Just not meant to be....

We hoped to take our shoe cuttings out to Uganda ourselves at the beginning of August.  

Unfortunately we seem to have missed the best price on flight options and even though there are flights available for the dates we needed, it would mean paying more than double what they usually are.  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather my money go on the children or into the villages while we are in Uganda than some hugely wealthy airline company.  

We've tried every possible avenue to make this trip happen but it just doesn't seem to be working out unless we pay out a ridiculous amount of money. We even looked at the possibility of flying from Dublin!!!!  Yes you heard right.  Strangely enough it is cheaper for us to get a flight from Dublin to Heathrow and then a direct flight from Heathrow to Uganda than it is to simply book the second leg of that journey!!  We even asked the airline if we could book this option and board in Heathrow but sadly this isn't possible. We then thought about sticking with the saving of £300 by flying from Dublin and getting a flight from our local airport to Dublin but we hadn't figured that those little hour long flights were so cheap because they don't offer any baggage allowance. So we'd get to the airport but our suitcases with all our stuff and more importantly the shoe cuttings would still remain in Wales. Its just not happening any way we try to work it even if it means us going out of our way to get to our final destination. 

So, sadly, our visit is likely to be postponed until next year. 

 

Don’t worry though.  All our shoes are packed away nicely in my garage and are being kept safely for another year.  The donations made on the night will all be sent directly to Sole Hope to be used in the shoe making process and offering the shoe maker a fair wage. 

 

On a positive light, this means we have another year to hold some more shoe cutting parties and fundraise even more for some brilliant activities next year for the children.

 

We also fundraised through the Christmas bags and that money is sitting in a bank account all ready to go when we go.  We cover all the costs of our flights and accommodation ourselves and every penny we fundraise, goes towards the children, young people and families we meet along the way, wherever the need is most.  Now we get a little longer to do another fundraising push and raise even more for the wonderful people of Uganda. Plus we get to plan ahead and book those flights super early when the best discounts are available. 

Unless we get a lottery win or some miracle happens tomorrow and flights get discounted, our visit this year is going to be a no go. If there are any changes I will keep you posted.