Saturday Oct 24: - My first convoy, from Miranda El Rayess
I'm very glad that everyone arrived home safely. I have boundless admiration for, and gratitude to, those of you who did the difficult job of driving those big monsters (big benevolent monsters though they are), so thank you all again. This was my first convoy. I went out not quite knowing what to expect, but by the end I was so glad to have come. I found what Paul wrote very moving, and though I don't know if I have any stories that are quite as good, I do have a couple of memories that stand out: The satisfaction of finding the right glasses for people in a Roma community who obviously needed them; the very poor people who were so scrupulously fair and honest in helping us to distribute the aid; and being invited in for coffee by a kind lady in another very poor community (though sadly we didn't have enough time). The only not so good experience was the drop that Caroline, John and I did in the mountains that took about 3.5 hours to drive to. As we couldn't leave the warehouse until late in the morning, Caroline had to drive down very rainy mountain roads in the dark on the way back. She did a really great job (and chatting to John and Caroline on the journey passed the time admirably!) but it wasn't an ideal situation. All in all though I had a great trip. I enjoyed meeting all of you and hope to see lots of you again on another convoy.
Miranda xx



Alan Beckwith, "Alvan"
Well here we are back home, and I have just got home after the first day at work! On reflection, I would like to say once again that it was a truly fantastic experience being with so many people from different backgrounds with a common purpose, and being willing to work together in some pretty arduous conditions. We managed to maintain a sense of humour at the same time as achieving a tremendous amount! I would not like to single anybody out of a great team when considering the H & A work, but I wouold like to take this oppotunity to thank Anthony and Nibsy for their great support and effort in managing to get Alvan working again! After my experience a few years ago at having to leave the truck behind, I thought that it had happened again! Imagine my relief when Anthony said, "Try it one more time, Nibsy", and it sprang in to life. Both Vanessa and I owe you both a tremendous thank you, and well done.