First blog post - IN AFRICA

Well, we made it.

20 odd hours of travelling, no sleep and some of the busiest airports I have ever seen. Yet, we all kept our spirits high, because the excitement was enough to overcome our tiredness.

Finally at 6:10pm local time we arrived in Eldoret, after a 30 minute flight from Nairobi. Astounded from the luscious view of the fabulous African Landscape as we made our descent. Followed by a lovely greeting at the airport from Rachel Gallagher (David's wife who I mentioned in an earlier post).

Now, as some of you might have seen on the news, Nairobi airport has recently been subject to an arsine attack at the Immigrations Department. Which meant, we had to wait over 4 hours for a connecting flight.

Forget all your ideas of an airport, with duty free and the likes, we waited for 4 hours in what was before the fire, the cargo warehouse. Although, saying that, I think we all actually managed a little nap.

As we drove from the Airport to the Village where we are staying, we were stopped by every child wanting to shake the hands of their new friends. Their houses, built from mud with thatched roofs had something really beautiful about them. A real feeling of home, and welcome.

It is in the press all the time about how rife crime is in Africa, but I have to say, having only been here for a night, they are probably the happiest, most welcoming group of people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Never believe everything that you read, except my blog, of course.

When we pulled up to the village, and saw the school and the homes were the children live and learn I instantly felt a sense of pride for all the guys who have made this possible. The children are so lucky to have them in their lives. Without yet having the comparison of the slums its difficult to see how different the children's lives could have been without the likes of Open Arms Village and The Solomon Project.

So on to today, and the work begins.

We'll be visiting the schools that The Solomon Project Feed and working out an itinerary of what we need to do whilst we are here, to bring back with us to the UK, and spec out the stories that we want to tell you through film.

So that hopefully you can all feel like you were here with us. A virtual window in to a different world I hope.

All of this though, has to wait until I have visited the baby home!

Keep checking back for more updates today and for the rest of the week.


www.justgiving.com/Gem-Vaughan-Heys or text SOLP18 to 70070