Monday 22 September 2008

Sunday 21st September. Day 17.

Day 17 and home at last. After 17 days and a little over 6000 kms driving we arrived back in the UK this morning.

Last night on the ferry everyone was tired but looking forward to being home. Having made the ferry we were able to relax a bit knowing the trip was almost complete. With the pressure off most of us just felt tired and ready for an early night. There was still time however for us to win the quiz in the lounge bar (for which the prize was a bottle of red wine which wasn’t going to go very far between 18 of us.)

There should have course have been 20 but John and Alex are still making their way to Bruges. They stayed in Germany last night and have an outside chance of making the ferry tonight or if not they should certainly be on it tomorrow.


Disembarkation went smoothly and without any passport or customs checks we were soon on the dual carriageway out of Hull. We congregated on the outskirts for one last time before heading in different directions across the country. Sean and Lawrence were heading up to Scotland to catch the ferry this evening to Belfast. John, Matt, Tony and Cyril were heading to Liverpool where they will get the ferry to Dublin in the morning. The rest of us headed to various parts of England and in Ricki’s case Wales.

There was time for a final team photo and then some emotional goodbyes and then we all headed off.

The blog has hopefully given some insight into what a convoy involves but what is it like to actually go on one? Well it is a very intense experience and quite draining both emotionally and physically. Twenty people are thrown together and for two and a half weeks we are together 24 hours a day. The driving can be both monotonous on the motorways and stressful and frustrating on the poorer roads further east. In the evenings we eat together, have a drink and go to bed before getting up early to do it all again the next day. The visits to the orphanages and hospitals were both rewarding and upsetting in equal measure and as the trip gets towards its conclusion the absence from ones own family for so long becomes more difficult to endure. There are many lighter moments in the convoy as well, some of the banter on the radio while we were driving was brilliant as was the chat in the evenings over diner.

However the fundamental point of the convoy is to help the children in the homes we visited. The minor irritations along the way are really insignificant set alongside the heartbreaking stories that are the lives of the children we have visited. While we all return to our comfortable lives and our families we must not forget that despite the hope and improvement the convoy brings to the lives of the children, there is still so much more to do. Planning will soon start for next years convoys and the charity needs all the help you can give.

Peter Watson
21st September 2008.

2 comments:

bunter said...

Your account of the convoy is really very good. I have been on a convoy with CWUHA and your comments are very close to the way I felt when I did that convoy. Unfortunately I haven't been able to go on another convoy since 2006 but the CWUHA will always have a bit of my heart. Thanks for taking the time to do the blog and good luck for future convoys. Graham

ENGANIL said...

Really great about help of children, and good luck for future convoys, and i am sure you will be achieved your goal.





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