sort-of-sponsored' walk too! I'm going to walk from Sandbanks to Hengistbury Head - about 10 miles - with bare feet. This is because lots of the children in Kenya have no shoes. It's not as bad as it sounds as I'll be able to do a lot of it along the beach. I say 'sort-of sponsored' because I'm not going to collect sponsorship per mile or anything but just ask people if they'd like to make a general donation. I was thinking of even getting a t-shirt printed for it!

Here's the route:

If you'd like to make a donation just click on the Just Giving link on the top left of my blog. Even a little amount will be much appreciated, especially if you put an encouraging message on for me! I'm feeling rather out of shape at the moment so I hope I can make it!

Car wash!

We had a great day today washing cars, eating cake, drinking tea and raising money for Kenya! We raised a good amount and had some very happy customers. There's also lots of cake left over for church tomorrow!

Here's the church porch set up for tea and cakes:

And here are the young people hard at work...

... or something!

Behold, the finished results!

Shiny!!!

Thank you to everyone who came and to the young people for their hard work. Now I just need to have a bath and try to get the dirt off me!

Raising funds

Tomorrow the young people from my church are helping me put on a 'car wash and cakes' day. If you are in the Carshalton/Sutton area you can find us between 11am and 4pm at West Street Evangelical Church, West Street, Carshalton, SM5 2NR. We will be washing cars and laying on tea and cakes while you wait - or if you don't have a car just come and eat cake! All donations will go towards funding my trip.

In early August I am planning to do a barefoot walk - check back here for more details.